sharpy86

Anyone got any pictures of these in use? I'm very tempted.

12lb Ultima F1, in black. It's aimed at Sea fishing, but it's supple, casts well, a good diameter, and sinks well too.

I agree - never had an issue with the knotless knot with braid. Just make sure the first turn around the shank of the hook, is away from the join

Not sure on sharpeners. However, one tip I do have, is only use Braid scissors on braid. Have a second cheaper pair for everything else

Something similar, I use the Fox FX 3 rod sling. Perfect for what I wanted. Lightweight, well padded, holds 3 rods made up, and a landing net on the outside pocket. If you don't need to take Spod / Marker on a regular basis, these are the type of rod bags i would recommend. More protection than a quiver, lighter than an ordinary 3 up 3 down.

They look bulky and over engineered. The only reason you'd need to use something like that is if you are fishing locked up - and then still you'd be able to find other rests that could do a similar job

Get some Eneloop rechargeable batteries. Really good quality, and hold their charge when not being used.

Cheers Nick, So what's your view on my hair length? It does look pretty long to be fair, but like I said, I changed as I was getting too many hook pulls.

Hi Androooo, my comment on the resistance wasn't aimed at you specifically, I was quoting you in regards to your comment about changing 1 thing at a time I can see both sides of the arugment / approach, hence why I created this thread. I also think that Grangemilky is right in saying that the lead doesn't actually determine where the hook first pricks the fish, therefore, I may need some work on my rig. I do however like Smuftys idea of rod clips - my free spirits where made without them also.

I'll be here in 3 years time with the amount of fish I get out of this lake I think it is physically impossible for the fish to not feel some sort of resistance on the take. Even if you had the bail arm open, I think that having the line travelling through an eye is going to offer much more resistance than we would like. However, I think that what a running rig really does help with is stop the fish from using the weight of a lead to shake the hook out after it has been pricked. This has really divided opinions, and I'm still not sure which side of the fence I want to be on.

Thanks all, So rig is knotted with about 7-8 turns knotless style, when pulled down tight, its pretty far up near the eye. I currently don't use any silicon or rings on the hook, and as stated, there is about a 10-15mm gap between the bottom of the hook and the first boilie. I was suffering pretty terribly with hook pulls (Gaz will confirm this, although I still caught more than anyone else ), until i tried the longer hair. Indicators are the smallest Muddy Waters old skool bobbins, with cord rather than chain - light as you can get. Clutch is set on about medium - I may try loosening that a bit. Slackening off - My rods are normally raised up at the front on sticks / pod, rather than pointed down to the lake. Cast out, pull tight, then slacken off slowly overtime until it sinks under its own weight. Keep slackening off until i just end up with droops between the eyes. Then finally tighten up slightly to remove the unneccesary slack between eyes. Clip on bobbins. My thinking with the light lead was that it would bounce along the bottom as the carp swim away - setting the hook, and being a bit different to what everyone else is using.

It's not my first fish on this set-up, i've had a fair few 20lb+ fish over the last couple of years. But I don't remember thinking one was a really good hold. I was thinking of using a 4oz lead

Whats your opinion on lead sizes for running rigs? I'm currently using a 1.1oz square pear on my set-up, which consists of a Nash Run bead on 'naked' mono (i.e. No tubing, leadcore, leader), a 7-8inch coated braid hooklink (with 1/2" uncoated by the hook) to a size 8 SSC with double 15mm boilie on a long hair (10-15mm gap between bottom of the hook, and top of the first boilie). No line aliner or other tubing on the hook. It's as simple as it could ever be! This is then fished on a slack - semi slack line, with the amount of slack varying on the distance i'm fishing at - i.e. margins - as slack as physically possible, 60 yards+ - an obvious arc as the line enters the water, but not what many would consider slack. 3 bait stringer, mainly to stop the hair getting in a mess on the cast, and fished with a scattering of boilies. However, I don't seem to be getting great hookholds - normally only just in the scissors. There was clearly some tearing on the first and only fish I have caught in 2014 - obviously where the hook hadn't taken hold properly, and slipped during the fight. So, my thinking is that the 1.1oz lead is really not heavy enough to pull the hook home when the fish picks up the bait (I know that the lead will slide up the line, and doesn't really act exactly as a bolt rig). Anyone got any opinions on the lead size at all? Or think i'm rediculous for such a long hair? p.s. The reason for the double boilie is to avoid the large heards of bream - which seems to be doing the trick.

A Passion for Angling is one of my favorite shows of all time - I have the set on DVD - I may have to load it onto my iphone again to watch on the train journey to work!! However, as a teenager - anything from Matt.