carpepecheur

OK the title is just a pun on my latest rig called The Spinner. I recently bought a fish tank from Cash Converters to try and understand how well my rigs were working. To try and emulate the sucking and blowing of a carp I fitted a transparent tube with a piston to generate a suck and blow. I have been doing some tests with the tube and have learned a lot. Most set ups suck the boilie in with the hook underneath and then, when it blows out, the boilie can push against the hook taking it out the mouth of the carp. Most rigs try and find a way to increase the chances of a hold but suffer by various degrees from this problem. I have come up with a solution called “The Spinner”. The small shot is not quite heavy enough to sink the pop up boilie. The larger shot is just heavy enough to hold the pop up on the bottom. It hangs in the water as shown. When the carp sucks in, the drag from the larger shot causes the boilie to spin so that the hook turns upwards in the carps mouth. The carp starts to blow out but the hook is now clear of the boilie looking for a hook hold. In fact the spinning action generated could actually set the hook but that is only conjecture on my part. I have made a crude video which shows the rig in position, then being sucked and blown in real time, then in slow motion, then some step by step frame shots. The quality is poor because I do not have a proper video camera but it is easy to see the hook spinning to find its hold. Watch it here:-

Sorry Ross my "Pocket Rig" was designed for weed free situations.

Being hard up I make my own zig rigs. Not only does this save money but, in my opinion, it works better. This is a photo of my zig rig ready to cast. I typically fish in 7 metres of water and I like a distance of 3 metres between hook and float so that the latter does not spook the carp. Note how small and neat it is to cast. I call it the "Pocket Zig" The next photo shows how it goes together The main line, coming from the left, passes through the eye of a lead weight, then through the eye of the float and then through a rubber float stop passing on to the hook 3 metres away. With the weight on the bottom the main line is released until the float is seen on the surface. At this point, all 3 metres of the hook link is on the surface. I now retrieve three metres of line and only the hook is now just on the surface. Retrieve a bit more line equivalent to the depth at which you want to fish the zig et voila. On the retrieve the float comes against the top eye of the rod and further pulling slides the float against the stop towards the hook. This means you do not have to struggle with 3 metres of line between you and the carp if you do hook a decent fish. The float is homemade from a wine cork, table-tennis ball, and wooden barbeque skewer stuck together with "no nails". To get ready to cast, wind a short bit of pva tape around the cork bit of the float IN A CLOCKWISE DIRECTION . Then wind the 3 metres of hooklink around the cork bit of the float IN AN ANTICLOCKWISE DIRECTION. Then simply nick the point of the hook into the PVA to hold it place. When the tape melts after casting, the hook link unwinds. I hope someone else finds this useful?

I posted this link on another forum ... When the boilie is blown out the hook trails behind in the mouth.

Could I ask a question about the "hand test"? I have seen the videos where various rigs are dragged over the heel of the palm to demonstrate how the hook will behave. It would seem to me that this only demonstrates what is happening when the line is being pulled i.e. when there is tension in the line. This will happen when the boilie is being sucked in or if the carp is backing away. If the carp is just mouthing the bait or is blowing it out, the feature demonstrated by the hand test is surely irrelevant?

Good thinking, that had not occurred to me. However I have been using a shot on the hook for a year now and have never lost one. I twist a short piece of electrical wire on the start of the bend (pointed end) and nip the shot on that. I believe it makes the hook drop better towards the carp's bottom lip and helps turn the hook point down. I believe the original idea is attributed to Frank Warwick. I am not familiar with the mechanics of fish biology but would think it unlikely that a shot would be swallowed during a fight. Regarding hooklength, could I suggest trying a very short link to a hermit rig. I have found this effective. I definitely agree with your one change at a time idea. Good luck

It is an idea I have just started working on (I just coined that phrase). I always put a BB shot on the bend of the hook to help and yes I do use it with a fixed lead or to be more precise a Hermit rig. You are not being daft .... just thinking.

I would suggest that once the boilie is in the carp's mouth it has no longer any purpose. In fact from that point on it is a liability. It can be blown out, pushing the hook with it or, if a hook hold has started, it can suck/blow on the boilie to try and release it. This may be happening in your case. My suggestion is The Breakaway Boilie. Whatever your rig, replace the boilie stop with a sliding float stop (or even no stop at all). When any pressure is put on the boilie it slides off the hair and can do no further damage leaving the hook free to do its job. This will only work, of course, if you cast out your hook bait inside a pva bag as I tend to do.