nick12345

i understand the mechanics of the rig and their presentation uses, i had read about (terry hearn) the hinged stiff rig being best suited to helicopter type presentations as the stiff part will/may stick up with inlines and lead clip systems when fishing in silt and muck. In this occurance i couldn't work out why you would have a boom as the rig is situed on the leadcore. The stiff hook part of both rigs is the same for a chod as it is the hinged stiff rig, so if it runs/sits on the leadcore is the boom pointless ? or does it aid in the entry into the carps mouth, or for ejection purposes. or shold we just be using a chod and doing away with the boom all together (in these circumstances) ? Finally i was thinking about loop and rig movement is it beter to have a more flexible freely moving rig or to have a tight stiffer set-up as im sure both can have their merits, have people done well on smaller or larger size loops or no loops etc ?

so your saying that if possible/cleaner bottom then its better to use a hinged stiff rig than a chod ? as they are the same but with a boom. what im trying to get at here is the point of the boom section and what it actually does in the mechanics of the rig ? is the hinged stiff rig a better hooker than a chod ? in most cases apart from the weed factor which means a chod is called for ? and i was wondering about boom lengths ? and loop sizes for the hinged stiff rig, and what effects the differing variations/lengths would have on the finshed rig. cheers nick

i was wondering what people thought about the two rigs in question, for example -their mechanics, how they work and the differences between them ? -peoples personal preferences between the 2 ? -Their lead set-ups and how they are presented etc any oppinions are welcome nick.

i dont think its the elatsic properties that actually hooks the fish although it may well be, for it to work in this way the link must be tightened against the lead and i dont beleive in most cases unless you using a link of around 2-4 inches (stretches to 30% more) this is actually happening. my experiance with it is it acts as a buffer and when the hook turns and flips it is then pulled in deeper as the lead comes in to play, it is much harder for the fish to rid itself of the rig and it also keeps the hook in better as it cushions the rolls and shakes of head better than the non stretch varieties.

if you want to balance a bait get your pop-up pierce it with a baiting needle then take some lead wire from your leadcore and slide pieces into the bait until you achieved the right boyancy. i find you want the bait on the deck, but with a little boyancy so the weight of the hook and link is taken away and hopefully not as noticable to the carp. Eaqually you can achieve any boyancy or presentation without the use of split shots etc

ellis if you are loosing a couple try lengthening the hooklink slightly and/or the hair length a 1oz lead shouldnt cause you hookpulls. Chods are great in the sense that its quick and easy and will guarentee you a decnt presentation however the fish may view them as alien as most off the food lives on or just beneth the silt. ive caught 30lb + fish with silt to the eyeballs so they musyt be munching atleast 5 inches into the silt so you may wanna experiment where you present the bait ie on top just beneath or well into it. Also remeber standard boilies catapulted at range will or even dropped in will sink in and be barely visible. so a hookbait their might be a good idea. if you crack your boilies into 2 they will waft and sink slower and will rest on top of the silt better than whole ones. If you use particles they will always sink into the silt and cause the fish to feed deeper into the silt so a pop-up or chod can be a bad idea over this baiting technique. if you use boilies try coating them in paste as this will protect the bait from the silt and keep it more attractive and maybe help the fish home in on it better. as they cant see much with all the disturbance and silt washing around when the feed. Also rehydrating baits may help to stop silt soaking into the baits. just some thoughts, as posted earlier most boilies and natural food will be buried and eaten so dont worry too much about your hook baits its just confidence. if wana try stiffer links try them on lead clip systems with light leads the lead will dig in to the clip and hopefully leave the rig flat on top.

the best hooklink in my opinion 4 your situation is braid ie Silk worm etc these fine diameter supple hooklinks follow the lake beds contours perfectly and will be presented fine with abit of thought. Silt feeders will use sense and touch more than eyesight. A supple braid can be beneficial over a weighted coated braid, silkmorm is a neutral bouyancey and actually seperates in water making it less noticable and more natural when the carp feed. it is also lighter so will be sucked up with more ease and hopefully not noticed. Whereas with coated braids they will sink into the silt abit. This will be alot more noticable for the fish when they have to pull up the bait out of the chod. this weight and drag issue makes the hook bait alot easier for the fish to recognise and can hinder the entrance of the hook into the carps mouth. Silkworm and others are also alot finer and suppler than most of the inner braids in the coated varieties and will be less conspicuous 4 the fish. This materail with fish any lead, ive founds flat inlines the best and they dig nicely into the bottom but not too much and will amplify the bolt affect. this isnt possible with alot of coated braids as they stick up and even the softer ones can lay funny if positioned on a stick or another alien object. the lead digging in will camouflage the rig and as the detrius settles it will cover most of the braid leaving afew inches and a half submerged bottom bait. if you use a piece of foam and squeeze it slightly this will help to position your bait on top of the silt, and will still ensure your rig isnt in a heep as it will sink under the weight of the bait and lye straightish. always use a straight pointed hook as they will not blunt in silt and will catch hold fatser than a beaked one also use as small/light a hook as you are confident in as again this add to natural/less noticable properties of the rig.

try about a inch to start with and than lower or raise dependng on you. When you fish i always feed a stick made up of crumb or GB. when a fish goes over all the little particles will float of the bottom and waft around irriatating the carps taste, this will undoubtledly attract fish but wont feed them. leaving ur pop-up to be taken (only food item there), try anything that wafts off the bottom and flavour it so its similar to hookbait. The other way i use them is to pop them up about 1-1.5 cm and then feed whole bloilies and chops over the top, i think a low pop-up looks like a bottom bait to a 30-40lb carp but is easier for them to see and pick-up and has the ability of the hook hanging. Not sure why but it works well and gives you a massive edge. I caught all my latest fish (upto 37.9lb) on these methods and its strange the lake sees popups score 3 to 1 on bottom baits always has done, so it might help on your lake. Also use a simple rig not a withy,swivel 360 mega hooker just somthing that flips the hook and catches well enough. hope this helps

i know one of the major points about the hybrid was that it was not supposed to break/kink at the knots i have never had a problem with kordas coated braid in anyway. I havnt used the kryston alternatives enough to comment. however Mr fairbrass puts alot of effort into desiging and producing the most suitable and catchable products around and being a newer product you would have thought it would have been made from more recent and researched materials and be of a better design than a product developed years and yeras ago. just a thought.

the best way to combat this is to tie the loop longer and have the loop knot inside the first bait (bottom bait)you put on the hair, this will hold it neatly. try putting your baits on before you tie the rig to ensure every thing is perfect.