Fox Impact Spod

Right then, spods. If you fish for carp with any regularity, you'll know that getting bait out accurately and quickly can make or break a session. Spending half an hour filling a spod with a spoon while the light fades isn't anyone's idea of fun. The Fox Impact Spod is built around fixing exactly that, and Fox say it came out of a three-year research and development programme plus countless hours of field testing.

It's sold under licence from Spomb Fishing Limited, the people behind the famous Spomb, but it's its own design. The headline is the scoop-shaped body. Fox designed the body and lid so you push it into your bait bucket and one scoop fills the entire inner compartment. They call it a complete fill, and it means one-handed loading in a second or two rather than spooning bait in.

There's more to that complete fill than speed. Because the spod is full every time, the weight is evenly distributed, and Fox say that makes it very stable in flight. A spod that flies straight and lands with the same weight every cast is much easier to put on the same spot, and accuracy is what spodding is all about. They also describe it as aerodynamically tuned for casting performance.

The other interesting bit is how it releases bait. The scoop shape gives a tapered release, so rather than dumping everything in a tight pile, you can spread free offerings a bit wider. Fox say that's particularly handy for a boilie-only approach, or for 'big hit' fishing with multiple rods on one large baited area, which plenty of anglers do on big pits.

Who's it for, then? Anglers who bait up regularly, especially those fishing several rods over one area, or those who like to fish boilies over a spread rather than a tight patch. It comes in Medium and Large, so you can pick based on how much bait you're putting out and what your spod rod can comfortably cast.

The honest flip side: if you want a very tight spot, a wider spread isn't what you're after, and a sealed design may suit better. Like any spod, it's best cast on a dedicated spod rod and line, clipped up to your spot, and you'll want a shock leader if you're giving it the full whack.

And as always, check the fishery rules before you go. Some venues limit spodding or have rules about how much bait goes in, and nobody wants to be the angler asked to stop halfway through baiting up.

A quick tip that applies to any spod: before you start baiting, cast a marker float or a leaded rod to your spot and clip up, then put a mark on your line so every cast lands at exactly the same distance. Fill the spod the same way each time and you'll build a far tidier baited area than by eye, which is where a stable, evenly loaded spod really earns its keep.

On paper, the Impact Spod looks like a quick, stable and accurate way of getting bait out. In the rest of this review we'll run through the spec, who it suits, when the wider spread helps and when it doesn't, and the questions anglers tend to ask before buying.