salokcinnodrog

Rodney The lake I fish is sometimes very clear, but usually cloudy. When it is clear normally around February to March, the water is so clear you can see the bottom in 15feet of water (and all of the snags if people bothered to look). Even then I still use my coated and stripped braided or combi-rig hooklinks. I do have a picture somewhere of a clear winter margin with a braided rig in it. I know that in the middle of the lake is totally different in terms of what the fish can or can't see, but this margin picture convinced me that sometimes we may try too hard to camouflage everything when we have no need. I'd use fluorocarbon not for its invisible properties, but actually for its different behaviour regarding stiffness and how the fish were taking the bait. Is this any use? http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=33587

I don't like mono as a hooklink with pop-up rigs, I feel that they lack finesse, the curve of the mono is not allowing the hooklink to lay flat and then vertical if that makes sense. I much prefer the method I put in one of your other rig threads, to tie a Uni knot loop at the end of a coated (and partially stripped) or uncoated braid and then attach the hook with a KK. Also the pattern of the hook I prefer is a Kamasan B175, I don't feel a curve shank hook is right for pop-ups. No need for shrink tube For Gardner Muggas, I still prefer my braided (coated and a stripped section or uncoated hooklinks), but use them only for bottom or snowman set-ups, where the snowman is an 18mm bottom bait with a 15mm pop-up above it, or the winter alternative a 15mm bottom bait, with a trimmed down pop-up to only just sink the bait and hook. The hook is attached with a Uni knot and line aligner.

I'm lazy, my standard pop-up rig is braid or coated braid. I tie a uni knot loop in the end of the hooklink material (coated braid is stripped back approximately one third of its length), put a pop-up in the loop and pull tight. I then attach hook with a knotless knot, and make sure that the bait is very tight to the hookshank. The distance I want the pop-up above the bottom I put a piece of putty on the hooklink. With the coated braid, it is usually where the braid has been stripped to. Its simple, easy to tie, and it works for me and has done so for a lot of years, but I noticed Cobleyn has different thoughts, so you will have to get confident in an arangement for yourself to see what works best. I very rarely put a stringer or pva bag or even stick around a pop-up hookbait, the added accoutrements can drag the hook down into the bottom debris and mask the hookpoint. I may add a stringer to the hooklink swivel, but NEVER the hook itself

A snowman can be a critically balanced bait, the pop-up balancing the weight of the bottom bait, or it can be a pop-up, with both baits lifted off the bottom, or just using a pop-up to provide attraction to a heavy bottom bait. Don't confuse yourself with rigs In most cases a simple knotless knotted rig will work, for pop-ups or bottom baits. Simply tie a loop at the end of a length of hooklink material, and attach a hook with a knotless knot. If you prefer a "tied on" hook, then use a good knot, and attach a hair (fine breaking strain mono or hair braid/dental floss) by going through the hook eye and tie a bog standard blood knot, and to protect the lot I put a piece of shrink tube over the eye of the hook and down the shank to get the hair leaving the shank in the right place. That bog standard rig will work in most places This should keep you busy and hopefully some interesting reading http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=33587 http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=22185 http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=35896 http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=37416

Braid all the time. I do not possess any fluorocarbon hooklink material of any kind. Last time it was used was with an adjustable zig rig, can't remember the last time I used a fluoro rig on the bottom

Nick- what've you done??? You know that's going to cost you a few hook pulls Didn't say that I had dropped a fish on one of my old patterns though due to me pulling too hard though did I And not forgetting a snapped combi- hooklink down to me being careless and lazy

I'm sticking with the Gardner Muggas now. Them and the B175's are now the only hooks I have left in the tackle box. I don't see a need to change, I know they work, go in and stay in, in clear and snaggy waters. I can honestly say that since I have been using Muggas I have not dropped a fish (kiss of death that ), and I'm fishing for big fish

