ouchthathurt

God damn it! Protected!!

I want to strip and re-eye my centuary blanks, i'd love to replace the duplon/foam handles with cork as i love cork handles. I had to get my blanks re-eyed years ago after the eyes were twisted around themselves by a rather angry ex... Well she was an ex swiftly afterwards! Sticks and stones may break my bones but keep your mitts off my carp gear!! On the plus side, at least it was the fishing type of "tackle" that she chose to twist off... :blink:

No no no... We need to unbalance everything now! Lol!! The carp are used to balanced set ups... I have used this rig to good effect on the past.

Yeah, this is almost the modern take of this classic rig, however using a light line hair from the bend of the hook, without the hair being a continuation of the hooklink which seems to make it stiffer, the light, long hair makes the point of the hook "heavy" and the hook is more unstable on ejection. Its similar to the very early hairs during their inception with lenny middleton the knotless knot/continuation of hooklink-hair is a relatively recent concept, the hairs were often lighter hairs tied seperatley on to the eye or shank of the hook. As the hooklink of the time was mono, dental floss hairs on mono links were one of the first hair rigs i ever used in the mid 90's The "hook bend hair" is relatively forgotten about as being "old" but it can work. It looks pretty "hookable" i think with a curveshanked hook, this would flip over and dig in really well.

I got a set of centuary 12ft 2 3/4tc canon carp rods, they are a lovely set of rods, but they are starting to show their age. (arent we all??) nothing a good clean and a rewhipping of the eyes will sort out. The blanks are mint! I also have a set of 11ft shimano 2lb tc rods that i love, they are pretty old to, but ive never found a blank that is thinner, crisp and snappy as these rods. I love them, although they are "dated" by modern standards.

When i tried it out, i used either a tucked half blood or 3 turn grinner knot, secured with a dab of superglue, i found a lot of knots slipped, i also tried a "round turn and two half hitches" and clove hitches as well, (check out nautical websites!) and secure it with superglue

Yeah, got ya, ive been playing around and have not had any issues on my bench tests. And they look pukka neat, just need to get some reliable crimps to have a proper play. I tried initial tests with sea fishing crimps which are ideal for placing on 60lb rig bodies but they need testing with carp links which i found to be (obviously) thinner, "smoother" and might be more liable to slip or nick the link as some of the crimp edges are a bit rough.

The floss trick is one of my little ruses to extend the length of a pretied hair. Ive looked at extenda hairstops, but i tend to tie a loop in my chosen hooklink and hair rig a boilie before threading the hook on and tying it all up, making sure the hair is the length i want it. rather than tying it up first then seeing how the boilie fits.

Ive looked at them mate, but my local tackleshop stocks mainly trout/predator and sea fishing (we are about 2hrs drive from the nearest sea mark!?!) gear, their carp gear is limited to say the least so i make do with what i can find. They any good mate?

I find soft ghost to be a lot easier to use that more traditional stiff links, it knots well and straightens well and does the job. Ive never had an issue with it. I also got a spool of old school amnesia for more "stiffer" applications and boom sections on hinged stiff links, that i used to use a lot. Im looking into crimping at the moment but have a few reservations at present.

Looking through some of these threads a lot of the hairs on the rigs are quite short..?? What are peoples thoughts on hair lengths? My hairs for my bottom baits have always been on the long side this is a size 4 curve shank on blowback rig and braided hooklink for a 14-15mm bait. this is same rig with bait attached although something is lost in the photo, it looks shorter now?!?! I think a longer hair encourages the hook to turn and prick in the lip better, i think also as it is not so closely linked to the bait, it is more "unstable" during ejection. I also think it is something different at the majority seem to fish far shorter hairs. I could get two baits on a bottom bait hair that is designed for one bait. However i think with pop ups, a shorter hair is more effective. What do others think?

A delightful pic of my tackle box, its 2sided tool box i use, sorry no pictures of carp adorn my tackle box. The other side. all very chaotic but it works for me. I mainly use helicopter rigs, as i use leadcore often (have for 14+yrs) and think the helicopter rig is safest. basic helicopter rig arrangement with spliced loop. If i get snapped off then the hooklink will slide away like this. you may note thati dont have any tubing/shrink tube on the leadcore to temporarily affix the top bead in place, nor is it altered or doctored in any way, for instance, not threading the bead on sideways! There is nothing in which to impede the movement of the top bead if required. the 100% most important most imperative thing is that the bead and hooklink swivel ( with big bore ring) must be able to pass over the spliced loop like this. then the 'core with lead attached is now seperate to the hooklink.

