yonny

5 years ago I would've wholeheartedly agreed with that fella, but tbh nowadays it does my head in having to sharpen hooks. By the time you've sharpened your 1000th hook it just becomes boring IMO. As you will know, once you've seen just how sharp hooks can be made with a little attention, it becomes impossible to chuck out a hook straight from the packet. I'm praying these Trokar things will spell the end of sharpening for me (although I have to say I suspect I'll be disappointed ).

Jeez, that's some going that is fella. I don't dare hit anything that hard with no leader.

On the first page of that it talks about lifting scales without a leader and the question is asked if anyone ever lifted a scale when surface fishing. Interestingly, yes, I have lifted scales when fishing off the top.... I lifted a couple of scales of a very pretty and very large mirror carp (my surface caught PB in fact). That's never happened to me when fishing on the deck. But that isn't necessarily why I use leaders when fishing on the deck. I always use leaders; to pin down the end tackle and provide solid abrasion resistance for the weedy waters of the Valley. Using heavy fluoro at the mo, just over a meter of it. The Korda No-Trace bead thingys really eliminate any safety issue IMO.

Link to a pdf about these: http://www.reubenheaton.co.uk/info_/Trokar%20carp%20Presentation%20non%20agent%20Public%20only.pdf

For sure. Also, I don't mind spending a little more on things that can actually lead to more fish on the bank (as opposed to things that make people look good on the bank lol). I've been playing around with a new rig recently which needs a curve shank. Still in its infancy at the mo but looking promising. I was using an Atomic Trappa but thought it can't hurt to take a look at these.

Same here Chillfactor!! 6 quid a pack which is pricey... but... if it means they're sharp enough out of the packet vs. spending 5 mins sharpening each hook manually I'd be prepared to pay it. I ordered a pack of each in the curve and chod patterns. Will provided feedback.

I posted this on another forum but they're all too busy chatting about shelters, luggage, blooming bivvy lights/water carriers/tackle trays etc.... stuff that has absolutely zero influence on actually catching carp... yet a hook with a new sharpening process, probably THE most important item regards catching, got no interest whatsoever. So what do you guys think? Eagle Claw Lazer Trokar hooks..... Gimmick or genuine advance in hook technology? Looks good but so can anything with a marketing budget thrown at it Discuss. http://www.reubenheaton.co.uk/lazer-trokar.asp http://www.reubenheaton.co.uk/listprod1-trokar.asp?sect_id=285&title=Single%20Hooks%20-%20Specialist%20Carp The video is well dodgy, proper American.....

Good question. It depends on the lake and it's an educated guess to a certain extent. First thing obviously is chuck a lead out there, see what kind of drop you get and how badly it's plugging. If it's a generally silty lake I might then have a lead about in the margins to compare, I normally find the silt in the edge is a little deeper than in the middle. A landing net handle can help here too. If it's just a silty spot in a relatively none silty lake the drop will normally tell you all you need to know. I used to play about with white string tied up the leader - cast out and the silt discolours the string giving you a good idea of the silt depth - I no longer do that however as it's a bit of a faff and tbh I don't think you need to be that accurate unless you're using stiff rigs (I moved to 15 lb from 25 lb fluoro for this reason). Tbh nowadays I'll normally just have a chuck about with the lead, I've been doing this a while so can get a pretty good idea doing just that. On the odd occasion when you find silt that's literally feet deep, you can limit plugging to say 10 inches or so by feathering the cast.

Silt is a very forgiving substrate IMO. You can chuck almost anything in it if it's set to depth correctly. My favoured presentation is a nice bright 15 mm wafter fished on a clone rig (basically a dead simple D rig in 15 lb fluoro) approximately 8 inches in length, fished heli style with the top bead set to the depth of the silt, or just up from that. The lead plugs and pulls the leader (if you're using one...) down into the silt so the rig lays flat on top against the top bead. The plugged lead gives an awesome bolt effect and the runs you get are usually proper melters. A few 15 mm baits saturated in a glug/water mix (to prevent the on-take of silt) peppered around the area and you're good to go. Really simple, really effective. I actually go with a big lead to plug it into the silt as far as possible.