I'm not 100% on dropping the lead on a heli setup. I work on the assumption that the lead dragging on the lakebed will allow the rig to slide up and off the mainline at the "broken" end, using the weight to make the rig safe. I know the theory that the rig can then slide off either end, but it still doesn't quite sit right in my limited brain power. The rig could be halfway up the leader or line and both ends are trailing with "equal" pressure, and so the rig is trapped until one or both ends snags, which could actually be as fatal as having a rig that couldn't slide off the line anyway. I don't particularly like helicopter set-ups, especially its current favourite Chod. Helicopter set-ups on many occasions have a swivel rubbing over the line which can lead to your mainline (or leader) being abraded by the swivel. It doesn't take a nick or mark in the swivel to wear line, the metal itself could be enough to eventually break the line, usually under pressure of a fish. Properly fished with a helicopter bead or a version I came up with years ago using a short length of rigid tubing the helicopter set-ups should be as safe for fishing, but they DON'T necessarily give full bite indication at the rod end. The most important part is that the rig CAN slide off the mainline or leader, so that the most a carp (or any other fish) is trailing is just a short hooklink.

A whole thread from a month or so ago, all about fishing with maggots http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=51663&highlight=fishing+maggots Found via the search facility, when I could get my fingers to interact with my brain and the keyboard in the correct order

Hooklink is from the mainline join all the way through to the hook. The hair is possibly a continuation of the hooklink material if the hook is tied onto that line with a "knotless knot". (http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=22185) Coated braid, it has an additional stiffening, protective coating or layer over (uncoated) braid, that can usually be stripped off. The inner core may be the same as other uncoated braids available. I'm not sure that versatile is quite the right word, but I understand what you mean. If you are convinced that matching the hooklink (trace in US methodology) to the bottom you are fishing over, then you may want want that matches perfectly. Braids can be "folded" up over themselves and the whole lot put into a PVA bag along with the hook and bait, whereas you couldn't do that with mono or fluorocarbon without crinkling. Of the Kryston products you have mentioned, I have used them all, coated and uncoated, and had no problems. I bought a spool of Merlin about 4 years ago, and for the cost of that spool, it is still going, and I do go through a fair number of hook links each year. I think that I also bought Mantis at the same time, and again, that spool is still going.

Personally, I'd totally avoid leaders in fishing, with the exception of a shockleader for maximum distance casting, and especially avoid leadcore totally: http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=32598 http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=40970&highlight=leadcore http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=39794 As for hooklinks, what do you like and have faith and confidence in? Personally I like braid, coated and uncoated, and combi rigs with Amnesia works for me, and I have used Kryston since the year dot. It works, has never failed (although 1 combi rig did when I failed to test and check it was still good after a big fish ), and because of that I see no reason to change. Mono works, fluorocarbon hooklinks work, so get yourself happy and comfortable with one for you. http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=33587 Hope you find the links useful

Handy to bring up an old thread I use the boilie stops that come on the "length". Fire extinguisher tags, clothes label tags that you cut the boilie stop off each time. I push the forward pointed (ish) end into the bottom boilie, and then cut it off close to the boilie. It stops the boilie sliding up and down the hair

A leader knot on this thread: http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=37444&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=25 Or this may be handy: http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?p=449670#449670 The mono leader I put an overhand knot but don't pull it tight. Thread the thinner mono or braid through that loop in line, then up the leader I tie a Uni knot. Now pull the overhand loop tight, and gradually tighten down the Uni knot. I blob the tag ends with a lighter, just makes for a nicer tidier finish, and prevents the blobs pulling through.

Why add extra bits and pieces to make life more difficult than you need to? A simple pop-up rig is exactly the same rig as a bottom bait rig, but with a pop-up attached to the hook and a counterweight on or below the hook/hair to set your distance. Many of my pop-up rigs are simply a Uni-knot loop at the end of the hair, (with bait in loop when tying hooklink), and a knotless knot with the bait tight to the shank. The counterbalance is then just below the hook the distance you want it popped up. I must confess though, make sure you use VERY buoyant pop-ups, and overbalance them rather than critically getting as close to neutral as you possibly can. I want the hook to be proud of the lakebed, sitting shank straight up, and point pointing straight down. Other than that I find a D-rig is usually the best presentation I can use for pop-ups. Is this any use? http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=22185