Photo copy of cr##py carpers.com all rights reserved. To place an order for the "karp-level" (the real spirit in angling) call 0-1 2-1 do one and this excusive piece of carp fishing equipment can be yours... The karp level only £69,99p rrp (limited editions signed by an essex wide boy with a quiff and polo shirt will cost £99.99 only 10,000 of the deluxe levels will be available to those on a first come first served basis. Stitch em and legget tackle specialists have the "karp-level" on offer at £39.99p to the first 100 buyers. To complement the set stitch em and legget will throw in the "karp kruncher" a 2lb mallet for getting those pesky polished stainless onto hard banks... Or B&Q sell them for a fiver, but there are no pictures of a carp on it...

Ih jesus!! My rigs have to be 100% spot on; but my tackle box?? Er.... Lets just say it could do with a visit from the cleaning fairies...

Close up of my bottom bait rig, curve shank size 4 hook on braid hooklink using blowback principle. Note the darkness of the braid? This is lead putty rubbed into braid and excess removed. I like a pretty long hair. Bait is 15mm fishmeal/robin red boilie.

When i used to make my own cork pop ups, i would only make small batches of 10-20 at a time. I would take a length of shockleader line or a cocktail stick and score a shallow groove around the middle so once boiled and hardened off, i would have a groove to tie my floss in. Just be careful not to make a groove right through the boilie paste and expose the cork ball.

I prefer to tie my pop ups on as any piercing of the bait will affect its boyancy over a period of time. I also find that the boilie skin over the pop up integrety is damaged, then water ingress will soon soak and split the skin as well as leaving it open for small fish to have a peck at it.

Does this not work then??? Whats all this about changing hooks?? Seems a bit wasteful to me... Lol!

Guilty as charged... Im not as bad as getting the ruler out but i can happily measure by eye - the end presentation must be neat and tidy, if i'm not 100% happy, its binned immediatley. I have my favourite rigs, but also have those i dont like. The "chod" for instance, not a fan!!

Sliding pop up rig short shanked wide gape beaked hook size 4 with pop up mounted on sliding rig ring on shank stopped with float stop pop up on the left with cell boilie in situ - had 2 20's in the last two sessions. Rig on the right is my bottom bait rig - blowback rig with long hair and size 4 curve shank patterned hook. Both rigs tied on short braided hooklinks with lead putty to ensure it sinks. Happy to use this with inline lead arrangements or helicopter rigs (most common as i use leadcore regularly and helicopter rig allows hooklink and lead/leader to part company. never use leadcore with inlines)- will fish snowman rigs with same set up. photo below shows position of hair/bait (hopefully!!) when blown back by feeding carp. at least thats the plan... I like a slightly longer hooklink to my bottom bait/snowman rigs, my speccie water all fish come out to pop ups (bottom covered in thick stinking silt which taints and trashes bottombaits to the point that they can sit there until the cows come home) so the sliding pop up rig is the one i use, on my "big" water 37acres, there are many big bream which demolish pop ups and single bottom baits so i started using snowmans and caught a double figure common within 30mins of trying, so a good start! I have been known to reject rigs that look "untidy" or not as neat as i can get away with, i like a really subtle finnessed rig with small, neat rig componants. With bottom baits, i like a long hair. With pop ups i subscribe to the small pop up big hook approach, but it all has to be 100% perfect, putty, right swivel for the lead, right hooklink for the bottom substrate (how many anglers use the same hooklink regardless of the bottom fished over?) sharp hook etc the hardest part is to get the carp to pick up the bait in the first place, without losing it through complacency

We need them all, its each to their own but i dont like the korda films too much of an advert for my tastes. I love "a passion for angling" its the true essence of angling, that show. John Wilson is the king of fishing shows, he holds the crown for so many reasons. The carp crew with jan porter were watchable as it was so hippy and laidback, dont know why he was swapped with kev green halfway through (anyone know?) that ruined the series for me. The tips and tricks on the show were nothing groundbreaking or technical, but it was watchable.

you can use a whipping knot to tie hair rigs - the same knot you would use to tie a spade end hook on, just adding a loop to the tag end. i wouldnt be happy using washing up liquid as its smell and chemical make up may be off putting, there are better flouros to use as they are designed especially for hooklinks, using tiny amounts of rig putty can also help.

