nigewoodcock

The Fox arma points that I use are very good out of the pack but after a fish or if the rigs been cast out a few times I always have more confidence touching them up! Once that has been done though, I have noticed a bit of rust forming on the hook point. Obvously due to the coating being removed. So the hooks don't last that much longer by honing the point, just stay shaper for the time they are out there.

personally i think both are indespensible I use a fox sharpener. It has a groove in it which makes it easier to hone the hook at the right angle. I could do with the vice though to make things easier.

That's two of us that iambum has converted now then!

Look at your line going through the eye of the hook. Now imagine it going through an out-turned eye. The 'kink' in the stiff material disappears.

Try putting a bit on top of your kettle whilst boiling it. Makes it soft much quicker than finger work!!!

In that case, pull off a bit more material than normal to allow adjustment. Tie your hook on, then measure the length and tie on your swivel/loop at the end of your rig.

Always pull off the same length of hooklink material from the spool - this should give you a good starting point. Just measure it against your tackle box/bivvy table/bucket lid etc etc. You could also measure the link after tying your hook on?

Have a look at the Kryston range. The two I use don't 'crack' at the knot.

I use the figure of 8 loop knot. Quite tricky to do in a small loop with the stiff material but I find it better than a grinner or blood knot. It means that the rig always has the best chance of sitting right.

As mentioned before, I have made some adjustments to the way I tie the rig and also how it is mounted on the main line. The rig is tied pretty much the same but the swivel has changed from a large eye to a ring swivel. This is because I can then have the shot mounted on a loop of floss under the swivel and mainline pulling everything down in a much neater way than having it on the loop knot on the rig. When the shot is mounted like this, the rig wasn’t ‘flying’ off the shock sleeve as well as previous so I needed to alter this a bit. I still wanted to protect the line during the fight so the obvious solution was a small length of rig tube inserted into a helicopter bead. This was pulled through and then ‘blobbed’ with a lighter to hold it in position without the need of any glue. I have now, after Jez’s suggestion, employed the use of a Korda sinker to set my depth along with the ESP bead. I am now totally happy that I am using a safe rig that sits nicely.

Jack - have a word with Coops. I use Bang on baits DSM pop ups. It takes an AA shot to hold them with a size 6 fox arma point! When used on a chod then a No1 will hold them (along with the swivel and sinkers). The rig just pulls nicely down through the water with the shot under the swivel rather than pushing it down.

Nice post Jack. Good to see you back on here again too. As always, the way I fish it has changed a bit again! I now use the Korda sinkers as suggested by Jez. Fantastic little things they are. Also, you might have noticed that I tie the rig with a loop and did have the shot on that loop? I now loop a bit of floss around the swivel eye that is on the mainline. This then has a shot placed on it tight to the eye. It is a bit difficult to explain so will try and put a sketch up or a pic soon. Anyway, I find this helps the rig sit much nicer.

None, most of the time.

Wow!

Simple experiment: ______________________________ _________ Which line is the easiest to see? I know it's not as simple as that in real life but hopefully you can see where I am comming from?

Rather than giving you advice on which one to buy or telling you not to buy it at all, can I ask you a question? What are your reasons for wanting to use leacore? Are you trying to overcome a certain problem? Once these are answered then you may get some sound advice.

Could the ring cut into the hooklink as it tightened? im not sure that the ring could,but the line could damage the knot........only if the was enough pressure on it ....which i think is unlikley as its only the pressure of sucking/blowing and not playing the fish on the ring/loop Sorry Beanz - just re-read your post. I thought it was the ring itself that was trapped in the last loop/whip - not the tag end as you quite clearly state! lol

Could the ring cut into the hooklink as it tightened?

Cut off your mesh with around an inch and a half tag from the bait. Cut straight down the middle of the tage end to the bait. Tie down in a double overhand knot. Nice and tight!

Jamie showed me the beads last week on our trip out and I must admit I like them a lot. I would have no problem using them as I don't use a leader. It's just that the bore on them seems a liitle tight to slip the knot?

How many metres of leader are you using? Do the Avid beads slip over the leader knot eaisily?

No need for leadcore in the first place Try not to use a leader of any kind if you can help it. It's much safer for the fish without one. Taken from the following thread, which also has links in it worth reading: http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=45812&highlight=chod+silt+bead Basically I tie mine as follows. From Lead, all mounted on the mainline: Lead (with swivel cut off) – weak link of low b/s line – large eye swivel – Korda shockleader sleeve – the rig – ESP shock bead – slim float stop (set to required depth) In the picture I have not used the weak link as there was a clean bottom with no snags present. If there was weed in the vicinity or any sort of snaggy areas then this would be incorporated in the set up. I don’t use this rig when fishing into weed but I am working on an idea. As an extra safety measure I have now switched to using a slimmer float stop so the ESP bead will pass over the stop under pressure. If this fails then the running large eye swivel that the rig is mounted on will pass over the bead under very light pressure. I use the shockleader sleeves to stop the swivel and line working at horrible angles whilst playing a fish. It also lets the rig sit nicely during the cast. If there is a pretty much uniform lake bed out to the area fishing, I will sometimes use a flying backlead and / or backlead. This gives that extra bit of resistance on any pickup, if required. I do however, find that a slack line approach works fantastically in most situations as the set up has predominately been used as a single bait approach.

Or use dog biscuits - that way you could still have a tight bag that will travel a lot easier in the air! To be honest - I wouldn't bother. A poped up bait of an inch or three above a patch of stick/bag mix doesn't seem right? Maybe to a carp it does???? Personaly, if I were to bait up whilst using this method, I would favour a scattering of boilies. If your going to the trouble of pva bagging then you may as well use a 'standad' rig and lead arrangement.

Each to their own, your right Kev, We all have different methods and varieties that we like to use. The same as we all fish in different situations, as you know.

I find there is enough boyancy in the straight wagglers or quills that I use to be honest. After all, once the shot is lifted, what resistance is there pulling the float down? In most cases, I prefer a 'standard' float set up for carp.