salokcinnodrog

It may not just be down to spawning season. The Carp are likely to be pre-occupied on Natural Food, (their own spawn), and so maybe not particularly interested in Boilies. Simple rigs may be more effective, or maybe the Extending Hair or hooklinks

You have already asked for favourite rigs: http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=27522 Each rig has its own purpose as Ozric has stated. The first step on from the Basic Hair is simply to play with the length of the Hair and/or Hooklink. The next step forward in the rig evolution is the extending hair or the D-rig. If I told you that in 20years of Carping my rigs are almost identical to when I started and I have caught from quite a few different venues. In fact on this Thread: http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=22185, the top two rigs are what I use nearly all the time with confidence. The only difference is I have gone from Mono to Braids, back to mono/fluorocarbon and returned to braids/coated braids as I found that with stiffer rig materials I had more hookpulls, especially in the shorter hooklinks

My advice is to stick to what is working for you at the moment. Your line aligner is working and has got you a PB, why change for the sake of change? The first thing you should change in any case is the length of the hair and/or the length of the Hooklink

Mantis, Mantis Gold and staying with Mantis. Korda had a problem with unexplained breakages and recalled a load of their Hybrid and had to replace it. Saying that there are still some unexplained breakages and it doesn't appear to have much on the Abrasion resistant front.

The hair is actually what I tie the bait on with. Looking at that knot I set it up for a 18mm Pop-up. I do have a small hair coming off from the Ring, normally just to give a bit of lateral movement as well as backwards and forwards

Mantis or mantis gold, with a small section stripped back usually D-rigs work well with Bottom baits or pop-ups and particularly well with critically balanced baits. Basically something like that: Coated Braid D-rig:

The Hair Attachment pics I knew I had somewhere. Taken from Andy Littles, Anglers Mail Guide to Carp Fishing This pic must be from the 80's, but even then there was always the playing about with Hair positioning to find the best place to tie the hair. The original hair was from the bend of the hook, then was played around with to see what worked best. Must admit all the hairs I tie seem to come off the shank, almost opposite where the Barb is or would be in barbless patterns.

And Kryston drop em

If you type in Surface Fishing as a search (all terms), this subject came up last week. There are quite a few different ideas on the subject. http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=27905&highlight=surface+fishing

This may interest you, its about 2 months old, http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=26256 or http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=26500&highlight=rig+length but think that it links to the first anyway. I think most of my thoughts on rig lengths are on there

Gardner critical mass, probably the best putty going £7.19 at Tackle shop prices Nash Total Mass £5.50 Plus its re-usable, so its not that expensive to rub some up and down the line. Plasticine can be used as a weight, but its not "heavy" compared to putty. Like I said in the above post, rub the hooklink in mud or clay

Don't think my fingers are that good either. Have Broken 2 fingers on each hand, but just the thought makes me cringe. I'm not sure, but supposedly the Double Barrelled crimps have to be used with a particular type of line, and not fluorocarbon as they do damage certain makes of line. Think it was whychwood who made the crimps and the line to suit. I suppose it makes for a tidier loop in shorter rigs, but I can't bring myself to do it.

These are the posts from the other Hook pulls thread. Kev, I totally understand and agree with what you are saying. Silt/Helicopter rigs are possibly more responsible for Hookpulls and hook straightening than In-line/Pendant lead arrangements. The angle of pull is not direct to the hook, but at an angle across the hook. A hookpoint that has not gone in to the depth of the bend is also more likely to pull than one that has gone all the way in. If a hookpoint is opening up and you are getting a hookpull, it is in most cases down to the Rig Arrangement and the fact that there is something wrong with the rig or even the feeding situation. The fact that most Anglers are fishing with Short Hooklinks and PVA Bags or Sticks is a contributory factor. Goblin, Would like to see some of the results of your Mates Hook checks, which are the best etc.

Think you will find its made from maize or corn Starch. Its dissolvable in water. Available from Early Learning Centre as a Kids "toy" cheaper than Tackle Shops, or a Mate if you have someone working in a Factory/warehouse environment Easier to use than PVA in certain situations, to mask the hookpoint to prevent weed fouling, to hold back hairs when casting.

