salokcinnodrog

I must admit that I don't like Superglue anywhere near my rigs as it has a tendency after immersion in the water to crack and break. Since it has gotten into the fibres they can also then break. The simple solution I have found with Uni and Grinner knots is to lubricate, then work then tight and then pull them as hard as you can to test them. A simple answer to prevent slippage can be to lighter blob the tag end, or in the tag end tie a simple overhand knot. It stops the tag end then pulling back through the knot itself.

I have never had a grinner or uni knot slip with braid, and it is the only knot I use with braid for attaching hook or swivel with the exception of occasionally the knotless knot for hook

I know the lakes at Horcott, and the main lake is actually close on 10 acres. The Scout Lake is around 3 acres, and the top lake is around the 2 acre mark. The main lake is full of specimen tench and bream, which I know go to around 8-9lbs, but the carp are very few and far between. If you pile in the pellets and particles you will get plagued by ducks and tufties as the lake itself is no more than 5 feet deep. I would class this as a very difficult water, although in terms of value for money the Season Ticket costs £16, which includes Night Fishing. There is a 2 rod limit, and the old bailiff is on-site 24hours a day

Are ready tied as good as those that you can tie yourself? Playing Devil's Advocate for a minute; a ready tied leadcore leader with ready tied rig, Is it as safe as a helicopter or silt set-up that you could tie at home or on the bank? I have never thought about using ready tied shop bought rigs, simply because I can change and tie the things I need to myself while on the bank. That is not to say that shop boughts don't work, but that you may find that you have to adjust things yourself. Also while I know my knots, if the knot fails it is my fault, yet with a shop bought, who am I going to blame?

Me personally I don't like using helicopter rigs unless I absolutely need to. They are brilliant for long distance casting as very aerodynamic, and also for proper silt fishing, but other than that, I try to stick to pendant or inline lead arrangements. As for rigs to use, pop-up or bottom bait, fairly short rigs, or long enough to come out of the silt (may be a reason for switching to a longer rig on a pendant set-up). I used to braid on my silt rigs, but others have used fluorocarbon, mono etc. In other words, there is really no right or wrong, just what does or doesn't work for you.

Don't use braid on a spod/spomb rod. It doesn't stretch and is more likely to crack off than mono with a shockleader. I use Drennan Grey Greased Weasel in 40 or 60lb, or even Black 30lb Amnesia as my shockleader with the spod rod and not had a crack-off while casting.

A few places; Leadshed, Hippysleads. It may be worth googling or searching them up on FB or ebay, as there are a number of places doing them cheap

Exactly. My supple section is usually 1/3 of the length of the rig. So a 15cm rig is 10cm of stiff material, and 5 of braid

If you want a supple, stiff, supple rig, then use a coated braid and strip it at both ends leaving a coated section in the middle. Simples Mind you, you could always use a large loop on the stiff section so it can turn easily if you are using a supple braid at the hook end

Surely with a second hook that may be flying you risk extra damage to the fish? Main hook in bottom lip, second hook catches outside lip, as fish is netted, hook in cheek tears out. Or as Andy has said, you have hook in lip, and second hook in throat, which could be difficult to remove and may or may not seal the throat or mouth shut.

I don't like maggot clips or the use of a second hook, and I'll stick to putting maggots on thread or floss tied onto rig ring or even sew maggots and thread onto a piece of foam or glue them to a cork ball

But should you have to do that, shouldn't they be ready to use straight out the packet??? I agree with Andy's theory, but plastic will soften after a bit of use, or be stiff before its used. You could just as easily rub and squeeze the tail rubber for a few minutes before putting it onto the lead clip. I'm not a lead clip fan, but those with a plastic peg to hold the clip to the hook link swivel, I think are safer than those that may be able to pull free

