salokcinnodrog

It depends on the fish you are after and trying to achieve. Say the fish are used to pulling for resistance from a 2oz Lead, you can either go heavier or lighter to disorientate them. Light Leads are perfect for when you are trying to sneak your rigs into place without too much disturbance, but try to use them as Semi-Fixed as they are too light for Running Leads to get an effect (my thoughts). Heavy Leads are great for Increasing the Bolt effect and making the hook get a purchase in Semi-Fixed mode. Try picking up a size 6 attached to a 1.5oz lead with your finger, you may manage it, but try the same again with a 2.5 or 3oz lead and it would probably bring tears to your eyes. I use 3oz Leads for the majority of my Fishing, but use Running Leads with slack Lines. The Lead doesn't move on the take, so I get good instant indication. Have a look at the Threads: Complicated Rigs and Running Vs Fixed for more information.

For me I found it works best with 8-10mm Baits. I don't know why, maybe as it is the same as just grabbing a mouthful of Natural Food. I have used it with 3x14mm Baits and a Pop-up, but that was when I was fishing a Lake that was regularly fished with 24mm Boilies by Anglers to avoid the Bream. Something different that wasn't what the Carp expected?

Had 4 Carp on Thursday all on 2 grains of Sweetcorn with a Buoyant piece of Plastic Corn to lift it up. All simple stacks. I managed to get the Carp to within 6feet of my Swim and just lowered the Bait into the water under the branches of the trees to my right. The simple sweetcorn stack works well with Vitalin and sweetcorn Groundbait.

Me too!

Use tubing about 6inches longer than your Hooklength. Stringers and Pva bags help avoid Tangles. Try also using In-Line Leads as well. Superstiff from Kryston helps and you can concertina it up say into thirds, so you have an extending hooklink.

Have a look at the 2 Rigs thread. There are a couple of my Bottom Bait Rigs on there, with all the dimensions and what Materials I use. I use shrink tubing for my Rigs, with the hair coming out on the shank.

The bait you've been using, the rig that works for you and the Lead size you feel comfortable with.

I think the Silt/sliding Helicopter rigs are best for Silt Fishing. You can get the bait sitting nicely on top of the Silt and still fish short effective rigs. I've also found that when fishing on the silt a Pop-up that only just sinks under the weight of the hook is spot on.

I reckon the ESP leadcore is far better than the Fox, never had a problem with the Lead pushing out the side. Make sure you get plenty of spare splicing needles though. I splice loops at both ends of my Leadcore with the Loop being large enough to take a swivel through it. I can then change my rigs very quickly in seconds. At the Mainline end I tie the Leadcore with a Uni Knot.

Yes, The heat shrink goes down the shank of the hook. If you look carefully, the bulge about halfway along the Heat Shrink is where the Hook eye is covered by the Tubing.

If you watch Carp feeding in Rich Natural waters you'll see that there are massive concentrations of Natural Food, large groups of Snails, large amounts if Mussels all together. If you fish a Stack rig of 3/4 8or10mm Boilies then these mimic the Concentration and to an extent the size of the Natural food. A Carp will quite happily suck the whole lot in at one time. If you fish heavily over Particles, say Hemp, Maize or Sweetcorn then the Carp will again suck in whole mouthfuls of the Bait and I don't think that they notice that they are taking in a mouthful of baits complete with Hook.

Try these 2 for size. They're my standard Bottom bait rigs. Line Aligned, with the Hair being a continuation of the Hooklength. They are set up for 14mm Boilies, hence the fairly short Hair. The hooks are size 6 Carp-R-us Centurions. You can also see where I have stripped the outer coating back, this allows a degree of flexibility near the hook. The links themselves are only about 15cms long as I have been fishing over Heavily Baited Areas this year and using shorter links to get an Instant Run.

I use Kryston for my Braids and Coated Braids. Merlin for Braids and Mantis in Green or Gold for Coated. For Stifflinks on the few occasions I use them I still use Amnesia.

Up until today I would have said no they can't distinguish between twigs, weed and Tubing. Took 2 rods to a Water where I normally expect to catch a couple of fish in a day. Fished 1 on Leadcore and 1 with Weighted Tubing. Both cast inches apart with slack lines and running Leads to the Far Bank Snags. I had 2 runs, both on Leadcore. No takes on Tubing. Bait and Rigs identical otherwise. The fish must have come out over the End Tackle on both rods as I put some bait around the area to get them to move about. Also the water is fairly coloured so I don't think that they can see the End Tackle. I really do try to hide my Tubing, it is the same colour as the Lakebed, I weight it down so it doesn't lift up and I fish Running Leads. The Leadcore takes on the colour of the bottom of the Lake and it does sink into the silt. This has really got me thinking to try to hide it better, there must be something about Tubing that makes it stand out.

I have found that the putty adheres really well to the Tubing I use. It only slides off under pressure if the Fish Snags. As for tying the Lead on with 4 lb Maxima, again if the Lead catches in the weed the Maxima Breaks easily under pressure. The Lead is tied to the Solar Run ring as just as if it had a clip to the Run Ring.

Yep thats all I do. Putty or Lead wire. Putty is better as Lead Wire can grip too tightly. I have the same thought as you which is why I tie my Running Leads on and PVA them in place for Casting.

Thats Easy Lol:D Whats almost every landed Carp got in Common? you know that the Fish that you catch aren't after the Bait? Its the hook they're after. (With Thanks).

