The spikes can be used for various purposes when fishing for carp. Firstly, in large length, they can be called "Storm Mat", which means "storm mast" in French, to reinforce umbrellas and other bivys with a thread, usually they are placed at the front to stiffen the structure. An accessory use of the spikes is to serve as a hook for conservation bags, floating or not. Otherwise the other main use of the spikes is simply to place your fishing rods while waiting for the strike as a rod support, there they can be called bankstick. You can put a single spike for the detector, or a front spike and a back spike per rod, or use buzz bars also to rest the rods. When choosing a carp spike, you must take it with or without a twist, knowing that with a twist it will be much more practical to push it into very hard grounds. Then, most spikes have an adjustable length, and the adjustment system of the telescopic adjustment is either with screws, but you must be careful not to lose them by unscrewing them completely, or with an integrated tightening system called camlock. Note that some rod pod accept other spikes as feet and this allows to replace them to lengthen them in particular. Lastly, the material there, just like the rod pods and buzz bars, can be stainless steel, much more resistant to twisting and elements even if it is heavier. Note that the spikes can be supplemented with a stabilizer, a small element that slides onto the spike and gives it a second mini spike embedded in the ground to avoid twisting. The most well-known brands offering spikes are Fox with its Black Label range, Carp Spirit, and the new brand on the market Korda with its singlez ground spike models.
