beanz

i was just scrolling down thinking this needs a mention iv been trying to teach my nephew this year and he hasnt quite got the hang of this, every time i see him forget i tell to reel in and sure enough he's tangled

the bottom bead only comes into play when playing a fish,as when cast the hook link flys up and away from it and settles there. when playing a fish the hook link and lead are pull together, so it is possible to lose fish if the lead is bouncing is to close, so placing a 3inch or more length of catty elastic or silicon tubing between lead and bottom bead helps buffer that effect.also its possible to bash the fish with the lead... you can tie a stop knot on the leader or depending on the leader,tie a knot in the actual leader to stop the bead dropping to close to the lead.. but to long and its very possible to have the lead snag as it hangs down to far under the fish. so about 4-8 inches unless using a very short chod link then id lengthen by an extra inch or 2

it sounds like your missing the tension bars/pole. they are handy but not necessary. they are extras on some makes of bivvy. i had a pram hood that didnt have them and never found i needed them,even with the doors folded back. though saying that when facing a strong wind i had to make sure the front pegs were well in or it will fold back down around you

in theory this is a good way to dump the leader when using a leadclip. but in reality it increases the snagging points...mainline/leader knot has to pass through the tail rubber( which works fine testing it at home using our hands) but a bit of weed round the knot or small twig wrapped in the line, now the fish has a big loop to drag around and find a snag and if using leadcore,then just a kink may be enough to jammed at the tail rubber its not as safe as its made out to be. the youtube vid a few years back when i first see this was a perfect example of how you need hands to make it part

the is a myth, probably originating from lead clips designers, that the lead snags fish. well the mainline will still snag around submerged branches and other bottom debris...causing any set up to be a risk. lead clips only lose the lead when pulled away from you, so if your lead is wedge in the fork of a sunken tree and you have to pull for a break....well hopefully your not using fake baits the is no 100% safe rig they all have risks, whether tied by a 'carp rig safety expert' or someone who's going to kill it to eat. heli,bolt and running are all connected to 300yds of line.

so is shivering a result of soap dodging????

i use running for nearly all my carping,with a slackish line, i havent had a twitchy take ever that i can recall,(from carp..plenty of bream)all my takes are screamers. weed i like inline as it more stream lined and collect less. for extra distance i will use heli set ups( but it rare )or if needing a leader. and i dont use bolt set ups..just a personal thing, as iv never felt i needed to use the lead to hook'em. i dont think the lead set up plays a big part unlike location and bait for most situations.

a bag will add weight , so your balanced rig wouldnt fall as you want,but will still have the effect of flying up more freely when taken. the fake bait should mean if the crays turn up your still angling, i say should cause you never know with hemp they can become preoccupied on it so like i said...if their mouth is down on the bottom you dont want your bait higher. and as for the KD ,, im not the guy to ask i believe the way its tied has nothing thing to do with it hooking potential and its the fact that the hair when blown pulls at the eye and not bend. a standard knotless knot with 3-4 turns is exactly the same in my mind

any pop up rig fished over a tight baited spot runs the risk of foul hooking. when feeding on hemp the carp dont have to move far to keep feeding and they can keep their head down, where a spread of boilies over a large area gets them moving and also dropping the head down for each individual bait. in your situation,where i could see the bottom i would use a bottom bait with a small mesh/bag just to protect the hook. once the fish have cleared the weed id be happy to just flick out the hook bare.or if i didnt want any free offerings id balance the bait to slowly fall and settle on the weed.

are you not using a top bead then???

im unsure what you mean by "if the fish picks up the bait and swims away from me the weight of the lead will have no hooking affect at all" as it would be in the silt, so even a light lead will have a bolt effect.

ready mades are good for a quick cheap fix,but long term you risk missing chances because the individual small 1%s that all add become second to the convenience of the old ready tied you have. where length of rig or hair could play a great part in hook ups or even how sharp the hook is,,out the packet sharp isnt sharper enough for many anglers but when you only have a few readies and no way on the bank to replace the patterns you feel needed, your maybe using a inferior rigs and who wants that playing with there confidence???? lardy- where d'you shop it'd be a tenner at least for a coated braid in my local tackle shop

sometimes a bait just off the bottom is what they want...its a debate for another thread on what depth a pop up becomes a zig but it works! i think the chods "better hook ratio" is because it increases your hook size, shank length and gape. and with the stiffness should never be able to flip out backwards as often like is possible with limp links leaving the eye and lesser but still poss with a kicker or aligner. the thing i dont like is having the lead snag while playing the fish in situations where other lead set ups other then the heli wouldnt of snagged. happened twice using chods, both close in. lost one in reed roots in margin and got the other after the lead sat in a fork of underwater branch..to short from rig to lead and you risk harm or hook pull as lead bounces around the lips. im not decided on the best distance yet......so as a side question...whats a good length from lead to bottom bead??

when you say 'fluoro' do you mean boilie colour or line??? as it looks like a mono hook link to me :?which if so wouldnt take on the curve associated with the chod,though will still work,like a zig. and if the main line isnt heavy or fluorocarbon you will need to counter the buoyancy with some putty or shot. but saying that iv not seen a swivel like that and it may have enough weight one thing is... it looks like the line passes through the opposite way to how i would prefer if it was me. ....it may not its hard to be sure in the pic

nick, do you think, (or anyone else), think that the ring may not play as much as a part in the mechanics with a long hair compared to a short hair, i can see the movement of the ring being necessary on short almost shanked baits...but not so sure on longer( i know a bait is missing ) just a general question

i havent seen that.but talking of hitting the clip............ i did see an interesting vid with a diver and a lad casting to his spot, it was an eye opener he clipped and recast and was well off, i think he pulled line off about 10 times in the end, so thats about 20-30 foot off before it went back bang on the money... if you clip up a few times over a sess on 1 spot ...you could end up miles off. i just remember for the like off me where i see it

Ripslider! ...a blast from the past spatch- there are a few things that can effect how close the baits sit to the lead...a coated braid can help and obviously stiff links, and the old skool drag back....but feeling the lead down can make more of a difference , this will make the lead drop in an arch ( the depth and distance cast will effect the radius of this "arch" though ) the bait follows the lead down but the water is pushing the bait away, as its being dragged down, and towards you, and its that friction against the water(as it comes towards you) that pushes the bait in the other direction(away from the lead)bait size effects this obviously, a bigger surface area will create more fiction. i always feel the lead down, for the reason above and for the feel. id worry if i just let it fall, if there's a the slightest tow i feel the bait could fall on the mainline side and risk tangling....thats with any hooklink material

Meant N Trap.

mouth trap is a stiff material isnt it??? ..i thought it was kordas answer to esps stiff rig bristle filament

i dont disagree though i would say that if they feel it on their lips,the hook is in their mouth .......so its too late

top tip kev occasionally ,when i remember i would pinch it onto the bunched up coating.

i think when using a stiff hinge/chod or withy/claw type rig, a bait close to the shank may work better because of its stiffness and the anti-eject properties. a simple rig though and i believe now that distance is necessary. heres a pic of my simple rig, i can use it for bottoms or pop-ups just by adding or removing the shot. i only came about using this as the coots wouldnt leave me alone for the first few sessions, so from fear of hooking them i lengthened the hair as i started of with one bait close to the hook....when i finally found the fish, it worked a treat.

does to me john

the angle of the point ... this im guessing shows to be more aggressive when holding the bait above the hook by hand,and out of water???? is it the same when being ejected by a fish????