tonybranno

Try counter balancing them so the hook just sinks the bait. Top tactic and has nailed me more fish than i can remember..... especially when the rest of the lake was blanking. Ask the lads on the Grumpy Old Mans social and they will vouch for that

I use it purely to see how the hooklink reacts as to when the lead hits the bottom. Im not saying that the tests are foolproof but they are a good indicator as to gauge what happens to the baited hook.

Is it? When you cast out, do you think that your hooklink is in a perfectly straight line from your lead to the bait and in the same direction as your mainline to the rod tip? Depending on how your lead landed on the bottom and what it landed on, it could fall anywhere, even towards you Dont you ever do any bath tests to check these things Sam? Feeling the lead down can stop the problem of the hooklink tangling on the retrieve (with a coated or mono hooklink that is) but when using a braided hooklink you my find that the baited hook lands directly over your lead or just a few inches from it..... even when using long hooklinks. And then you have to take into account of how many times the carp have mouthed the bait and moved the hooklink..... without you knowing nothing about it on your alarm or indicator

TBH it may not be tangling on the cast. You may find that when you retrieve the rig that thats when its tangling up. Try feathering the cast and feel the lead down, that will help matters

You dont even need tubing, my running leads run freely on my mainline. A stringer or small PVA stocking bag works wonders for the anti tangle factor.

No it doesnt

I use putty ALL the time. You can critically balance the pop up loads better than them poxy clip on Fox weight thingies or shot (which are for amateurs BTW )

I wouldnt use any other hook than a size 10. I match my hooks to the size of bait im using, irrespective of what size fish im after. I would rather have balanced tackle than something that doesnt look right, i think its down to confidence. My old man says im too much of a perfectionist but what can you do?

What gets me is that, anglers always blame their rigs if they are not catching. When i expect is its not their rig, its their location that is all wrong. Get your location right whilst fishing with a decent bait and im positive that 90% of the time you will catch with a standard, simple knotless knot arrangement. And that is a fact! When anglers have to resort to tying the flashy rigs with all the whistles and bells on it (which the majority of the time have been devised for a certain fish, in a certain lake, for a certain fishing situation), then maybe they should think again about trying to be fishermen

Is this chav language? Or cant you spell the queens English? Or is it really true. The UK society is actually dumbing down!!!!!

PMSL I saw this last night and thought the same..... sort of. I cant type what i actually shouted at the screen though. It wasnt pretty i give you that

Thats an argument in itself. I have never had a scale lift off when not using tubing. You dont use tubing for your floater fishing and no one says anything about that.

I cant see it working TBH cos upon ejection, the boilie will blow out first which will take the hook out of the mouth bend first. But you never know, you may catch one or two on it but if you dont, i wouldnt persevere with it.

I dont think the hook will be taken into the mouth of the carp the right way and when it gets blown out i dont think the hook will catch hold. But you never know

If you want my two penneth then what i do is take a good length of bait floss, take it through the rig ring then tie a slip knot. Put your pop up into this knot then tie tighten the knot down to the ring on your hook. Tie a couple of overhand knots in the bait floss, trim the tag ends then burn them with a lighter. The pop up will be totally secure and withstand a good cast to the horizon

Dan, my combi rigs are usually made of Korda IQ (the standard stuff, not the Extra Soft) and ESP Sinklink braid. Here are the 3 i usually use..... The top one is my normal hooking arrangement using a 5" Armaled Kik Bak Clear 'n' Green link when fishing over hardish clay and clear gravel spots. The 1" section above the hook is stripped to aid a bit of movement. The middle link is for a normal bottom bait arrangement and utilises the Korda and braid as described above and the bottom rig is the same but that is used for pop ups 2 " above the deck - note the rig ring instead of the normal hair - cos i like to tie my pop ups on You will notice that all these links incorporate a line aligner of Korda shrink tube

If you use coated braid with a bit stripped back near the hook then you are using a combi rig, but not in the absolute true sense of the word

Silt rig, its called a SILT RIG

There isnt one, next question

Sometimes the weight of the hook isnt enough to sink the bait especially if you use just a pop up on its own. If you put the weight on the hair and have it balanced such that it only just sinks, then this has the same effect of using a snowman arrangement with a trimmed down pop up on a whole bottom bait.

Oh yes, i have had the same problem with the Big T's.

Ive heard the ESP Stiff Riggers are supposed to be good for pop ups. Personally ive never used them so i cant comment on their effectiveness.

Absolutely spot on Skipp. Thats how mine look except i have a line aligner on the hook eye

Im just sitting here trying to figure out how you can actually sew 10 - 20 odd maggots onto a polyball. I honestly just cant see it. It will be a new one on me when i get shown that, thats for sure

I would pay to see you attempt this. Call me stupid but i just cant see how it can be done.