tigernuttom

Nick, i found i had fewer pick ups too especially when i fished it with boilies on the hair, i think it was due to small fish picking up the maggot and knocking the hook around, blunting the point as the waters i did fish contained quite a few smaller fish. I did find it was an advantage when fishing the method though, with 2 fake maggots mounted length-ways along the hair aswell as the fake maggot mounted on the hook over the eye (i did not use the special mag aligner versions for the hook eye, because i felt the normal fake maggots negated the weight of the hook due to being semi bouyant!). I think it had an advantage here because it made the bait more balanced and the little fish were bullied out of the area by the larger target fish, be they carp, tench or bream ( ).

yeh, i agree with carpsman... i dont really see anything wrong with them except the price

i believe courtz uses it a fair bit, so hes the man in the know ive had a look at the stuff, but never used it. Im a supple hooklinks man personally, but it did look good, and gave you a few more options than just the usual "coated braid".

i love fishing with zigs! although at times can be a tad frustrating. as for hooklinks, try Drenan Double Strength in 10-12lb breaking strain - its what most people seem to use and is quite thin for diameter as it is pre-stretched. lead wise, i just use a normal inline lead with a small amount of tubing and only put on a flying backlead if really necesary. to stop tangles even more you could put sum pva foam over the hook point. about the feathering, not quite sure here - but i just cast as normal and as the rig just touches the water i trap the line, in theory this stops the lead and the zig carries flying out on a straight line away from the lead. good luck tiger

haha u knew what i meant......... i hope

lol thanks mate! well fishing is just my thing, any spare time im thinking about a rig or a way to take it to the next level, or trying to beat other anglers (quite competitive lol). i have even more time to think about it now, live in dubai (as in near saudi arabia ) so am gunna be back with vengence in a few years when i come back for uni!

yeh, good one, i think some of these mags need to aim more for their target audience instead of trying to boost the numbers of guys reading the mags and copying the rubbish out of them. glad to see so many people actually care about carp care tho, in the times of comercials and bagging carp in keepnets, well bearing in mind im 17, i guess im part of this" modern age" but fish care should still by paramount - as you all know

mate, some people just amaze! Because im sure a lot of newbie anglers read that who are not aware of the consequences of using that rig (im sure many experianced anglers dont realise consequences either)

see the rig tying section, the top thread is on the 360. but i wudnt use it at all, all will become clear if you read that one

that sounds encouraging for a carps gob! so now all you have to do is tie a length of braid to the swivel then your off?!?! atleast previously u had to go through the bother of constructing it yourself before destroying a carp's mouth!! im sure the newbies have great fun slinging them around runs waters packed full of pasties without lips....... makes me mad

fair arguement about bullying, i personally dont bully my fish to the net. But when you have such world class angling talent such as Dave Lane explaining the dangers of this rig when used on smaller fish, then im not going to touch it. Its not that i believe everything i read but carp safety is at paramount to our sport. If your friend had mouth damage issues then you should stop using the rig too i feel, becuase it only takes one time or one jolt of the rod tip to completely destroy a fishes mouth.

its cool mate. Dave Lane invented it, but he rarly fises for small fish! the hooking capbilities of the rig in the right situations are awesome no doubt about that, but carp care comes first. for rigs like it that incorporate a rig ring instead of a hair, you could heat up the popup with a lighter (be careful not to burn the popup) and tie it on with a light braid or hair braid etc. The heating will make the skin soft for a short while allowing the material to grip into the skin. tiger

DONT BOTHER!! this rig is damaging to carp, unless every fish you are fishing for is over atleast 20 pounds. It destroys the mouths of smaller fish. its a very controversial rig, with many named anglers advising people to stay away and to use different rigs. there are better rigs for certain situations so i would never use it, ive seen the damage it can do!

i think waters ban braided hooklinks because some of the hooklinks (sinklink in particular) are very thin for the breaking strain, and in the longer lengths can cuase damage to the fish's flanks if your not careful. apart from that i dont really know why but anything to protect the fish has to be a good thing tiger

if i took a mars bar fishing it wouldnt see the outside of me bivvy let alone go on my rig! i have seen people fishing with lettuce for grassies which was all a bit strange!