levigsp

I think you may have something there,original I trained as a engineer. So even though I have been out of the game for many years it is second nature to think about the mechanics of my rigs. Some people realy do stuggle to think this way and have to just copy others parrot fashion,and often at no determent to there particular fishing.

The boom section is there to keep the link away from the lead,exactly the sale as in a combi rig. The stiff hook link works as a great anti eject rig,but only with carp that suck and blow,a lot do not. If they are pickers than instead of the stiff link you are better off with a supple section. And as with all rigs the length depends on the way the fish are feeding. The chod in the right place cannot be beaten for hooking. Its just a SIMPLE case of working out how your target carp are feeding,and then using the right rig for the job. I will say without malice if you cannot work out the mechanics of a hinged stiff link you should maybe stick to straight forward knotless knotted coated braid or mono hooklinks.

They both use the principal of a short stiff link for its antieject properties, but thats where the similarity ends. I have no preference for either. Both presented and used quite differently,the chod being used as a sliding link up line above the lead in silt,silkweed and the like. The hooklink is shaped into a curve and as a consiquence of this and the fact that it can spin in any direction the fish have great difficulty in dealing with it. The hinged stifflink is normaly fished after the lead,ie leadclip or inline. Now this rig is useing the same effect of the stiff section being difficult to eject,but it is desighned for clear bottoms,and often used with bottom bait. They are both good rigs in the right situation.

hi,the ph of most UK lakes is somewhere between 6.9 and 8,most neutral. How ever some of the mountain lochs,tarn ect are slightly acidic,whereas some lowland ponds and lakes are slightly alkali. We suffer both with natural and artificial Eutrophication,the first is not normaly a problem except in freak hot years,the second is a problem,that the water boards and enviroment agency are constantly fighting with.

When I studied marine biology and water (care?) A,B and C (Dont know the english names of all the courses),we learned the term "Point of no return" as a term describing when a water gets enough acids, that the heavy metals dissolve and kills everything, making it allmost impossible to restore. I dont know if you use that term in the UK but it would be strange if you dont, since we used the term in english and not swedish. Point of no return is, anyway a term used in many different subjects. It's a quite normal "chaos" term. Let me get this straight, I do NOT think it is ok to have carps swimming around with leads. My point was that if I was the person losing leads all the time, I would check the rig to make the leads loosen only when fish snaggs, and not on normal takes. I agree with you we shouldnt just discard leads,but as I said I would rather lose leads than teather fish.By the way I too have studied aquatic biology,and I studid the effects of lead in UKand EU waterways,and Im an active member of IFM so I can keep on top of current issues.

Hi used marzipan in1972 very succesful

Sgart,Point of no return is actualy a flight term,it means the point in fuel load that you reach[just over half]when you cannot return. If a lake got so acidic that it started to disolve lead,the fish would be dead. For a lake to get so acidic it would need a large amount of acid to be dumped into the water,this then could be neutralised by an equaly large amount of alkali,so the action could be reversed. You would need a huge amount of anglers leads in the water to be a problem[far more than is lost in the UK]. Far far better to lose leads and land fish safely,than to lose fish atached to leads. another point if mercury[quicksilver] was dumped into the water,it would kill fish acid or not. We should all be one together in our use of safe rigs,if that means losing leads than so be it.

Could you please think about your statement after reading this.The PH would have to drop to a leval that is more dangerous to the fish than the lead. The lead would become an,nitride/sulphide ect not oxide. Approx 33% of all lakes and pits dug in the uk have huge amounts of lead already in them,exposed by the mineing of stone/ballast ect,without any ill health in fish ect. I studid the effects of lead in our waterways for both the BFSS and BASC when the goverment put up its draft paper on a lead ban for shooting. I believe I Know the effects.

There will be no consequences at all. Lead is stable in water, it wont pollute it unless you add other chemicals to the water so that the lead can be chemically broken down. People only started suffering from lead poisoning from drinking water once the water companys started adding chlorine and fluoride to our drinking water which in turn made lead pipes chemically unstable. The only way leads could be a danger is if any wildlife was to ingest some, but I cant see many ducks eating the size leads most modern carp anglers use. well said