salokcinnodrog

Just go Gardner rig scissors. Mine are many years old, still working, despite them being used for cutting pike trace wire as well as braid and mono. http://gardnertackle.co.uk/product/rig-scissors/ For some reason, I seem to recall writing a review on them, and that being displayed on Gardner's web page many moons ago. The pair I reviewed are the same pair I have now, but I have a spare pair, still in the pack for when they do eventually die from abuse.

Just checked, it was also on a Fox DVD, with the actual video footage only cos I saw it myself, and obviously Carpology were going to use the pics...

Gas all the way through for me. I'm currently using Primus cartridges, a mix of Butane, Iso-Butane and Propane. I can still recommend CADAC, Coleman cartridges which are both a mix of propane and butane, but since my local Millets has become Blacks, they are not selling the Coleman500 cartridges in winter, and I'll be darned if I'm waltzing into my local tackle shop for a gas cartridge, knowing I'll walk out £30 worse off. Trakker Armolife: http://trakkerproducts.co.uk/product.php?id=82&scid=18&sid=2 Webtex warrior compact: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/321507812729?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=108&chn=ps&device=t&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108&ff19=0

The slack vs tight lines experiment was on a Fox DVD I think, Rob Hughes actually diving to test movement distance before any indication at the buzzer, on a section not advertising tackle, although obviously some of the DVD will be based on selling.

But does the lead actually hook the fish?

Put it this way: An angler who was fishing at Nazeing was attached to what I'm pretty sure was Digit, a fish that went between 35-38lb, and would easily have been a new PB. He was playing the fish when it cut through the margin weeds, and before I could lean out any further to net it, it was gone. On inspection, the tail rubber covering his quick link was gone, so either his tail rubber slid down and the loop came off the link, or his loop knot snapped. It is not the only occasion I have heard anglers bemoaning losing fish down to various quick links either. The simple loop, or the curled doubled quick links have all failed. If a knot goes, it is totally MY fault, if an item of tackle fails...

And I seem to recall an article where the author tried that at Wraysbury, went out in the boat in the morning to discover his rigs had been stuffed, moved metres with no indication at the rod sync buzzer end. Strange, may even have been Leon Bartropp... I've never trusted slack lines with semi-fixed leads, too much scope for movement, and having watched and observed, seen underwater tests, know it doesn't work at any range where the fish can move towards you, either straight or in an arc. If you must use slack lines, then go running...

Piffle! Try to take out the idiot factor from a fishery owners point of view, and sorry, there are so many bad drivers fishing lakes that leadcore is banned on many lakes because of them; fishing up tight to snags, or fishing in weed leading to tethered up fish that it's use needs to be monitored or even banned on many waters. I can think of numerous fish that have died after being tethered and fish I have untethered, fish that have line scars on their flanks ( personally witnessed, and with additional information on this forum by Levigsp). The media often show leadcore rigs, with inline or pendant set-ups on, and these in any form should NOT be used, as the leadcore will trail any rig, the media 'plug' these set-ups as safe. Even heli rigs can twist and kink and trap beads and rigs on leadcore, again personally witnessed and tested. To try to reduce the possibilities of any snagged and tethered fish you must prevent the use of it. It is exactly the same as drunk drivers, even though it is illegal to be over the limit, people still do it, and these people should be taken off the road. By taking leadcore off the road, you vastly reduce the risks.

Sorry, I will disagree with that from my own catches. I reckon some body damage and marks on some of the fish I had from Ardleigh was down to a leadcore leader rubbing the flank.

How you set up a semi- fixed lead can make a difference to fish on the bank or not. The simple difference of using a rig ring or a swivel inside an inline can put or lose fish for you. The most effective of the two is a ring joining the mainline and hooklink inside the inline lead for instant bolt effect. Having plenty of movement on a quick link can also reduce fish numbers, actually a reason not to be using quick links, and trying to get instant 'bolt' effect by having no swivel on your lead to your semi-fixing device, be it lead clip or whatever. My preferred lead attachment is a running lead, and as much as possible a slack line. However, not always possible, but the run ring is as safe as I can make it, as in the event of a snap- off, the ring will likely go over any loops, coils etc, and simply run off the end of the line. The run ring fished tight line is a simple bolt rig. How many fish, is it a success? To me yes, and that yes is my confidence, and that confidence is what often gets me fish, so the two go together...

Okey cokey... I have had problems with loop knotted hook links falling off quick links, spin links and other various links, with the exception of a swivel, so I have gone back to 'ye olde swivel', it works, doesn't often give way, means I can tidily cover my mainline to hooklink join with a buffer bead or tail rubber and most of all, I have confidence. As for hooklink knots, I do like using a loop knot occasionally, especially with combi links, so I do use a knot I trust, and that for me is recommended by one of the best innovative tackle brands, Kryston. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, so I use and trust their materials as they don't fail, nor does this non slip loop knot http://www.kryston.com/articles/ultimate-knots/

I seem to recall Newmarket making the same sort of question, whether it was via PM or on here, that I can't remember. You don't need to get mega technical, buying leads specifically intended with cut slots, slits or whatever, as you can do it with an ordinary inline lead (even with tubing), the supplied lead insert, a tail rubber and a double ring swivel. Thread your line through the tail rubber, and tie to one of the two rings on end of the swivel. The line is then going round the outside of the lead, the tail rubber holds it to the lead, and the unrung end is pushed into lead insert. As I said, can also be fished with tubing under the tail rubber, but at the swivel end, slit is slightly, so if required the tubing will split away from end to end if it does need to come off

That ejection that we never knew about happens with almost every rig. In fact it is probably that that spawns some of our maddest crazy rig ideas at all, like the hair. There is likely no rig that will not be sucked in and blown out, or mouthed and ejected. When it comes to buoyant corn, although I very rarely use it now (and always with no bait stop!), a plain basic hair, over plenty of corn and Vitalin worked for me. Pop-ups I don't often bother with critically balancing, or getting the perfect wafter, I have it overweighted. My fishing tends to be over a fair amount of bait, so the carp are just hoovering along. If my pop-up is only just higher than the lakebed, then the carp will suck in freebies and hookbait, constantly sucking and blowing, the bait will go in and out a few times, till in one moment it takes hold. If I get cleaned out with no fish, oh well, the blighters beat me for a change, and that can happen fairly frequently anyways. In fact, sometimes I don't even bother with a hair for plastic corn, simply mounted and the hook slid through the bait until the corn is on the shank, with the point sat on the lakebed.

