carpingod150

Looks OK, you could achieve that with the Gardner float though, just thread a lead on beforehand

Brian, think you need some sleep mate! :lol: I think he was meaning to use it Beachcaster style, anchored to the bottom so it doesn't move. Although I could be wrong

Yeah but you dont use leadcore right to the hook do you :D:D Cheers for quick reply's by the way. <>Chris You wouldn't use tubing right to the hook

I reckon that'd work with Briad better mate, giving a combi-link style effect And you'd need to get the tubing exactly the same colour as the lakebed for it not to look conspicuos. It has been done with leadcore before though

Ah yeah, cheers Brian, dodn't think of that Thinking about it, you probably wouldn't even need the sealant.

The controller float? I reckon, with a polystyrene ball, some silicon sealant, a piece of flexible wire and some rig putty you could do it Here you go...

It'll work with a pop-up too mate, just as well

I believe he sharpened a variety of hooks, both coated and un-coated. He also said that, almost all of the time after every fish the hook needed to be changed. However, if you were fishing on a one fish a year water this would obviously be worth it, to hook the fish of a lifetime. If he does not catch, and brings in the hook after a days fishing, he 'touches up' the hook, with the file to restore it to sharpness. You say about the point being brittle, surely if the hook is sharper it will penetrate further, meaning that the point will have less pressure on it, due to the hook being in further.

Just been reading some old mags (Carpology - go on, tell me it's awful ) and I was reading the article(s) from Jason Hayward regarding hook sharpening. He uses a Vallorbe needle file, in cut 4 to achieve a very, very sharp looking hook. There's a close up pic of the hooks he has sharpened compared to a normal hook, and it's astounding! Do you think this is worth doing? I've just ordered a file myself, it seems like a huge edge to me

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 You are completely right actually, I didn't take these things into account. As for the bath tests, no, but I do have an old fish tank that I do use for this purpose, but it doesn't really give you an accurate picture of a cast.

How could it be tangling on the retrieve? Depending on your lead-set-up, this is almost impossible, if you think about the physics of it. With a lead-clip it would be nigh-on impossible, the lead would be coming in first, followed by rig and bait, kept in that order by the drag on the water. That is, if you wind in consistently, and do not stop halfway through.

I only ever use supple hairs anyway, I'f I'm using mono or fluoro I whip on a cotton hair

I prefer it to be quite long, so the fish has some room to 'blow' the bait back without the whole rig being efected. THats with bottom baits anyway, with pop-ups I find the fish tend to 'snatch' at the bait, so obviously a shorter hair would be better

Only thing is, if your lake has Crayfish in, stay away from putty, they love the stuff.

I've said it before, but I have never had a fish on a Zig, and that isn't through lack of trying either. I have no confidence in them at all. Courtz is probably the lad to ask, he seems to had a bit of success on them in his videos.....

Then I'd go for a size 12 in fact mate, the smallest you can get away with

TBH though, in my opinion, like most things in carp fishing, there isn't really a fixed answer to this, it depends on snags in the lake, how rig-shy the fish are, buyancy of the bait etc etc. There are thousands of variables

I'd go with a size 10 personally Although it's all down to personal preference

i used to have it but can't find it now I have myself a lovely 100mm macro lens, i'll see what kind of results i can get. Won't go buying loads of packs of hooks unless i can get good shots of them first Nice one Sharpy

I use the Korda teardrop shaped rig ring things, tie the hooklink to that, then connect this to the quick change clip

Thank Jason Hayward, I'm just relaying the idea

Wrong thread Jake

Actually, I can see that working, because as the carp sucks in the bait, the hook will follow, just behind, at the right angle to hook the fish. I think this would work best with a critically balanced bait, 'coz I think a pop up would mean the hook would float in the top of the mouth, a bottom bait would drag along the bottom, which may catch hold, but the critically balanced means the bait would be above the hook, with the hook hanging down. Heres a tip, get a piece of straight pipe about the diameter of a carps mouth, then cut the end so its about a 45 degree angle, and stick some small strips of foam on the angled end of the tube, on the inside where the fishes lips would be. Lay your rig out in a fishtank, then put one hand over the straight end of the pipe, so it's airtight, then position the 'mouth' over your rig, and move your hand, as the water rushes in to replace the air the rig will be sucked in, and you can see how effective the rig is in a real(ish) situation. If you didn't understand that, you never will, it's hard to explain

Mate, you ever heard of constructive critisism? Jeez, give the guy a break!

Couldn't the loop slip off the point of the hook?