But surely all of those issues apply when fishing slack lines at any range, and yet the world and his dog say it's the only way to fish! (Ok not everyone, but a lot these days.) With slack lines you get no drop back indication, and the fish has to move a substantial quantity of line before you get an indication in any direction. A fish on a slack line could run sideways or towards you with no indication at all as the bobbin is flat down. I thought I was hitting a happy medium by fishing semi-slack, and keeping the line in the deck with a back lead. The back lead also means you can have the bobbins a bit off the ground to register a drop back, and a limited amount of line out so it's flat on the bottom. I normally don't fish back leads under the tips, usually I slide it out and drop it at the deepest point between me and the hook bait. I'm confused. I need a beer. I guess all ways have their good and bad points. Solve one problem you create another, solve that one and another occurs, and so on. I honestly think that with a slack line and running leads indication is increased. Think of a cable running through a conduit, you can pull it easily from end to end, but try to pull it sideways and you have a resistance, now underwater a slack line acts in the same way. Gary has pointed out the flaw with a slack line and running lead, the presence of undertow, so you want a sinking line that you can get down to the lakebed, either a good sinking mono or a fluorocarbon line. It can take a while to get the line totally slack and down to the lakebed. Cast out and tighten down to the lead with the rod tip under the water. Then as you put the rod on the rests, pull line off the reel, so much that line is drooping between the eyes, and put the indicator on at maximum drop, it's lowest point. You may find that the line tightens and pulls the indicator up, each time it does, pull more line off the reel. It can take as much as 20minutes to get it all down. There are times when fishing a slack line is not possible, as I said, no back leads, that same running lead set-up and I fish with the line extremely tight from rod to lead, you get indication from runs or drop backs

Would the line tight but through a back lead be enough to give this effect? The swim I'm in right now is quite tight, and really playing a fish in would be a nightmare unless the lines were on the bottom from a few yards past the tip. I usually fish semi-slack through a back lead to make sure it's all down. Sorry to fire a bunch of quotes and questions at you. Thinking many things at once here! I don't like back leads at all, they give the fish more time to get rid of the bait without any indication at the rod end, create another angle in your line from end tackle to back lead then lakebed to rod tip, another 90degree (ish) angle and the fish can move a long way before you get any indication as well. You could make life a whole lot easier, dependant on how tight the swim, by having the rod tips under water at the extreme margin. Don't fish with your rods over the water, but have the tips down in the water. Also even though I suggested a bolt set-up, I have still managed to fish with a running lead at distance, over 100metres, but if you can't then you want the lines as tight as possible. So tight, you're even trying to 'stretch' the line. You want your heavy indicator at the top, line dead tight. If you have any slack, then the fish can move away without indication, and if you aren't tight with the heavy indicator, then you won't get any indication of a drop back.

Here's a point for you, if you do snap off with a leader, as Gary has pointed out the usual breaking place is the mainline to leader knot, then the lead must be able to come off. A lead clip may or may not work, especially as the tail rubber has been pushed on so you don't eject the lead on casting. Switch to a large run ring, effectively a running lead, but by having the line tight, you make a bolt or semi-fixed lead; with that run ring the ring can slide off and over the broken point, even if the line has coiled itself into a bundle of loops. If there is no weight on the leader and hook link, then the hook can be ejected as per Levigsp's post on another thread the other day, with the callous/blister effect.

I don't agree. Most of my fishing is with size 4s, regardless of bait. Same here,

Didn't Terry Hearn name it that as it was designed to sit on top of the detritus (chod) on the lake bed? The difference between the chod and the helicopter was that the helicopter was mainly used with rig tubing and the rig sat quite close to the lead set up whereas the chod rig was initially set up on lead core and a fair distance (in comparison to the heli rig) from the lead, with the chod rig the lead was set up further away so as not to drag the rig down into the chod with the lead, with the helicopter set up the rig would quite often follow the lead into soft chod thereby masking it. No mate, it was originally used as a sliding rig set-up, so that the bait would be sat on top of the detritus, either with a leader or tubing, not necessarily leadcore. The use of a leader came about as a naked set-up at the time (no decent rig beads suitable or available) was prone to snapping due to line twist, and then leadcore was supposedly better to mask or keep the line down. The helicopter set-ups were not necessarily just for silt fishing, but also as the most suitable for long casting. The name reputedly came fom a Rob Maylin/Terry Hearn conversation when Rob Maylin asked about the lakebed and Terry Hearn replied 'its quite choddy out there'.