Home to some of the best syndicates in the country. Again, lots and lots of the highest quality syndis round that way. A couple of hours on google and you'll have a list of syndis as long as my arm from those two areas alone fella. Some really special, historic waters down there.

You got me worried there

Have you really?

Rig Marole for the hook links fella. Not tried their hooks. Korda hooks are, IMO, the least durable hook on the market. You can sharpen them by having a kitten lick them. Far too soft. If you want strong hooks then go with Atomic fella. They're absolutely solid, strongest out there by far IMO. if you can find a comment from anyone, anywhere, saying they've been let down by Atomic hooks, I'll give you a tenner.

Rig Marole is the most consistent tackle brand I know. Every single thing they release is brilliant. It's normally a little different to the competition too, and different is GOOOOOD.

The advice above is spot on but there will be a limit to the quality of your shots. Basically when it comes to photography the more you spend the better the shots you will get. If you look around you can pick up an older Canon G series compact for relatively cheap, these will give you much better shots. My advice would be to buy an intervalometer as well - this is basically an add-on self-timer that provides an external actuation of the shutter meaning the camera can auto-focus between shots (absolutely critical to decent self takes). You can get very good pics on a budget if you know what to look for.

I like the look of all 3 patterns in the range tbh. Let me know how you get on longer term plz fella, it'll take something special to get me off the Atomic hooks but I'm genuinely interested in the results of that new tempering process used to treat these.

What you initial thoughts on these hutch? I quite like the look of them. Don't suppose you sharpen them do you? If so, how long does it take you? I prefer a hook that takes ages to sharpen as they're always far more durable and hence reliable than those that sharpen quickly.

Clone rig and HSR - because they can be modified to fish effectively over pretty much any substrate. Rig Marole CAMH2O - because the different breaking strains can be used to construct the above rigs perfectly. Atomic Chodda/Sabre - because they're the best (read: most reliable) hooks in the world IMO. My +1 hooklink would be ESP Tungsten Loaded coated braid, simply because it's the best coated braid I've come across and it's always handy to have some in the box.

It's a small triangular shaped lake, just over an acre, with 6 swims, according to an article I found on Google. I believe it can be booked so it might be ideal for the holiday type trip you're after.

It's a little pond stuffed with huge foreign imports. It has at least 2 x 50 lb commons, one of which has done well over 60. Very, very pressured water so not easy. Very busy. Not my bag at all but if you just want to catch massive fish it's worth a look.

Spot on. Breaking strain is meaningless. It's a number made up by the manufacturer. The key is diameter and stretch. - Diameter will tell you all you need to know about linear strength and, to an extent, knot strength. - Stretch characteristics tell you about abrasion resistance - pre-stretched = poor, low stretch (semi pre-stretched) = OK, no pre-stretching = good.

That's a good answer fella. Fair point. Yes, I would say pads are a snag. No, I would not call weed snags. The reed bed is the one that gets me - snags or not? Who knows, but I do know I'd want to be fishing a snag type heavy duty line if I was fishing sparse reeds that the fish could get into.

Spot on fella. That's why I posted ref your recommendation. Not sure I agree with that bud. A snag is a snag - i.e. something that your tackle can become snagged on.

It is indeed fella. I've used the 15 lb in the weedy waters of the Nene Valley. The knot and linear strength are great but the abrasion resistance (while being good for a standard duty line) aint enough - it comes back frayed if you get a carp stuck in the weed for a prolonged period (which is pretty much unavoidable on some of the waters I fish). I moved over to the 18 lb and saw the same thing but the increased diameter gave me a little extra confidence. Moved over to the Gradner Pro - same thing, very similar line. also very good. Now use heavy duty line (Rig Marole SLS Specimon Tough). The abrasion resistance is like nothing I've ever used. Hard as nails. Completely agree fella. BUT... they're carp, and sooner or later one will find the snags. Therefore IMO it's not good practice to fish in a sang situation with a line that's not up to the job of extracting them safely.

Syncro is a fantastic line but IMO not the one for snags. It's an all-rounder, casts OK, sinks OK, reasonable strength..... it'll deal with weedy waters (although I'd use the 18 lb for 'proper' weed), for snaggy waters though I'd use a purpose made heavy duty line. The syncro has good abrasion resistance, but not good enough for snags, certainly not in 15 lb, IMO of course....