jules007

yes great hooks but shame about the finish, though i have had them snap once or twice! At present im using osprey tactical sabre points, and very pleased with the sharpness, finish and they are just right for both set ups i use at sapphire, the hinged stiff pop up and simple bottom rig, all i got to do now is get a fish on, the hard part

reckon the big thing with river carping will be fish location, lots of observation during close season

Hi all, thought i would start one about different hooks for different rigs as i never seem to know what hook for what rig and presentation with so many patterns like long shank, beaked, down turned eye curved shank ans many more, i figured after a few good replies this would make a good sticky thread. this is not a thread about "your favourite hook" but about what "style" of hook for certain rigs

i have come across the osprey sabre point hook and they seem well made and very sharp, think i will get some more

If you want to make snowman rigs you are best to learn to tie rigs, all you need to learn is the knotless knot, there is some good diagrams on here do a search, its very easy, snowman bait i would suggest a 15mm bottom bait with 10mm pop up. be careful with the lead clip set up, if the tail rubber cant come of to discarge the lead, then it becomes a fixed rig, or death rig, look at getting some inline leads (fox are best) free running is also very safe and very easy to set up, simple bomb with swivel thread mainline through lead, then a rubber shock bead then rig tied to mainline (swivel) hope this helps

welcome mate, stick to the way your doing it only use floss for certain pop up rigs

im looking into this as a project but not looking good and i`ve not had much time to try much but watch this space

Hi spoon, if you do a search on here you will find a lot of rigs to have a play with but my advice is just use a simple no knot hair rig with an inline or running lead, these set ups will always be effective

in this situation i would use running lead with slack line, 6 inch flourocarbon rig with raptor hook (they are so sharp) and criticcally balanced pop up, shot just under the bait. This rig should not tangle, the balanced pop up should allow a firm take, and running lead will give good bite detection, all being well

having re read the above post i agree about "unsafe " angling if an angler allows a carp to go into snags with out the right end tackle and has to pull for a break that could leave a fish tethered, well said

nice one matey, found it, just the one i was looking for, cheers for that

cheers mate but no its not that one, i saw it in a mag years back it involves pushing mainline into hollow of lead core and out of side wall will have to play around with it till i get it right

hi all, can some one remind me how to tie a snake knot, used for joining mainline to hollow leader as i want to do some tests to see if lead core can be used safely (not testing it in water)

2 examples of "safe" set ups are the inline lead and free running lead, these should always discarge the lead in the event of a line break. lead core can and does kink if that happens the lead wont drop of so a fish will be towing leader, rig and lead ! where fish welfare is concerned, the more "risks" you remove, the better for the fish and sport in general

Very well said nick, i stopped using it after reading jemsue`s comments , it was the FACT that it can kink that made me take stock, i have never lost a lead core but wont take the risk of it, and to be honest a leader is not neccessary in 99% of my fishing , so i fish mainline straight to the rig, and im happy that fish welfare is maintained .

you know but you use it you have to ask a lot of questions that lead us to believe you need a lot of help but yet risk using leadcore which you probably dont know how to use in a safe manner (which there aint really a safe enough way of using it) why risk it? if you must use a leader of some sort then why not just use tubing? i used to splice my own leadcore leaders and really do my best to make sure they were safe but i will not use them at all now, and also most decent carp waters dont allow them

Stay away from lead core, it can be a fish killer !!

just as a footnote to NIDGEWOODCOCK`S post, i absolutely agree about staying away from complicated rigs, most of the time a simple no knot hair rig will do the honours but by all means learn to make the complicated rigs for when you might need to use them

Raptors and the fox all very good, a while back i bought some cheap hooks of fleabay and i tried one on a surface rig, it snapped after i caught it on a small branch, binned the lot!

very impressive pics and carp well done mate