nigewoodcock

So not a "windbeater" with a huge bouyant lower body, that will shoot strait up when the shot is displaced? Not in the shallow areas I fish for tench Kev.

Place a big shot a couple of inch from the hook and attach the float via bands. This allows you to adjust the depth easily when needed. My prefered float for this type of fishing is a short clear waggler, around 4 inchs long.

I don't think there needs to be a wind to have undertow being heavy enough to move leads around If Goblin was still active; he could tell you a thing or two about it. I recall he has had to use some serious lead to hold bottom

He has been given the links to the threads containing the dangers of leadcore. Based on the reading I have done, I would make it a crime to use it!

couldnt agree more!! Same here, but it's difficult to educate people when you have Jim Shelley advocating using 30 feet of the stuff. Slowly but surely the angling world is realising the dangers of leadcore. Our best hope is that more fisheries ban it. Well said stoogi. The worst thing I ever did was inventing a knot for the stuff and the best thing I ever did was banning it on my lake. At least some of us are learning. Untill one of the mags start to print the dangers of leadcore and other types of leaders, then the brainwashed will stay that way. Unfortunatly the mags are only there to make money (not slating them for that as we all need to earn a wage) and the companies producing the horrible stuff is where there main income comes from, along with the sponsored anglers having to comply with the deals they have signed up to. Maybe with this Freespool magazine coming out, some unbiased articles can get into print and more people will start to see the effects of using leadcore?

You holding fish is all I have seen this week - in flesh and print . Keith - the article in said Freespool magazine, along with Jamie and Lewis' reports of your lake really make me regret not being able to make the trip with them. Would take a lot to stop me next time!

The latest fashion item as publicised by the magazines. In the majority of cases you are far better using a standard rig rather than following fashion. If everyone is doing the same KD rig, then it will seem to be catching loads of fish, yet the truth is that if everyone all fished a standard line aligner, or a knotless knotted rig and the same number of fish were caught, then each would show themselves to be as effective as the KD rig. Is a 'standard line aligner' a simple a rig as the 'KD'?

Loo time is reserved for being on the laptop! Coming to think of it - most of my time browsing Carp.com is with a dual purpose!

To be honest Ian, it's the only time I find I can get into a book with my full attension. There's always something that needs doing! Now the long nights are on there way back I might get a chance or two to sit by the fire in my slipppers!

Mr. Rosenblum's List: Or Friendly Guidance for the Aspiring Englishman. Jack Rosenblum is five foot three and a half inches of sheer tenacity. Through study and application he intends to become a Very English Gentleman. Jack is compiling a list, a comprehensive guide to the manners, customs and habits of this country. He knows that marmalade must be bought from Fortnum & Mason, he’s memorised the entire British monarchy back to 913 A.D and the highlight of his day is the BBC weather forecast. And he never speaks German, apart from the occasional curse. From the moment he disembarked at Harwich in 1937 he understood that assimilation was the key. But the war's been over for eight years and despite his best efforts, his bid to blend in remains fraught with unexpected hurdles. Including his wife. Sadie finds his obsession baffling. She doesn't want to forget who they are or where they come from. She'd rather bake cakes to remember the people they left behind than worry about how to play bridge. But Jack is convinced they can find a place to call home. In a final attempt to complete his list, he leads a reluctant Sadie into the English countryside. Here, in a land of woolly pigs, bluebells and jitterbug cider, they embark on an impossible task... I read this whilst on holiday. Fantastic!

Good stuff lads.

Would the bead slip over a sinker Jez? Not seen one in the flesh. I suppose it's not too much of an issue if the rig will 'pop' over the bead anyway

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.

I took some photos of how I tie it the other day. I will upload them tomorrow and post them up.

What do you feel the reasons are that you require one? That is a better question to start with.

Chris, as you are 'just trying to learn' I would stay away from trying to understand how to tie all these different rigs and stick to using something quite basic. Then, as you come across different situations, you may feel that you have to change something in the way of your presentation of bait or rig mechanics to catch or keep catching. This thought will lead you into using the best rig for that situation - not just a rig that you have seen on a forum or in a magazine. As you gain more experience you will continually learn how to tie new or even just variations of rigs to deal with different scenarios you are faced with. To get a more useful answer, a different question could be 'What are the reasons/situations behind using a snowman bait' If you think that the answers you get are relative to the problem you are trying to overcome then you can look into the variables you are faced with that will decide which rig to use. It's a case of walking before you run but you are active within one of the best sources of information when you no need it.

You know I need a seat per cheek!!!!

One word.... GUTTED!

why because not every fishing situation requires a slack line. So what is the situation you are trying to cover? You may get a bit more of a response if you let on a bit more.

I use one of those safezone leaders with a quick link on my setup. I found with braid straight through that the braid would wrap around the run ring trapping the float. This was increased when fishing weedey waters, as most of the lakes I have fished in the last few years are. The safezone leader slips nicely through the run ring every time with the right choice of float for the job. I lose hardly any sensitivity when feeling the lead (tested on a range of known features) as compared to lead straight through. Certainly nowhere near as much when using a full mono shockleader. There is still only one knot - I use the loop to loop and cover with shrink tube to tidy it up - as the lead clips on.

I see where your coming from but I think the lead is just obscuring the view

yeah i have shimano super ultegra in the larger spool version. they come with 3 spools so i have 2 spare. Load up your 300m of Xline on a spool then attach a cheep mono line as a backing and wind that on until the spool is full. Next, take the spool off, put on an empty spool and fill from the preloaded one you just removed - this should leave you with a fill to the brim reel with exactly 300m of Xline and the remainder in a non expensive backing. Back to his original question. How does he know he is loading 300 mtrs in the first instance? By simply counting the turns of his handle

yeah i have shimano super ultegra in the larger spool version. they come with 3 spools so i have 2 spare. Load up your 300m of Xline on a spool then attach a cheep mono line as a backing and wind that on until the spool is full. Next, take the spool off, put on an empty spool and fill from the preloaded one you just removed - this should leave you with a fill to the brim reel with exactly 300m of Xline and the remainder in a non expensive backing.

Once again I presume you are talking about close in, margin fishing here cos like I said before, anything further out than that you would have real difficulty seeing what was happening anyway. In the case of the gravel bottomed lake though I would make my end tackle as subtle as possible And make my bait act as natural as the freebies by counterbalancing it. Also shortening the hooklink could help along with lengthening the hair to make sure you have a much greater degree of separation between the hook and bait. To be honest, on the silty venue where even close in you are not gonna see much at all, I would experiment and try the same as above, but cos you cant see the carps reaction to anything, then i feel its gonna be trial and error. Either way, I feel pulling out a rig that’s all whistles and bells rings here and swivels there is just gonna hinder your chances of a take. I wouldn’t be at all confident of doing something l;ike that. But thats just my opinion. If I thought (or knew) the fish was 'picking' or 'mouthing' the bait then my first thoughts would be the opposite to yours Ant. I would want the bait as close to the hook as possible with the hookpoint just clear of the lakebed or even upside down My theory being that as soon as the carp touches the bait with its lip, it has a chance of being hooked - mega sharp hooks required I think. Admitidly your not going to have many runs like this but it may get you that fish that you are targeting - if thats the way it feeds Could be a load of cobblers though

Do you have a spare spool for each of your reels?