My tackle box is a complete mess, and almost definitely contains rubbish I rarely or simply don't use The important stuff: A (100m) spool of Preston Reflo 10lb mono, Berkeley XL 7lb mono, 4lb mono, a spool of (Kryston) Mantis, Merlin and then Amnesia in 15, 20 and 30lb, for stiff links and the occasional shockleader. About 25 leads in 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3ozs. Baiting needles (of which I have too many and various types), stringer needle. Run rings and quick link clips etc, a couple of spinlinks and a few found lead clips. Couple of packets of hooks. Dental floss, putty and a few shot, boilie stops (raided from fire extinguisher tags when I used to work as a technician). The rest of the Tackle box not just the Rig Making equipment

Andy, I'm sure I mentioned it in the past, but I think some braids just aren't suitable for hooklinks. While Kryston SuperSilk is very fine, I think it is probably a bit like you say cheese wire. Many of the lower breaking strain braids I think are too much of a risk, Drennan Super Specialist, even the low BS Merlin, Silkworm and definitely a 'mainline' braid. I've split this down into a separate topic

Sainsbury's basics Dental Floss. As for mint or not, I don't worry about it, being as mint is possibly an attractor

I try to live a simple life, and want fishing to be as simple as well. I'm pretty much set on a run ring running up and down the mainline or tubing with no backstop; It can be used as a proper running lead with a slack line, or as a bolt rig with a tight line. It has the other advantage in that should I get a break-off the fish is not trailing any rubbish around behind it, the only thing it trails is a rig which it should be able to eject in a short time. As for rigs, I've been playing and tying up various rigs up over the years, and seem to go back to basics, changing only hooklink materials. It's easy to change between a knotless knot, or add a line aligner with silicon or shrink tubing from that basic rig, and a coated or uncoated braid, or even mono is pretty simple to tie. I would add fluorocarbon, but you do have to be aware that fluorocarbon may get abraded on the hookeye with a knotless knot. I also think that too much is given to fancy rigs on many lakes, when in many cases the same rig will work, but not enough anglers know how to feed the water properly to get the best out of it http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=55800

Vinegar may make a very good attractant. It is the solvent base in a few liquid food dyes, and I have used them in a (food) bait myself. As for beetroot, I can't see it being a total failure, as I'm sure it is exactly the same as any other bait, put it in the right place, and it should catch. It is just whether it is an attractant or repellant with the vinegar. As for beetroot on its own, it bleeds and will stain anything with its natural red dye, lemon juice will remove it.

Whatever hook pattern I have faith in and use normally, length around 20cms, but will change dependant on hookholds and losses, and always a braided hooklink.

Don't get me wrong, where there is a need for distance casting, then the use of a shockleader will mean that you can reach the fish. Yet in any water with snags or weeds in then the leader should be dispensed with. I used to fish Suffolk Water Park a fair bit, and that is very weedy, some serious gravel bars, more flint than gravel, and some large swan mussels. I was using a set-up that incorporated leadcore, to (hopefully) prevent the bars wearing through the line, but the leadcore on playing a fish actually went round the end of the bar, and cut off above the leader, leaving the fish trailing a rig and leader, and probably a lead as well. On the same note, I also retrieved a load of line, attached to a leader, complete with lead on helicopter set-up and rig, that had been cracked off. That same water has also lost fish that have been tethered up when the leaders have caught up in the weed. It is one of the reasons that I started thinking about safety and removing leadcore and leaders from my set-up.

Adding any leader to your mainline increases the danger and risk of tethering to fish. In fact if you fish a water with any weed or snags, then you should accept that you can't use a leader, even for maximum distance casting, and fish closer. I'm actually getting to the stage of believing that fishing with a leader should not be part of carp fishing. The only place that a leader should be used is for absolute maximum distance casting, but only in large clear waters. A leader increases the chance of rigs being unable to eject off the leader should it get twisted or even over the knot. If you do suffer a break-off, and the line gives way, then when you are putting tackle under stress, the weak point has been shifted towards the rod tip. You may be able to tie a perfect knot, but the first weak point nearly always gives, and that weak point is the mainline to leader knot. The result, you have lost fish (maybe), rig, leader, lead etc. But now as the line cracks back around itself, it may have birds nested, and so preventing ejection. If you leave a leader with baited rig etc in the lake, that rig is fishing until the bait or hook rots away. Also in most cases, a leader does absolutely no use whatsoever in disguising your end tackle. A tight line will allow vibrations and sound to travel down it, whether mono, fluoro etc. So using an apparently clear line (or supposedly invisible underwater), does not necessarily mean it can't be detected. In fact even underwater, fluorocarbon will be visible in certain conditions, it passes a shadow over gravel, sand or clay (!), and can be seen along the same lines as a mirage. Over weed it may not be noticed, but then we come back to the tackle risk. The best way to disguise your line is to fish it slack, or running along the lakebed. In fact at much above 40metres, I reckon the line will be running over the lakebed anyway as it naturally drops down from the tips in an arc.