I use Running Leads for most of my Fishing in weedy waters. As for a swivel at both ends of the Running Lead section PLEASE don't do that. If you have a crack off or mainline Break above the top swivel a Fish is left towing a Hook and a lead. Because the lead is not fixed in any point the Carp could be at Great Risk, especially if the Lead or Line gets Tangled in a Snag. I Repeat, Don't use this method of having a Running/Bolt Lead. To have a break away effect tie the Lead to your Run Ring with light Line, I normally use 4lb Maxima. Because of the extra pressure on the cast I then additionally tie the Lead on with PVA string, which dissolves on reaching the Lakebed. The Run Rings I use are in the Solar Run Rig Kit, they come complete with Tubing, Run Rings, Beads and all you need for Running Leads. If I want to create a Bolt effect I just mould a piece of Heavy Metal Putty around the end of the Tubing. This has 2 effects: It weights the tubing flat to the Lakebed as long as the Line is not Dead Tight, so allow some slack. It also gives the Rig the Jolt as the Lead hits the Putty. However if the Mainline Breaks and the Carp is towing a rig, the putty will slide off the Tubing and allow the Lead to come off. This then means I have 2 safety points, a lead that can come free from the Run Ring if it snags, and also allows the Run Ring and Lead to come free in the event of Breakage.

I wouldn't worry about the size of hook you're using, looks alright to me. I use 18mm Boilies on a size8 Carp-R-Us Nailers or Centurions on my water and have landed hard fighting fish up to 25lb on them with no problem. Personally I think In terms of hooks, the smaller hook you can get away with, then the better penetration you get in relation to the Lead Size. In other words smaller hooks work well with Smaller Leads, and their effectiveness is magnified if you increase your Lead Size. To prove that attach a rig with a size8 to a 11/2oz lead and try to lift it up with your finger. Then try the same again with a 2or3oz Lead. I bet that with the small hook it will be impossible and bring tears to your eyes every time.

My basic rigs are so simple that I can tie them with my eyes shut. The only things I change normally are hair length and the length of the Hooklink. Bottom Bait Rig Overhand knot Loop in the end of the hooklink, put bait on as that will be your hair. Knotless Knot Hook to hooklink with bait at distance you want your hairlength to be. Tie swivel on at other end at the length you want your hooklink to be. If you want to increase the angle of the hook I do exactly the same thing but put shrink tube on and create proper Line aligner with line coming out about 5mm from end of Shrink Tube. Pop-up Rig Instead of tying overhand knot I tie a Uni knot and put Pop-up in the loop and pull knot tight down to bait. Exactly same procedure using a long shank hook, but never put shrink tube on Hook. This way I can change bait easily, don't worry about it slipping as the knot only seems to pull tighter to the bait.

Lol:D What do you want to fish with? Are most people fishing your Water(s) with Braid, coated Braids Mono or Fluorocarbon? Find out what they are doing, what has worked in the past and do something different. Most people on my Water fish with Fluoro, so I fish with Coated Braid. Coated Braids, Mono and Fluorocarbon resist Tangles better than standard Braids, but standard Braid because of its suppleness can make ejection of the hook difficult. Mono and Fluoro because of their unexpected rigidity/stiffness can make ejection difficult. Coated Braids mean you can fish with a Stiff section and a Supple section. because the Carp may not expect it, it may make ejection Difficult. Find what works for you and have every confidence in it. :D

Tulip beads are for protecting your knot where the Line joins the swivel. They also have other uses though. Tubing can be threaded into the narrow end. You can use this section of tubing for Running Rigs or for attaching Inline Leads. The Tulip bead will actually slot in quite tightly into Korda InLine Leads. Tail Sleeves, normally used for holding Leads onto Lead clips, also for Knot protection with Tubing Insert same as Tulip Beads. Can also be used to hold the Hooklength away from the mainline by sleeving the Swivel knot on the hooklink. As for the other question, have a look at Solar Rigs diagrams that come with Rig Pieces or their Website.. They give an explanation of every bit or End Tackle.

I'd take Adam's idea. There are so many different variables on Hair Length. Unless you understand why you are using a particular Rig then ou are going to get caught out when it gets sussed by The Carp. London_geeza's hairs are totally different lengths to the way I fish, and probably most other peoples are different from me and him.

You make your own rigs so you don't have that problem. You have just found one of the problems with buying Ready Made Rigs, there are others: You can't change the length of the Hooklink, you can't change the length of the Hair to suit your own Fishing. You don't know how perfectly the Knots have been tied. I don't ever trust anyone else's knots in my fishing, and even my mates don't trust mine, despite the fact I have not had a knot slip or break in a long time. If you do need to put a new hair on try tying the hair to the eye of the hook with Hair Braid or thin nylon, if its covered, Sorry, you are stuck. My best suggestion is to learn to tie rigs yourself as no Shop Bought Rig will cover all of the situations that you are likely to face. :D

Have a look at the diameter of the Lines compared to their Breaking Strain. That should give you some idea of their quality and Integrity. I won't change lines just for the sake of trying a new product until I have thoroughly tested and compared it to other items I use. If its better quality I'll change. Most Daiwa Stockists will have Sensor Line, if they haven't, then a decent Tackle shop will get it in for you. Sensor Bulk Spools come in 6or8pack Boxes, so won't be on the shelf for too long.