How simple would you like it? Simple hooklink material, same as the line that is on your reels, monofilament Fairly tangle free, although I will say that it doesn't necessarily take a knotless knot very well, especially with certain hook patterns where the line rubs over the eye, so in most cases I would recommend using a "proper" knot, and tying on a hair, which is easy enough as well. A thin length of mono tied to the eye of the hook and then line aligner down the hookshank to "exit" point protects the lot. When it comes to other hooklink materials, braids, coated and uncoated, I stick with what I know works, and for me, better than all the rest, is Kryston. I use Mantis, Mantis Gold, SuperSilk, SuperNova and Merlin. I use what I know works, and sorry to all of the other brands, I have never had Kryston hooklink materials give way, never a problem, so I see no need to try anything else and simply can't be bothered with any other make. Is this any use? http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=22185

Coated braid being stiffer than uncoated means you can reduce tangles as one reason, but by choosing where you "break" the coating you can create hinges, or have stripped sections at either end of the hooklink.

This one Jez?

Is this any use? http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=42729

Any use? http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=26640 http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=27479&highlight=running+leads

The past couple of years I have really been complicating the issue for myself, but bear in mind that I'm not fishing a standard water, but more now a heavily fished pit which is home to a number of very good anglers, and some big fish. I've been down the Combi-rig route with the same sort of ending (in fact it did produce my previous PB from the same lake, along with numbers of other fish), and at times I do still think that it is a very useful rig set-up. It is pictured with details of tyin on the " How to Tie the Knotless Knot" thred Jemsue also asked why in many cases we overcomplicate things, (http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=47507&highlight=complicated) but I STILL think that in most cases, there is no need to confuse yourself and the fish by anything other than a plain basic line aligner and hair rig.

DON'T Ever have a swivel attaching the leadcore to the mainline, and really best NOT to use leadcore. Have a read: http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=22185 http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=36456 http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=51296 If you don't need to complicate things with a Combi-rig, then don't bother, a standard straight hooklink will catch plenty.

Line through a Tail Rubber, and with the plastic peg going through the inside of an inline lead push the tail rubber over the top of the plastic peg (if worried about line damage a piece of shrink tubing shrunk over the peg will provide protection), and tie the mainline to your hooklink swivel. Then push a rubber tulip bead over the swivel knot and inside the base of the inline lead. The line goes outside the lead, which will pop off if snagged. Far safer than ever using leadcore on an inline set-up, which because it will always trail behind the rig in the event of a snap-off is NOT safe!

Definitely NOT the Korda ones! In my humble view they are probably the worst lead clips on the market, and I don't like lead clips at all unless I positively have to use them. You should have: mainline to swivel with free running run ring or (fixed in terms of so the lead can come off) lead clip, swivel knotted to hooklink or attached to quick link, quick link to hooklink.

Thread moved to correct section. Is this any use? http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=33587 http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=22185

An old thread back up to the top How much do magazines and the fashion rigs actually work in our fishing.? Does using a KD rig really make that much difference over our standard knotless knotted? Come to that, could a line aligner actually work when we may be losing or not even hooking fish on a knotless knotted rig? Is switching to a KD rig the natural answer to that knotless knotted rig "failing"? How many people do think about changing the hair length, the rig length, or even how we feed the swim? Those things may totally change the effectiveness of a rig for the better (or worse). The "standard" hair rig was adapted by Rod Hutchinson and Roger Smith; Hutchys Sliding or Extending hair and Roger Smiths D-rig, both progressions from their fishing at the time. Strange we still use the D-rig (always capitalised due to the "shape" of the hair attachment), yet the sliding hair is almost forgotten in the annals of history. Often we change rigs for the sake of change, or fashion, we don't necessarily take the next progression of adaptation from what we already have. Its all well and good asking what rig to use, on a forum, or reading the answers in a magazine, but they don't give or cover OUR circumstances, we need to experiment ourselves. As anglers fishing we need to have an understanding or natural ability to play with mechanics, as simple as using a line aligner over a knotless knot, and as easy as changing the hair length