salokcinnodrog

I like the boom to have a bit of ply in it so that it has a chance of settling if over a stone/twig etc?? I tend to use a loop knot if joining the Amnesia to a standard swivel, or use a ringed swivel. I think that in most cases it sets down nicely on the lakebed with that.

For boom materials I'm still old fashioned, and use Amnesia. It works is stiff enough and as an added bonus, the black fits in nicely over silty lakebeds, and the clear is just that, clear The black is slightly softer and more supple than the clear. My usual for boom sections is the 20lb, but occasionally I resort to 30. One thing I will say with Amnesia, always check and double check your knots, a 3 turn blood knot works to a swivel, but I still prefer that Uni/Grinner knot for security. Amnesia can be a pig, as you will need to check it almost every fish. I believe that Tim Paisley was using the hinged set-up with a silkworm mini hooklink section and a bottom bait.

I've given up using leaders as much as possible, now only for long distance casting, and will still use tubing or go totally naked I consider the theory of tubing to 'stop the fish rubbing or catching scales' as absolute rubbish. It may very rarely happen, but it is very rare, and you don't use a leader or tubing when floater or zig rig fishing, so that puts that out as Bones kind of says. I'm quite happy using mono straight through, just take your time getting the line down and putting indicators on, and no problems

Perry, My hate for Korda is that some of the tackle that hits the market is not always the best (or safest) for that which it is released for and the overly aggressive article advertising. While I agree that some products are ok, and Korda are NOT the most highly priced equipment, there are some things that just are not safe or necessarily properly thought out, yet are advertised as the be all and end all. Don't get me wrong there are some things that I think are best from Korda, a certain marker float springs to mind, and the original ready made coated leads (someone will say that Gold Label did it first now ), yet other things are not always the best, and customer service and advice has on occasions been misled. To be fair I would say with any manufacturer, don't stick with one tackle brand, you have to try all and get feedback to be able to make an informed decision as to what you use. As it happens, when it comes to hooklinks, other than a few spools of mono and Amnesia in my box, I haven't used any brand other than Kryston for years.

Either Go Outdoors or Blacks or check on Ebay. I'm still using the Web Tex Warrior stove I recommend on this thread: http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=28868&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=stove&start=25

Take your pick, Rig Tying or Tackle and Equipment Sorted and placed in Rig Tying as you can then add any additionals about the rigs you tie up with the material.

My thoughts as well A nice straight hooklink always looks so good, but the fish may be able to feel the 'extension' of the link and lead if it is laid out straight. A heap of hooklink, the fish don't know how long it is and so may be more likely to move off, giving a proper run

Braided rigs can tangle with running leads, but there is PVA to cure that, and feathering the cast also helps. The lead can also end up with the rig around it on landing on the lakebed, but is tangle free, but tangles on the retrieve as the lead pops free

I actually think that a number of people are unintentionally fishing Zig rigs on helicopter set-ups, hence the Chod rigs reputation for cast anywhere. I try to work out the depth of the silt where I am fishing (a piece of wool tied to the lead will take on the colour of the lakebed), and then adjust the top bead accordingly. As for the use of leadcore, I had best say no more than the poxy stuff should be banned, there are far too many emotive threads on here about that subject

While I agree that on casting the bottom bead should in theory stop the rig sliding down towards the lead, it may actually slide down towards the lead anyway under pressure during the fight from a fish. You play a fish, and usually the line thins some, so a stop knot may well slide down the line towards the lead anyway. This can still result in the fish getting banged about with a lead close to the head. It may actually be better to fish a longer rig to keep the lead away from the fish during the fight, so thiose mega short 3 inch rigs could be a thing of the past The top bead you want enough rig travel so that the bait is presented on top (if that is where fish feeding) of the silt. As for whether you fish tight or slack, my view with a silt rig is that you want a very tight line, so that you get all indications. Single bleeps can often still be fish hooked. Secondary bleeps can be the fish doing a disappearing act, minus your hook. With a slack line, you may well be missing indications, especially as the lead is semi-fixed.

I was going to add to my previous post, but forgot to edit it, what about using your main line as your mono hooklink as well? It works, it means you aren't buying extra line for the sake of it as well, and is something I have been known to do In fact if you get hold of a copy of Tim Paisleys To Catch a Carp, on the rigs chapter a few recommendations from some big names for doing exactly that. It is something that Paddy Webb, Lee Jackson and others often do (or did) Debated and thought about it, finally decided to moce this into Rig Tying section

For Carp fishing I use a few nylon hooklink materials. 15lb clear Amnesia. 7lb Berkeley Trilene XL 12lb Drennan Sub Surface Fly Leader in green or brown These hooklink materials are the ones I use for surface fishing and bottom fishing on the occasions I am happy to use a nylon hooklink (which on day sessions I often do). The Amnesia will take a Rapala loopknot at the mainline end, and a 3 turn blood knot. The Drennan and Berkeley I tend to use a knotless knot to tie the hook on, and then my standard Uni knot at the swivel end mainline join.