the helicopter rig is probably the best rig to use with leadcore, especially if you splice a loop in the end you attach your main line to. leadcore should NEVER be knotted to the mainline, unless you are using a needle knot which is small enough to allow the hooklink swivel to pass over safely. the hooklink swivel needs to be a "big bore" variety, preferably one with a large ring on it which you pass down the leadcore. there was a "fashion" for a time, to thread the top bead onto the leadcore sideways using a baiting needle, now THIS IS dangerous as it cannot pass freely up the line. which will tether the hooklink to the leadcore. i use leadcore often, always with a helicopter rig, i dont agree with leadclips and leadcore, as i dont think this is safe, as regardless of whether the lead has ejected or not, the carp is still attached to a length of hooklink and a length of leadcore. when you consider the average hooklink breaking strain for braided hooklinks is about 20lb, and the average leadcore leader breaking strain is double that, at about 40lb, (ESP being 45lb) this is quite a substantial strength "tether" should a trailing carp become snagged - yet the lead may have ejected as designed. the most common length for leadcore is usually several feet, so if you picture the scene, you have a leadcore leader of several feet with a leadclip and a coated braided hooklink, a common enough rig i'm sure you will agree. you get a take, you snap off, the lead ejects as designed, the carp heads for the safety of the snags, as they do, (the leads gone, remember) the carp makes it inot the snag, thick branches, weeds etc, trailing a 20lb hooklink and several feet of leadcore, which snares on the snag as it passes, (no lead remember!) the fish panics, becomes tangled and is now stuck. with a "fish safe" leadclip... with the helicopter rig, the line snaps, the lead, securely tied to the end of the leadcore, snags up, the top bead pops off under the pressure and the hooklink slides up the tethered leadcore and slides off the end, now the carp swims off with just a hooklink to get rid of. - provided the helicopter rig is tied properly to begin with. when i tie mine, i get a length of leadcore, tie on a lead to one end, splice a loop in the oter end. i then slide a helicopter buffer bead down over the lead followed by my rig, tied to a ring swivel, but the hooklink NOT tied to the ring, but to the other end. as the ring will be going down the leadcore leader. once the hooklink is threaded on the leader, i then thread on a 1cm length of shrink tube, and shrink it down about 1-2" above the top of the buffer bead. once this is shrunk down, i slip another 1cm length of shrink tube over the 1st, and shrink that down too. then finally, i slide the top bead down it sits on the shrink tube. the safety test is simple. hold your hooklink in one hand and your lead in the other. drop the lead and if the bead pops off and the hooklink travels up the leadcore leader and over the top, then its ok to use. if the hooklink hits the top bead and does not move, then find a top bead with a larger bore, until the merest jarring of the hooklink causes the top bead to pop off. then if/when you snap off, when the carp picks up the bait and shakes its head, the top bead pops off and leaves the hooklink to travel freely up the line. there is one very simple rule, if you are in ANY doubt, dont use the rig, if you are not used to leadcore or are in any doubting your rig, use tubing. there are many varieties of tubing that is as good as leadcore, anchor rigtube being one. never put the fish at risk because you are unsure to the rigs "safetiness"

no dramas mate, what we are all here for after all. i know different anglers have different opinions on the palm test, but it gives me confidence and its not doing any harm, so where is the problem there? i have read from some "big name" anglers in magazines that the palm test is irrelevant but it makes me happy so thats that. regardless of hook or rig choice, you are looking for that "flipability" so it spins and finds a hookhold as soon as the carp takes the bait.

to be honest, you dont really need the tubing with kurv shanked hooks. the concept behind the curv-shanx was that the hook flipped over as the hooklink tightened in the carps mouth finding a hookhold, which was the reason why shrink tubing was used over the eye of the hook on long shanks/other patterns, for this "hook flipping" it all stems from the original idea behind the "bent hook" rg which was used a lot in the 80s-90s which was a long shanked hook, like an aberdeen pattern or o'shaunessy bent at a 45 degree angle about 1/2 way up the hookshank, then tied in a knotless knot and hair rig arrangement presented a really agressive angle, but did cause some serious mouth damage and is now since banned on many (if not all) waters. you can use a tiny section to pin the hair to the hookshank,like i do. the way i fish them is to choose my chosen braided hooklink, - they are not as good with mono hooklinks - but thats just me, tie a loop in the braid for your hair loop, thread my chosen bottom bait/boilie onto it - so i can accuratley measure the hair. then i get a small piece of shrink tube, thread this onto the braided link, then thread the hook through this tubing, hookpoint 1st. so this leaves you with a length of braid with a boilie attached and and a hook attached to the braid by a length of shrink tube, but not yet tied on. i like relatively long hair lengths, so i measure out my chosen length and place the rig tube so it sits on the bend of the hook, i want the tubing to sit oppasite the eye, if that makes sense, then i tie the knotless knot as normal with the braid coming out through the front of the eye. if you imagine the eye of the kurv-shanx hook as the top and the gape of the hook as the bottom, then the shrink tube sits at the gape of the hook directly below the eye of the hook. does this make sense? then i have a hair length of 0.5" from gape of hook to top of bait. then once everything is set, i steam the shrink tube down into place and its job done. as you drag the rig over the palm of your hand, or dangle it over your finger and pull it back, you will see that as soon as the hook encounters resistance, it flips over and digs in. i find having the hair in this arrangement makes it more "flippable" as it works best when the hook encounters resistance, a semifixed/helicopter rig arrangement works best. ouch.