nigewoodcock

8lb line??? That was over gunning it when I started lol. Used to fish for doubles on 6lb line. It was the staple line for my ledger rod, river or mere.

Yes mate, very similar. I like to use a stiff filament though as I found it tangles less especially if used with an anti-tangle sleeve on the hooklink. Also, the large ring, used so the mainline can travel through with as little resistance as possible, sometimes had the tendency to 'spin' leaving the mainline sort or trapped. It's not that much of a problem but makes it act as a fixed lead (not what I was after with the setup). To combat this, a short length of tubing on the mainline, blobbed into the bead to stop it slipping, works wonders! I showed this to Mick the other week at Horseshoe. It's how I set up my marker float but incorporate a foot of leadcore (lead removed) to get over that spinning of the ring.

I don't use runing rigs that often but when I do, and I am fishing in silt or a soft area as you put it, I will use this simple arangement (sorry for the tattyness. It was just a quick sketch as its better than me trying to explain it in words):

I use short lengths of leadcore so the loop just pokes oout of the top of the bag. I did use the avid bag steams which are a really good product, only that they only fit avid leads! With either of these you can just loop to loop them on for speed or tie them.

Sorry to hear that matey. Xxx

Yes pete

With sheep in the back field it seems like it! Our house is cut into a bank so the back field is level with our upstairs windows. It's weird waking up to a sheep bleating at you from about two foot away! Lol It's ace though. Buzzards nest in the woods behind the stables and have a falcon that hunts over one of our bigger field. They make a hell of a slap when they hit a pigeon from above.

3 horses, 3 dogs, 2 cats, 7 chickens and a rabbit! The gerbils and hamster died and I'm not allowed to replace them!! Lol

I like the perfection loop but have it on good authority that the figure of eight is stronger. The tests were done with mono though and not with braid. I use the perfection loop with a thick stiff filament, but revert to figure of eight when using mono or a light fluro.

Good reply mate. My answer in this thread was to the individual poster. He said he was new to this style of fishing (chod/helicopter) so the safest way in my opinion for him was no leader. Imagine if he was advised to use a leader and then went on to thie it on with a swivel and proceeded to snap off? I agree with you that having a tough leader on when fishing a rotary arrangement would stop the swivel having any chance of damaging the line. That is why, when fishing without a leader (which I do most of the time, not always but most) I, at the time, adapted the use of a lead insert as shown in the last picture. Manufactures have now added bits to there range so that I don't have to anymore. The fox ones are perfect and nice and neat.