Wouldn’t it be great to be able to catch every single bite? Depending on species, you’ll undoubtedly be aware that some fish can be picky feeders. When you add any form of external influence into the mix, such as winds or a slight current, bite detection using conventional methods can often be a literal “hit or miss” affair. Well, there is a new bite detection system in town, the Polaris Sidewinder, and this article is going to tell you all about its advantages and how it works.
What is a Polaris Sidewinder?
The Polaris sidewinder is an innovative bite detector. As anglers, we are always looking for new solutions to improve our catch rate, but often we can be a little set in our ways. If we ignore bite alarms and talk about strictly manual methods, we have always relied on a tip mounted method of seeing what is happening to our terminal tackle, either by using a quiver tip or sometimes a swing tip. The Polaris sidewinder challenges this concept.
The Polaris sidewinder is mounted not at the rod tip, but, as the name suggests, on its side. It juts out at an angle of about 45 degrees. It is about the size of a quiver tip and features a corkscrew style ‘eye’ on its end. By winding your mainline into its eye, you can easily engage or disengage your mainline from the sidewinder. You cast out your rig then place the line into the eye at the side. When you get a bite, the sidewinder will move in a really obvious fashion and is super sensitive. It will pick up both positive bites and ‘dropbacks’.
What are the benefits to using a Polaris Sidewinder?
There are actually quite a few. The most obvious that we found was that you may very well be on a peg where you are not able to sit at an angle to your mainline. The less angle you can get on a quiver tip, the less sensitive your bit detection becomes. The Polaris sidewinder removes this problem as you can literally point your rod at your bait and still pick up bites.
For those who are ‘visually challenged’, it also represents an ideal choice. When mounted correctly the Polaris sidewinder is right in front of you and you can’t fail to see it. It picks up even the smallest of bites meaning that you don’t miss a thing.
Quiver tips can be unreliable in windy conditions. With the Polaris sidewinder, you can submerge your rod tip completely keeping any line well clear of blowy conditions, and due to its location on your rod, the sidewinder is entirely windproof.
In summary
The Polaris Sidewinder is actually a really clever piece of kit. It’s unconventional, but then most new methods are to start off with, then they gain traction and before you know it, they are mainstream and we wonder what we did without them. With this method, we can’t really see a downside, and with nothing to lose, there is everything to gain. Why not give it a go?
Mike has over 30 years of fishing experience in carp fishing and general coarse fishing. He is always looking for the latest fishing kit to try out and talk about and needs a bigger shed due to all the fishing tackle he owns. You can read more about him here.