tonybranno

I honestly dont think that you need shrink tubing on flourocarbon hooklinks. The stiffness of the hooklink material coming back out of the eye of the hook will give you the desired effect you are after.

Any rig that cant discharge its lead irrespective of wether it has beads either side of the lead is a death rig.

Yes but you are catching fish on the Mantis arent you, so what is the problem?

If you have confidence in the Mantis Gold and its working for you then why change a winning formula! You know the saying..... "if it aint broke dont fix it".

You know something Kev we have noted this before at this time of year on my club lake and its happening this year as well and i think that its because its spawning season. I maybe wrong but i honestly dont think that the fish are feeding that confidently to take the bait all the way back into the mouth thats why we get so many hook pulls at this time of the year.

I have just got back from a head banging 2 dayer. I had 10 takes throughout the session and i only managed to land 4 fish (and not one of them was over 5lb ). On some of the missed takes i didnt even connect with the fish on the run or the hook pulled out soon after i connected. On inspection of the hook, the point was either bent over or the hook was straightened out. The hooks im using are the barbless version of the ESP Big T Raptor. I use a small section of shrink tubing on the hook shank to help the hook flip over and to shrink this i usually immerse the hook and shrink tube in boiling water for between 5 - 10 seconds. Now here is my question..... Do you think that shrinking the tubing in boiling water for this amount of time is actually making the metal in the hook soft and this is why im losing so many fish? I also use small plastic line clips on my rods placed 6" in front of the alarm to help bite indication, is this also causing the hook to lose its hookhold rather than help create a better one? Quite a few questions guys i know but the lake really beat me up this time but im not gonna say its one of those things cos i do think that i have a real technical problem which needs addressing before the next session. Cheers lads for any help.

Like Kev says, it is the exact same stuff. I can get bags of it from work for nothing.

Drennan Sub Surface Green in 8 or 10lb BS.

The thing with sweetcorn is that it cant stand a good cast, so like Gaz says use a bit of maize on the hair and try using sweetcorn and a pellet mix in a PVA funnel web. You could then spod over this with sweetcorn and pellet again and watch them indicators dance.

Yes..... Why?

Now i understand, its a line aligner. I was a tad confused when you said liner liner rig, i didnt know what the heck you was on about

So you dont mind fishing your maggots popped up then? I will stick to my method on how i fish maggots cos i can fish any amount of maggots on my rig that i want from 1 to 30 and the presentation will be loads better than a Medusa rig. (But thats just my opinion)

Its a bit of a ball ache though isnt it? And the last thing you need is to stick your fingers together.

That is spot on advice. I could never use just plain IQ all the way from loop to hook, i dont think it turns easy enough. Get on a coated hooklink with the last inch near your hook stripped off and i reckon your catch rate will improve.

These could be an interesting read..... http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=10090&highlight=leaders http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=10090&highlight=leaders

And as for using an inline or swivel lead well the only rules i follow is that if you are absolutely sure your lead is on a hard, clean bottom then inlines are the ones to go for. But if you are fishing over a very light thin covered silt bottom or soft clay then swivel leads are the ones to use. The swivel lead will land in this stuff possibly even covering the lead completely but it will still give you a good presentation. If you used an inline in soft stuff it could plug into the lake bed with your hooklink looping up and making your end tackle stick out like a sore thumb.

Hi Alex welcome to the forum. There was an interesting thread on here with the arguments for and against using tubing on your mainline. (When i find it i will post it up). I have caught fish using tubing on my mainline and without using it and there will be a lot of anglers saying that its best to use it cos it protects the fish more cos it will stop the mainline lifting up and removing any scales. I Have not seen any evidence of this fact..... yet, but i do prefer to use tubing though cos i dont want to risk it in the first place. Im sure you have seen it when you have been playing a fish yourself, the carp are twisting all over the place and sometimes ive seen the line wrap around a pec and ping off. If that was bare mainline im sure you will agree that its not good becuse it could cut into the fin. So i always use 12" lengths of rig tube now (the Korda khaki coloured one) and put a half gram blob of Heavy Metal at the end and in the middle to weigh it down so lays flat on the lake bed (so i hope). I hope that helps mate.

Shrink tubing is used to make fish friendly hook shank extensions (see a diagram for the Withy Pool rig) and line aligners. Like i said they are used with hooks in the making up of rigs.

And it saves on the wear of the lead clip. If the lead clip is worn due to pulling a swivel in and out then it wont discharge the lead properly if it gets snagged.

Breathe in...............Breathe out Breathe in...............Breathe out Breathe in...............Breathe out Breathe in...............Breathe out Cheers mate i feel loads better now

I prefer to tie maggots onto a micro rig ring with dental floss. The maggot rings make the maggots hang on it like they are on a washing line once they have been out in the water for a considerable time. I think it looks naff.

Hang your head in shame, its why anglers who fish all your round cant get onto their lake during warm weather bank holiday periods cos you lot have stitched all the swims up before we can get down there

And i can see this rig getting tangled very easily.

I cant see that rig working at all. What guarantees that the hook will land right next to the bait? Nothing!

I use ESP Big T Raptors for 95% of my fishingcos i prefer a straight pointed hook but agree that they can get blunt quick but i suppose that can be said for most hooks really. You cant do anything about it if they get dinked on a twig, stone or bit of gravel when the carp are moving over your end tackle. But when im using a silt rig i use Korda Wide Gapes due to the inturned point.