tonybranno

I use the knot that is usually used to tie a length of shockleader to your mainline on your spod. Im sorry though, i havent got a clue what its called

Mix them both. I regulary use a combi rig of IQ with an inch section of braid next to the hook. That way you have the best of both worlds. The invisibility and anti tangle properties of the flouro and the suppleness of the braid when the carp takes the bait.

I have been using home made flouro leaders for a while now, but im not yet sure if it gives me any advantage as yet. Its too early to tell.

Ive got about 15 or 20 made up.

The more things you put on the end of your line, the more obtrusive your end tackle will become. The sooner your end tackle can get onto your mainline, the less it will be likely to be seen by the fish.

I think that was welder I would love to see mine cos you would know instantly what you need to do to make your end tackle 'unseen' without having to guess at it.

I agree with you here. I cant see any reason why anyone should scale down for their winter fishing anyway. Ive always used a hook size that matches the size of my bait so if im using a piece of Peperami, a mini tiger, a grain of maize, a chick pea or a boilie no bigger than 12mm, then i use a size 10 hook. If im using a 15mm boilie a size 8 and a 18mm boilie or bigger then a size 6. I practice this method for 12 months of the year and 65 percent of my fishing this year has been done with a size 10 hook Considering during winter i prefer to use smaller baits it will be generally a size 10 hook i use anyway.

Yes i can see your thinking here so who knows? Lets be honest, the only way any of us are gonna know how our leaders look on the bottom is to don a pair of flippers and air tanks and dive down to actually look at them ourselves. Which has to be said i would love to do.

The mainline will always come off the bottom at some point, its got to. But i feel a mainline is a lot more unobtrusive than a leadcore leader or rig tubing, so the sooner you can get onto it the better. Plus there is nothing wrong with putting on a small flying back lead and dotting down your leader with a few dots of putty. As long as the fish can feed around your bait and not get spooked by your line then its all good IMO. But..... In winter i tend not to fish flying back leads at all, im fishing for liners. As long as i know there are fish in the area then that will help your confidence. I dont mind blanking in winter, TBH we all must expect more blanks than successful sessions but as long as i go home knowing i was fishing an area that the fish where in then thats much better than sitting all day next to motionless indicators thinking 'Was i even on the fish in the first place'?

I prefer to keep my leaders as short as possible Sam. It makes me laugh when you see anglers use 5 foot lengths of leadcore, you know its gonna be so obvious and to keep a leader as long as this on the deck you are going to need a clear, flat 5 foot plus area on the lake bed. Just how many lake beds do you know are completely flat and clear? Not many i would guess.

Beautiful setting.

Ive seen combi rigs made the same way with IQ and braid featured in the mags. Julian Cundiff wrote about them 2 winters back and he was using pop ups for bait. The putty was on the join between the IQ and braid and because of the stiffness of the IQ, it ensured that the hook was at the correct angle to catch the inside of the carps bottom lip every time.

Unbelievable But then again that explains why i dont read Total Carp

I can say hand on heart that i have NEVER caught a fish on a zig rig. I have no confidence with the method at all.

You saw it in a mag? Ive been doing it this way for the past 18 months. I expect the angler in question claimed it was all his idea as well When in truth, its common sense really. I have caught one or two on it but then again its hard when the nuisance fish in my water smash your maggots to pieces inside 20 minutes.

Spudder forget the rest and try the best maggot rig going. 1. Tie a micro rig ring onto some braid. 2. Tie a knotless knot with the rig ring about 15mm from the bend of a size 10 hook so it looks like a standard hair rig but instead of a loop for your boilie stop, you have a rig ring in its place. 3. Thread about 6 - 10 maggots onto a needle. 4. Take a length of dental floss and put it through the eye of the needle and ease the maggots onto the floss. 5. Tie the floss onto the rig ring on your hooklink with a few overhand knots. 6. Trim the floss and burn the tag ends. Job done, i hope that helps.