Looks familiar?

There are times when it can be better to stay in place than to move, more so when you can see the fish moving towards you, especially on pressured waters, where continual casting may spook the fish away again. A ready baited trap in place, with the fish coming in to your area can catch. Yet if the fish are 'stuck' in one spot, you may need to move onto them. The problem with that though is that you are never knowing if to move or not is the right thing to do. If you know the water you are fishing makes that right or wrong decision a lot easier, which is why I often prefer a campaign style pursuit, only fishing one water throughout the year or season. Taverham Mills was a case in point, if you weren't on fish, then it was better to find and then move onto them, and then when you cast out using minimal bait, just a bag or stringer; but over time as more anglers started fishing it, the water changed. If you cast out, the fish got to the stage that in many swims, you needed your bait in the water for 2days before you got a take. Whether that was the weekend syndrome, or the fish took that long to find your bait I am never sure, but even so it takes a heck of a lot to move up and away from your baited area to get into a new swim to find the fish.

I'll give you this, covering both hooklink and hair length; My hook links are usually between 15-20 centimetres long, 6-9inches as most of the lakes and rivers I fish are pretty weed free, and I use running leads, which may mean I can get away with shorter rigs than if using semi-fixed leads. My hair length is always changed dependant on where I am hooking (or losing) the fish. I start off with the hair leaving the shank of the hook directly opposite the barb of the hook, and the hookbait about 5millimetres below the bend, hanging freely, not touching it. If I start losing fish, or hooking them at the very edge of the mouth, then I lengthen the hair. If I am hooking them deeply in the mouth, or can see the hook has scraped down inside before finding hold, I shorten the hair. If the hook is dead centre of the bottom lip, hair length is spot perfect. Some additionals for you though; If you feed more particles, groundbait or pellets, a big bed of free bait, then you may need a shorter hair and hooklink than if you feed just boilies. In other words, how you feed may also contribute to how long a hair or hooklink you use. If you fish in weed, then you may need a shorter hair to keep the bait tight to the hook. Finally, pop-ups are a different kettle of fish altogether, and in most cases, should i use a pop-up, then the bait is on an extremely short hair, more shank mounted than on a hair at all.

Dug up an old post from SWP thread I haven't, but had a mate who has had a very good look around. It is very weedy, and yes it does make it hard. He has also looked very closely and despite claims of 30's has not seen any that really look that big. He saw plenty of doubles, maybe a few 20's, but none that really looked 30+. Bear in mind this was a few years ago when we were debating the cost being justified for the lake

Nah... Stick with Kryston Mantis, Snakebite, Snakeskin. The only one I don't get on with is Jackal

Thumbnail works for me too...

Gardner Muggas and B175's cover pretty much all my fishing now

Are the fish sucking and blowing, or mouthing the bait? Shank straight up, hookbait tight to back of hookshank, perfect for fish that mouth it. Hook sitting parallel to the bottom, for fish that suck and blow or clamp their mouth over the bait. My view anyway, caught on both, but usually after watching how the fish feed so tend to go in with whichever I think is best

Too many people switch baits too quickly, simply down to one blank session, or catching very few fish. Stick with what you got, if you caught on it the bait does obviously work. Carp can feed very tightly in one area. At Nazeing a year or so ago, I fished 3 rods in one swim, the left hand rod was the only rod that had any indication at all, producing 4 carp to mid twenties. The middle rod was cast about 5metres away from the left, but produced not a bleep over 4 days. It was fished the same, with the same bait, the same rig set-up, yet I caught nothing. The right hand rod I fished as a rover to the right of the swim, and that also produced nothing. At Taverham, in winter, if you weren't in a particular spot then you could blank. A mate and I doubled up in this swim for a day trip, he had 3 fish, and I had none. The baits were no more than 2metres apart. Bait, I know was good, I'd made it for both of us. Rigs, I know mine worked as my mate and I tied rigs up in batches and just shared them out between us. It is the same for most waters, and most species of fish. My suggestion is spend more time learning one water, learn the fish, their movements, feeding areas, the lakebed, the snags, margins. If you keep chopping and changing then you likely won't do particularly well anywhere, and plenty of blanks are a norm. Of course if you can take in all the information and learn more than one water, it may take you longer to be consistent and catch from them.

Never had that problem. If they are sharp enough to scrape thumbnail and flesh when I take them out the packet (as everyone has been so far), then they are sharp enough to hook fish.

Pop up of 50mm from the bottom, tight to the back of the hook on a braided hooklink. D rig, Savay looney rig, or dare I say it, Withy rig

I believe the silicon tubing is now sorted As an aside, someone asked what to store it in, on another thread, so I have mergeed the 2 threads together Short lengths go nicely into old hook packets, the ones with the flap to keep the hooks in. Longer lengths I keep coiled up in a small plastic tub, think it must be around 75mm diameter tub