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Hi I have to admit that I have lifted scales with mono. Not often but to say I haven’t would be a lie. Its been the bigger mirrors and for some strange reason often when hooked close to the bank/margin. Frank

Yes Keith and something I should have said in my post. And lets hope the angling trade takes notice of the photo's, and well done Simon for haveing the guts to publish. The more I see and read the more I realise about the inherent dangers of various bits and pieces of tackle commonly used by carp anglers and its about time it was shown up for what it is, a money spinner that ends the life of a carp.

As noknot said you do not need a leader for a chod to work. "Safezone leaders are expensive" they might be but there are leaders exactly the same for a fraction of the price, but why buy them if not needed, they certainly dont do what it says on the tin I know of leaders that are far softer, heavyer than leadcore etc, BUT I WILL NOT recomend them,because sooner or later I will have it on my conscience when someone missuses them and kills a fish.

Thanks Nick your a Gent.

Now I know why I joined the forum to learn Please Nick educate me on Superstiff'ening.

Some years ago Partridge bought out D rig hooks complete with ring and the hair whipped onto the shank, they even did them in green Didn't Carp-R-Us (on Nailers ?) and Big Fish Adventure also follow suit? I gave some of the Carp-R-Us ones that I got as samples somewhere to a mate who was having problems tying them. I also made up some myself using Whipping thread or cotton and a short length of Amnesia Quite right Nick, My memory's are failing me, I juast rememered the jade green hoooks

Some years ago Partridge bought out D rig hooks complete with ring and the hair whipped onto the shank, they even did them in green

You have confused me to a degree. Where did you read this? did you misread it? or was it misprinted. You see My understanding is Terry uses the chod with a popup if he suspects that the bottom is chod/silt. The hinged stifflink with popup on clean bottoms and a braid link for bottom baits,both of the latter two have the lead tied to the swival[no clip] I know Terry wrote an artical for Angling times? that confused a lot of readers as he was taling about how he tied up the short section for hinged rigs and chods,and how one developed from the other, a lot of people took it to mean he uses the hinged rig on the helicopter. Hope this might be of help

Jim I wish to ask some questions without offending you I know you use leadcore and also try to teach others how to use it safely,but what is your answer to the following. Leadcorwe kinks easerly. Leadcore has a tendency for the lead to poke through the side wall. Leadcore is abrasive. Leadcore easerly snags up in snags. Just interested

Ok then you lot Frank Warwick uses a similar rig but with 4-5+ baits on it,should tis be called a load of B rig?

Keith my genuine opinion is You have nothing to be sorry for. Anything you[or anyone else] can say that will stop people using leadcore has to be a good thing. Another point at least you have the guts to ban it on your fishery,lots don't. Frank

Nick as you know I often fish very low stock waters and in doing so every bite is very important. Because I live so far away from my target waters I need a head start. My watercraft often starts before I even get on the bank of a lake. I can honestly say that the last couple of lakes I have fished I have done so knowing the rigs would work from the off. I workout in my head the mechanics of each type of rig,I then match this up in my head to the type of carp/feeding, this again is worked out in my head from the type of lake I am intending to fish. Now sometimes a certain fish for one reason or another does not play ball,and you need to change things,but my last three targets have been met with a visit to the unhooking matt sooner rather than later I put this down to forward planning

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.

Used to fish there many moons ago

Hi totaly unrelated to your post,but do you reside in borrowash?

I like that quote Yeah I can imagine Keith sitting there in the sun with his feet up, a glass of red wine and the New ATT V2 goes into vibrate mode, Mmmmmmm A hard life, but it has to be done I don't know whether I can put up with it for much longer. Keith life is truely hard is it not Frank. PS what air temps you got now?