Ive not long started using the flouro leaders Chris, so considering its now winter and results will slow up as expected anyway, its hard to gauge if they give me an edge. I think it helps though just on the confidence side of things more than anything. My lake is getting like tap water now, so anything that will help disguise the end tackle as got to be a bonus IMO. What i need to do is get down to a runs water in the warmer weather and fish a flouro leader next to a normal set up of either tubing or leadcore with the same bait and hooklink arrangement in the same area and see what happens and how the results fare against each other.

I take it you put blobs of putty or something above the leader to make sure its sitting flat on the bottom? How does it sit in the margins when just plopped in? I use a small flying back lead with a few blobs of putty on the leader, this way it ensures everything is on the deck. In the margins well, you can hardly see it which is good

Thats another one of my edges out in the open Thing is just say im using a 5" link, then my leader is only 12" maximum. Since the summer ive been scaling everything down to keep my end tackle as unobtrusive as possible. PS my flourocarbon leaders are made of 18lb ESP Ghost. PPS Thats on a normal lead clip arrangement, i dont use chod rigs.

Small single hi viz, hi attract pop ups with no freebies.

Whats the make up of your lake? Are there numorous gravel bars, snags and weedbeds? If there is then i would go for 15lb mainline minimum. If your lake is relatively clear then you could go down to 12, 10 or even 8lb mainline if your rods can handle such lighter line. Hooklength wise i would go for anything between 15 - 25lb. That is more of a personal choice really because my favourite coated braid is only available in 25lb BS and i use it everywhere, regardless of if the lake is clear or snaggy. I hope that helps bud!

Boults, Nice to see that you are thinking your way into your fishing. (thats not a sarcastic remark, just that not enough people try to think their way around a problem before diving straight onto the local source of "free" knowledge) I see what you are saying, but the hair length need not be short and the bait tight to the hook with Shrink Tubing. That is just the way that the majority of people are fishing at the moment. If you look at my other rigs on the Sticky, you can see that I change the hair length dependant on my findings The Rig I have pictured is one I have been using with a 15mm Boilie on the hair; When the Bait is on the hair it actually comes to just past the Loop Knot, so I have a longer hair than standard (or different to other anglers). When I get to a New Water I tend to find out what has been used before and then go on from that. If the water is lightly fished then I have a very short hair, the bait almost "shank mounted" (tight to the back of the hook on a short hair), then as I check hookholds and possible dropped runs etc I lengthen the hair and or the hooklink. In the same way a poor hookhold can be caused by too short a hooklength, the hook and bait is prevented from going into the Carp's mouth because the hooklink (hooklength) is not long enough. This too short a hooklink can be responsible for not getting a good hookhold, or even for not getting takes or a series of individual bleeps that don't develop. If you look at your hookholds when you land a fish and even on lost fish you can decide whether your rig is right. If the hook is embedded firmly at the back of the bottom lip, then your rig is just about perfect. If its close to the front or you are losing fish then the hook may be pr1cking the fish too early. If the Carp is hooked at the back of the mouth then the rig may be too long. Top advice once again, that post even got me thinking about my own set up which i will play about with later today when i make some more rigs for next weekend.

Location, location, location. Its the fundamental aspect of successful carp fishing.

And thats where i close the door and leave the thread behind me.

I wouldnt say cos you are blanking thats it all down to the colour or make of your hooklength material Have you got your location right? This is the over-riding factor of carp fishing that the vast majority of anglers forget. It makes no difference what rods or reels you have sitting on your shiny new pod, or what new rig you are using that was advertised in the latest monthly magazine or the newest all singing or all dancing bait that claims to outfish anything else. If you are not on the fish, you are not gonna catch..... Fact! I bet the methods, baits and tactics you are using will be fine and will catch anywhere, its just the location or where you place your baited rig that is the problem. Cos its no good being in the best swim on the lake if your rig is not in the spot in that swim. Do you know what your baited rig is landing on? Are you a chuck it and chance type of angler? PS I dont know about anyone else, but i stick with a hooklength that i have complete confidence in and use that anywhere i fish. And the key word here is..... Confidence.