Hookpulls should not be a major part of fishing, but every hookpull should be looked at carefully. Don't just blame the hook! The first thing to look at is the Rig Length, and the length of the hair. If you regularly have hookpulls then the chances are the hooklink and/or hair length is too short. Easy enough to change. Incidentally every time you hook a fish you should check where you have hooked it. If its hooked at the extremity of the lip then the rig length may need adjusting as well. If its at the back of the mouth or has scraped down the mouth then the rig is too long. Next thing is the baiting you are doing. If you are fishing just PVA Bags or over very little bait then the Carp moving may be behaving very warily near the Hook. The same effects can happen from fishing with Hi-Attract Baits over Pellets, either PVA Bagged or as a single bait over the pellets. The Hookbait is not similar to the Freebait, and so the Carp are wary of it. Simple answer, learn to use an effective Food Source bait, and fish effectively with it. Pre-bait and put it in regularly. Final thing that may cause Hookpulls; The Rod may be too stiff. Fishing with a 3lb+ TC rod may be pulling the hook out. Final point for you, I use Nailers, and in 5 years have had a total of 1 hookpull on them. The solution was to lengthen the Rig length. The thread has been duplicated in Tackle and Equipment, that Thread is currently locked

Shockleader to reel? Or Shockleader to Mainline? Try this sticky: http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=25551 or this: http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=25357&highlight=shockleader+knot

Any elastic tied above the Hooklink and then attached to the Mainline could well be irresponsible fishing. Elastic has not got the Abrasion resistance of Mono's or Braids. The elastic (or Power Gum) leads to many cases of the Carp snapping it or it chafing on a snag. If you look at the Sticky at the top of the Rig Making section there are a couple of Extending Hooklinks that may well do the same effect

Definitely not No.1 as Fluorocarbon sinks. Don't get on very well with Double Strength, knots and confidence thing, I normally use Drennan Fly Leader in the Sub Surface Green. Sometimes resort to Fine Match type monos

Did it work, does it catch fish? Think you may need to study rig mechanics then. A double loop made from braid is not normally going to be as stiff as a single strand of Fluoro or mono. The fact that the Hair attached to the loop/ring is overhand knotted is not going to make any difference especially if the bait covers the knot. D-rigs were originally designed for bottom baits as well. No standard hair with that. Swimmer rigs were effective with Bottom Baits as well, its only the fact that a pop-up was used and set at a height from the bottom that made. In fact many Bottom bait rigs make good pop-up rigs and in cases vice versa. The only difference being the counterbalance to hold them down.

I know he fished it last year and had a couple out on zigs. He was fishing a swim on the Road bank the other week, and had a 30 as did Paul Forward.

No Mate, I haven't read it. Dave Lane was fishing it a couple of weeks ago when I was there, really nice bloke. Mind you he did see me and my mate walking round twice and climbing up and down trees looking for the Carp. We didn't disturb him while he was fishing until he was packing up, so maybe that was why he was free with his information, and we did offer some back. He's done well on there

I'll give you warning, its fishing very hard at the moment. The Carp were getting ready to spawn this week and were hanging around the shallows. Not eating anything, scared of zigs and avoiding Baited areas. This weather change will probably have stopped them spawning, and they aren't likely to get onto the munch until they have actually gotten that over and done with.

No arguments with what you are saying and yes it did make us both think, so its a definite valid point. Like you I think that the silicon on the shank will tell you if a rig has been blown and ejected. Yet what happens if, for example, the hookbait is taken and ejected within an hour of it being cast in. You receive no bleeps or other indication, yet the rig is still out there for another 6/7hours overnight. You have rig that will not be effectively fishing for those 6hours. I may not have the indication with the D-rig or sliding Rig ring, but I still have a rig that is working effectively until I reel in to check/change the bait. Incidentally I just got back from SWP and was playing with Rigs in the Bivvy and in the margins. Experimentation again . Now I rig I know as an effective Carp hooker, failed the Palm Test, did not hook with Bait on as it was dragged across the Palm. It passed the Flip over the thumb test. The same rig sat in the margins I picked up, the hook swivelled as I dropped the bait and caught me clean in the tip of the thumb drawing blood with a 3oz lead. Another Rig that I have used with a very clear Line aligner effect and a longish hair failed to even go in, and I was able to pick the rig up on the hookpoint without it being painful using a 3oz lead.

Cant say I fully agree with you on this one, you've not put me off using the blow back rig with ring. A blown rig would be no less effective IMO and no different from the position of the blown bait on a D ring (bait up near the eye). Look forward to your comeback lol, No problem Mate, each and every one to his own. The thing I think with a D-rig is it covers both types of feeding, sucking and blowing. Also even if the rig is ejected, then because the Ring on the D is free sliding, it is able to work if the bait has been blown back to the eye end of the loop. Yet with silicon on the shank it is unable to be reset. Note I diferentiate between using silicon and a sliding ring. A blowback rig with the free-sliding ring, imo, has the same potential as the D-rig So with a sucking fish and the Bait back near the eye, its sucked and moves back into position at the bend of the hook. With a fish that picks the bait up, being as the weight of the hooklink will be heavier than the bend again it will slide back into position. Then in either case on ejection it will be wherever it lands as the hook is ejected. I'm not saying that it will hook more fish, but if it is ejected then it will always be ready to hook, whereas a Blow-back with silicon may not.

Shame about that as I used to go into Carp Unlimited and Snags as much as possible for information.