Try using a paper clip to attach the lead to with a running lead

Although not mine as such, I have always looked after them, I miss my Mother and Stepfathers dogs. Barnaby is mad, and has caused me grief over the years, whereas Douglas is a little lap dog but both absolutely love fishing with me. I do also miss my childrens cat, a mostly white tortoiseshell that they have called Tallulah and their Staff, a brindle that they got from RSPCA, called Bongo As for Barnaby putting me through it, have a read: http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=31800&highlight=barnaby

I found a picture of the Beach Beads that I used to use. Please note that you MUST NOT glue them together, despite the instructions. They are designed for Sea Fishing, where the use of glue may not be as big a hazard, but for carp fishing and any helicopters, DO NOT glue them. http://www.coxandrawle.com/products/accessories/beach-beads I'm not so sure about a helicopter being the easiest to lose the lead if the mainline snaps, it has to be possible for the rig to be ejected. On the occasions that I have had a snap-off on Brackens pool where the fish made it to snags, or on occasion I have overcast into a tree and the mainline snapped, I have always found that the mainline snapped at the knot between mainline and the hooklink swivel. The knot is the weakest part of the equation, and that first knot (should you be using a leader), is always the place it has snapped for me. Since I use a free running lead, I know that the fish is not trailing anymore than the rig should it get picked up.

Zipp shaped Inline lead with a long braided hooklink, line aligned and a PVA bag full of pellets, chops, crumbs and boilies

Agreed entirely, the only thing as anglers that we can do is to make sure that we fish as safely as possible. Helicopter set-ups can be made as safe as possible by using a free running bead which allow the rig to be ejected in the event of a snap-off (I used to use Cox and Rawle Beach Beads), or by a few simple homemade items put together. A piece of rigid tubing with a tail rubber on the end, a rubber bead as a stopper at each end, and a ring swivel with your rig in between the beads. In the event of a snap-off the rubber bead at the rod tip end will pull off the tubing, and allow the rig to come free. It MUST (or as close to 100% as possible) then be able to come over the mainline breakage. If you want it fixed near the lead the tail rubber can be pushed onto the rigid tubing and used to cover the lead attachment (to me a lead clip), but if you do want it free running, then the rubber bead is at the end. I'll agree it can look a bit Heath Robinson, but it definitely works http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=37603

A running lead should be instantly more safe with the run ring running on the mainline. In the event of a snap-off the lead will be ejected and so the fish is only trailing the rig and at most length of line, which should allow for the hook to be ejected. On the case of helicopter rig and a snap-off the fish is likely automatically trailing a lead as well as the rig. If the rig itself is free running up and down the mainline then it should pull free of the end of the snapped mainline. However in that case then should you be fishing with slack lines (and no snap-off), then the rig can be ejected with no indication at the rod end.

I agree with yours and Gaz's comment about too much clothing in the bag. At night in the winter one of the best things to wear is a pair of jogging bottoms; they are light enough to wear comfortably and if it does get chilly out should you need to get up, then you can pull a decent pair of trousers over them. A t-shirt for the top half is also easy enough to pull warm clothing and jackets over, although playing a fish trying to pull a smock style hoodie or jacket on is a bit awkward, so I would suggest putting clothing on before getting out the bivvy if possible. As for sleeping bag, a mate of mine swears by his Trakker Big Snooze and cover, although I went the camping shop option and got myself a minus 12 bag by Coleman.

A standard rig? A D-rig is my standard pop-up rig, and it also works nicely with snowman bait set-ups. As for bottom bait, a knotless knotted hook with a decent length hair and a line aligner. The good thing about a knotless knot is that by adding a piece of shrink or silicone tubing can be converted to a line aligner easily. Now my comment about a standard rig is that every rig may well be constructed exactly the same, but you can change it by your choice of hooklink materials; braid coated or not, mono, fluorocarbon, combi-rig.

The fact that you can lower the bait in really helps. Crays can be a right pain in the bottom, although I'm certain that carp will eat small ones, even if they do leave the monsters. I've had baits that I'm positive have been crayed in the lagoons, a series of bleeps and later that night had a carp on the bait. When I retrieved the hook from the fishes lip I could see the meshed bait had been attacked, but the carp were still happy to take it.