Hi to make up a chod or silt rig tie up a rig like so. Then simply thread a bead onto your mainline,make sure it has a large hole,next thread on the rig as shown through the swival,then another bead with a tight hole, then tie a figure of eight loop in the mainline. Now if you are using floro line simply tie a lead to the loop, if using mono fasten a leader of choise eg 1 metre of floro or a smooth coated leader on,this leader must have a ring or swival tied to the end,then tie a lead with weak line to the ring. Slide the tight bead down the lot untill its 4-6 inches from the lead,you will find you need to lubricate the line and leader to get the bead into position,especialy over the knot. Slide the hooklink and other bead down the line,if this bead is restricted in anyway as it goes over the knot, change it for one with a bigger hole. Then re- tie the lead with pva to take the cast,and also tie a piece of pva tape 40-60cm above the top bead to stop the hook and bead traveling to far up the mainline on the cast. Use as light a lead as you can get away with, once cast out sink you line as usual then keep letting line out untill it is on the bottom from rod to lead. The lead will sink into the silt and the hooklink will slide up the line untill it is just sitting ontop of the silt. No matter which way the carp approaches the bait it will spin and on pickup so little resistence is felt as it is free running the carp simply cannot deal with it. In the right hands,on the right waters it is quite simply unbeatable. But it defenately is not for every water As for fishing the lake you mention, do the carp feed in the silt?if so fish in it with a soft reliable braided hook link and heavy lead. If the dont, then find the hardspots they have created, and fish on these if possible. If however you find the fish simply graze the surface of the silt, then the chod or silt rig will prove effective. PLEASE realise that the above version of the chod is perfectly safe, but it will not be found in the magazines, I also doubt will you find mention of fishing it compleatly slack. Hope this is of some help,if somewhat long winded.

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 Kieth,I started comming onto the forum to see if I could get to know any like minded souls and to see if I could learn a thing or two and perhaps help on or two. Most anglers you see nowdays or in fact in the past do not think for themselves,they simply do what they have been shown either first or second hand. A few think for themselves work out how to catch fish,and either first or second hand teach all the others. Magazines and forums for that matter can help beginers, they also can help thinking anglers in their train of thought. But in a lot of situations you know they will read and follow like sheep.

Two anglers that regulary have articals in the carping press were fishing a well known southern still water. I asked If they minded me watching being a novice and all that,they obliged. After some time I asked one of them to show me how to tie up a rig he was using 3 months earlyer in the mags and also show me how it worked. He informed me it was so long ago and so much had changed, he could not remember how to tie it,or how it worked. This answered some very important questions for me.

Jez I too sight fish whilst free lining, however I have fished countless times where I cannot see because the water is to turbid or it is in fact dark. I to beleave in sharp hooks,as sharp as possible. But as stated I have put baited hooks in the water freelined and watched carp get away with it,a simple addition of a weight changed everything,even when the weight was only a couple of foot of leader On other waters no weight is needed. I have sugested on this forum before that I consider the makeup of the bottom a very important fact in my choise of hooking arrangment. The strain/shape of carp also has a profound effect on some waters. However these are only my ways and thoughts,and as said before I got strange ideas about carp.

A good point made by Jez to try different things and the fact that different things work for different fish. I am a fan of fishing free lined baits in the margins, ive watched carp pick up the bait 10-20 times without getting hooked,simple addition of a lead resulted in hookups. I am thefirst to point out carp can and do use leads to eject hooks,but not always. Another good point by Moorsey,I would also like to see a secret video Frank

Zander a quote from you " i understand this but i cant see why there is so much anti leadcore and pro fluro (which i use for the most of my fishing), but that is indeed for another thread " The answer is on this forum in a few places if you look, I amoungs't others have writen about it. But to refresh here are a couple of reasons . Leadcore kinks badley in its natural state and it also kinks very badly when the core comes through the side wall. When this happens you might as well have the hook tied to it. Leadcore is extreemly abrasive, get a length and see how easy it cuts into something . I for the life of me do not know why anybody needs to lock beads onto any helicopter or other similar rig,it simply is not nessasary. Length of suitable leader fastend to lead, bead [tightish fitting] slid down leader, hook link atatched to a swivel is slid down leader, another bead[big bore hole] is slid down leader and then the mainline is tied to the leader. The two beads can be set far apart as in a chod rig or close as in standard heli, the mechanics work either way. I simple knot of pva tape on the cast keeps everything in place, and if the unthinkable happens and you part of, it all comes apart quite easerly. If you choose to fish helicopter type rigs, fish them safe,and that means simple and loose Frank

Why the bead above the hook,absalutely no need for it,and all it does is make it difficult to come apart. The rig would be safe without the bead. However the rig CANNOT work correctly as a helicoper rig,the link simply cannot spin. The whole idea of a helicopter rig is that the lead goes first for distance and the hook link spins to stop it from tangling round the leader. If you used very stiff or very short links it might work,but why go to all the trouble. A correctly tied up chod/helicopter rig using smooth leaders/line and not leadcore work very safely.