nigewoodcock

Ah that was my question is it better to use braid or monofilament? or is it personal preference? well there are positives and negatives to both of them from what i remember they are : braid: moves around more naturally and will go into the fishes mouth easier, but is more prone to tangling mono: less prone to tangling but moves around inthe water less natural and i think is slightly harder for the fish to pick up unless it some in at the right angle i may not be 100% right with those points but i think the stuff ive said about the braid is correct Or you could get the best of both

Was the reason you didn't catch the actual rig or could it have been the bait or even that there was no carp in the area

If I knew that my rig was effective on the water I was fishing, I would consider changing my bait (size, shape or the bait itself etc) before my rig. I did 3 nights last week with only one fish from the first 2 nights. I was getting a few false indications / aborted pick-ups. I changed to an 18mm bait from the 14mm I had been fishing (was baiting with both sizes along with chops) and had 6 fish during the last night. The first coming just 10 minutes after changing bait size. I knew the fish were over my spots as they had been crashing almost constantly through all 3 nights over my bait.

If you have confidence in your rigs why would you change them before bait presentation ( I include the hair and rig length in with presentation )

I still use it when I have my rig in a bag. Eliminates all any doubt that the point is not in a pellet or chop etc.

I get through loads of the stuff. Helps a lot with confidence in my bait presentation. I have started putting a couple of pieces in a mesh 'jacket' as, on a couple of waters I am fishing, the carp seem to 'pick' at baits on top of the deep silt rather than getting down in it

Cheers

That is the exact one Where have I seen it before Nick? It's starting to annoy me now that I can't remember

I don't know on the magazine article sorry (I don't read them that often) I have done a quick (and very rough ) sketch of how I imagined the rig you were describing and how it may enter a carps mouth if they were sucking baits in I have seen this drawing somewhere else. I can't remember if it was on this site or in a book. It also showed how hooks may react with the hair comming off at bend of the hook.

If I am picturing correctly in my mind what you are describing - then I think the hook may turn / flip over when sucked in and follow behind the bait. The hook may then prick the outside of the carps mouth (on the way in). If it misses this then there would be less chance of it pricking on the way out, as it would be facing the wrong way?

Have a look at the Kryston range. There are a lot of good braids out there and it will do no harm in having a selection in your possession There are plenty of anti-tangle solutions posted on the forum

First question would be why do you need to use a braid hooklink?

Hello and welcome. I have just read your PM and will reply later on. A silt rig may not be the best option. I haven't been there for a while but last time I was there it showed signs that big beds of weed may be growing

Some of the tubing is heavier than lead core It dosn't have to be fished in one long length

Nick, I told you a couple of months back how reading your threads had encouraged me to bring slack lines into my fishing on a lot more active scale. I think it was after that thread where someone didn't want to listen (not that it narrows it down that much ) I wasn't going to, and still won't post the results of how my efforts with slack lines are going - only to say that I am still using them, when and where conditions allow and with a lot more confidence, which I think was what was missing in the past. A read of a few threads sorted that though.

Or learnt to cut and paste

I would use them in conjunction with a flying back lead to conceal the line around the feeding / bait area creating a 'safe zone' for the carp to feed in without 'feeling' the line. Make sure you match the colour to the lakebed for maximum camouflage. There are other leaders that you could use, Fluorocarbon for instance would be almost invisible on the lake bed Lots of people don't fish with any leader at all whilst others will use tubing to sink and hide the mainline. A good technique for creating this 'safe zone' is to use slack lines

All this and you use them for long range casting

I ran out of putty yesterday whilst out and I only had a dispenser of shot to balance the bait. I also don’t like the idea of a shot on the link (although have done it in the past). A bit of improvisation and a stop knot was tied onto the link with the shot squeezed onto one of the tag ends tight to the link. I then trimmed the tag ends down and coloured in the visible knot. I must admit though that I have been playing around with my fake corn rigs and really like having the hair coming off the top of the shank with a shot placed on the hair at desired height. This allows the hook to still sit flat to the bottom whilst using a popped up bait. I saw it being used on what I think was Thinking Tackle 2 on Sky Sports early on in the year. It was the only rig that caught out of 5 runs this weekend, the others being more traditional pop-up rigs. I know that there would have been more variables but I think I have a presentation that I will be happy using on the new water.

Anyone got any screen cleaner?

One of the reasons for tying on bait is; if, when using a pop-up, you pierce the bait and mount it on a hair there is a chance it will lose its buoyancy. By tying on the bait you overcome this and the pop-up will stay buoyant for a far greater length of time.

Is that the Maggot Clips or the Medusa or maggot presentation? I can see it comming

I'm not trying to cause a stir. Like I said I probably miss read / interpreted your post wrong. I thought you were saying it because of reading through the thread you realised that it can be harmful to a fish

Its just that I seem to remember reading in another thread a post of yours were you state that you don't use leadcore anymore and only use an IQ leader or fish straight through with your main line? Yet here you say that its always set up in your box along with all your other leadcore leaders I dont use leadcore anymore i still have loads of leaders in my box just in case i need to try somthing different or my new aproach stops working i like to keep my options open and dont see the point in binning somthing because i am not using it at the min Sorry Zander I must have mis read your post I thought the reason you said you stopped using it was for the fish safety aspect not for your catch rate