Some good advice there from Beanz... To answer your question: I am not a fan of the chod rig at the best of times due to the tendency for the mainline / leader to be lifted up off the bottom. This effect could be magnified fishing so close in on a slackish line. The fact that the bait is popped up is also perhaps something I would avoid when fishing over particles or chops. Just because it is choddy under the tree does not mean that you have to use a chod rig. Personally I would just swing out a little bag with a bottom bait (balanced if you like). If you are worried about the chod either drag a lead through it (you can get little "rake" leads with prongs on for this) a couple of times or give it a gentle rake - just not when you're fishing or the fish are there! The last time I fished under a margin tree, I just pulled a lead across the spot once to check for big snags and lowered a little mesh bag under it. It was away in an hour... Would you go running lead? And would that be inline or on a clip or not really fussed? Do you mean a small bag just for hook or a pva bag with lead and hook in? I'm the same as HNV in that I won't use a chod or silt set-up when fishing over particles close in. In fact my preferred method, especially when fishing one rod, is with lift float tactics if possible. If that is not practical then as long a hooklink as I can get away with and a bottom bait. I feel that pop-ups are a risk for foul hooking and fishing a bait above where the fish are feeding. That is not to say a pop-up won't work, as sometimes it could be the first bait taken, but that if the fish are feeding comfortably on the bottom, then that is where I want my bait. I tend to stick to my favoured running lead set-up with a coated and stripped back near the hook or plain braid so that the hooklink doesn't sit up from the bottom.

If everyone fishes with rigs of 15cm long, or everyone fishes a chod rig with a bright pop-up then the better the fish learn to deal with it and catches go down. By changing from the norm, creating different circumstances, then the fish can't cope with them and (your) catches go up. Years ago I fished a water where everyone fished with rigs between 20 and 30cms on semi-fixed lead set-ups. As a result the carp would back-off slowly with the hook in their mouth the length of the rig, and were quite able to eject the hook. By changing to a longer or shorter rig the fish were hooked as they weren't expecting it. Switching from semi-fixed leads to running rigs also increased catches, although I didn't tell everyone that I had switched. You were confusing the fish from usual circumstances. While I have used a stiff rig with a knotless knot made from Amnesia, I feel that to some extent the hair needs to be supple (this is after a couple of hookpulls on the stiff hair), and allow some bait movement, which the stiff hair prevents. My answer to this was to switch to a D-rig, knotless knot the hook, but putting a ring on and then the tag end back into the eye and lighter tagging the end to prevent it pulling back out. The hair I would then make from either dental floss or light mono of around 4lb. In fact for a period of time it was my standard set-up with a snowman bait as it worked so well. It does work with bottom baits if the water is clear and mostly weed free. I did another version with a supple hair, which was a bit more fiddly to tie though, with a braided material (whipping thread, floss) or fine mono, and attached the hair to the eye by knot and whipped it down the back of the hook. The hook knot I then covered with a small piece of shrink tube to protect the knot and hold the whipping and hair in place. Both versions work.

Not a Noddy question at all, and partly down to the type, colour and smell of the silt where the food is or the carp feed. Its not really easy to explain the different types of silt. In really black, chemically smell rotting type silt the carp tend to feed on top of it more than in it. If they dig into it to feed they tend to get a faceful of noxious gas, so prefer not to feed in it, also I think the natural food isn't in this stuff, but usually more on top of it. Then other silt doesn't seem to be so stinky, and contains plenty of food inside it, so the carp will feed in the silt.

Me personally I have had a number of problems with helicopter/chod rig set-ups over time in terms of around 20 years fishing. The problems were bad enough that unless I absolutely have to I don't use the helicopter or bomb on the end of the line set-ups at all. I will only use them when I can't fish any other method over silt. The first problem I found was that if the hook pattern wasn't perfectly suitable and the hook wasn't taken in deep enough on a take it was prone to opening or pulling out. Another problem I found was that naked set-ups, with the rig revolving around the mainline on a swivel then the mainline was prone to breakages. This required the use of a leader or tubing to cover the problem, but in turn this increased the risk of a fish trailing a load of rubbish should you snap-off. I will say that many of the modern naked helicopter kits and pieces are a whole lot more suitable than they were. Now to take it to the difference between chod and helicopter rigs. A helicopter rig is basically a rig where the bomb is on the end of the line, with the rig able able to revolve around the line, in theory going round the line on the cast like a helicopters rotors. A chod is a form of helicopter/ bomb on the end of the line set-up, but is slightly more developed in that it also includes the hooklink as part of the set-up. The original silt rig was pretty much the same as the chod rig, but the bait was not 100% fished as a pop-up as the chod rig seems to have become. The hooklink was also not set in stone, but was still able to slide up and down the mainline to cope with the depth of the silt. A final note for you, although Tockenham is silt, it may be best to fish where the fish feed, so if they are feeding IN the silt then that is where you need to put your bait. If they feed ON TOP of the silt then that could be best.