garysj01

Why don't you use a micro swivel instead of the hair, it will add a little weight, plus you don't really need the ring swivel at the bottom of the hook, for the turning capability, you can tie it straight to a nice supple braid.

Me, im a massive fan of braid, the suppler the better, i do use stiff link material but its always tied as a combi rig if im fishing singles. My usual braided hooklinks are 6 inches in length, although they are 4 inches long for solid pva bagging. I would also make them longer if i was fishing in silt and some weed, sometimes i have used them up to 2 feet long. I don't have any problems with tangles as i use sticks, I can't help but think, a stiffer material can be felt more than a supple braided link, as it is rigid by nature, i know many will disagree, including, johnplumb, beanz, liamclose and many more

Ok fella's, hooklink material and length What hooklink materials do you use and what are your reason's for doing so? Plus why do you tie them a certain length?

Well if nothing else at least iv'e got people thinking

Yeah like i said before, no one rig will catch all carp, not even close, there are too many variables to consider.

The problem is, without video footage we are only seeing the carp feeding from on top of them, we can't actually see how they are mouthing baits. As every fish feeds in a slightly different manner, there can be no rig that is 100% i would guess and say we maybe have a 50 to 60% chance at best, would you agree with that John

After watching the vid a number of times i still thing the 360 would of hooked better. And i think in that situation a bottom bait would of out fished that pop up, especially when you see how the carp are feeding. The pop up was to blatantly high for me, and the hair was coming off the back of the hook and not the bend. The 360 rig, you would have the pop up right at the top of the hook, and i use a small pop up compared with the size of the hook.

Mate i very rarely use pop ups, i don't know enough, but the hook on a pop up is already cocked if you know what i mean, where a bottom bait isn't, if i do use a pop up its a 360 rig with the boilie very close to the hook, the thinking is the hook will turn in any direction that the carp comes from, as soon as the lips touch the hook, its set to hook in the bottom lip, like i say i rarely use pop ups, i much prefer encouraging the fish to grub around for small particles, iv'e seen to many carp spook from a blatant pop up. I know a few will disagree, but thats just my way

im not sure about the direction playing a part but then i use runners and a enough slack to give the movement needed. when not being able to see the fish take my bait i base my thinking on them getting hooked by them ejecting the rig( my leads are just casting weights) i had 7 out of the 9 in a small lake in 3 months back in spring using mainly pop-ups and 2 on bottoms but the rigs all had long hairs....i think a long hair allows the bait the travel out the way of the jet flow as they blow out meaning less pressure on the bait compared to being in the mouth or on the lips, this i think allows the weight of the point to turn and drop more freely meaning direction they take from doesnt matter. the only false beep i had over that time was a liner, which had me believe was a run until i tighten up and see the line was taken right in front of me in my deep margin...i kicked my self for not having a rig there lol I do agree with a longer hair, for bottom baits,

Every rig that is presented in the media will have a certain amount of people following trend, one rig may work on one water then not so much on another, thats where its down to us to decide what will better suit our chosen venues.

I think its fare to say we all get done between 6 to 10 times before we eventually hook into a carp. There are more factors to consider rather than just focusing on one aspect ie..... the rig. You have to consider how the carp are feeding and if possible asses the direction the fish are approaching your rig. I still think the lips of a carp are far more sensitive than we realise as a lot of rigs get ejected without the lead even moving. Far more rigs get sucked in and blown out with in a second or two, so in order for the rig to work effectively, the hook has to catch some where. Common sense would tell you the bigger the hook the better, its just basic physics, a big wide hook has more hooking potential than a small narrower gaped hook. Just my opinion, anyone care to add to this?

Is this what your rig does

Personally i would try a bigger hook, size 6 or 4, and bin the tubing, keep it simple, and as before change one thing at a time, or you lose track. You could lengthen the hair for a bottom bait as well. I had the same problem with the longshanks, so i moved over the the curve shank, now using the mugga's

I have watched carp for many years dealing with my rigs, i have experimented a lot, i have read a lot, do you think the humble bottom rig could be improved on?. Once straightened out any bottom rig only has a certain percentage of hooking capability, dependant on feeding and the direction a carp approaches your rig. If cast out and left to fall into a heap, even though you run the risk of the hooklink looping up, the chances of a carp hooking itself are improved slightly. We all know about the 360 pop up rig which can possibly hook a carp, if it's approached from any direction, but do you think we could improve on the bottom rig. Me, i don't think we can improve on the bottom rig itself, but i think we can improve the hooking potential, with baiting and making sure the rig is approached in the right way......again all down to watching our quarry and adapting everything else to suit. What are your thoughts?.

Personally i think a longer hooklink gives the fish a better chance of getting rid of the hook. Im not sure how sensitive their lips are, but i suspect more bolt from feeling the hooklink on their lips rather than the friction of the lead. I wont use a hooklink over six inches as i want to know i have a bite as soon as possible, so i can hit into the fish. That said it depends entirely on the lake bed, horseshoe is very weedy and hard to present a rig like this, and i have heard of people using hooklinks up to 14 inches, but this is more to do with dealing with weed. What do you think beanz

I just use an inline running set up in my solid pva bags fella, just easier for me, but i do use a shorter hooklink, im just paranoid the hooklink loops up if its too long in the bag. As for sticks i can straighten out the presentation so i use a slightly longer hooklink. I always favour a running lead, i just think it gives you better indication. What are you thinking as regards to the length Is it the fact if the hooklink is longer then maybe the hook will travel deeper when sucked in, giving you a better chance of a hook hold, where maybe a shorter one wouldn't do this??? I keep them fairly short so, well my way of thinking is, i would like to think the short the presentation is the quicker the indication.

To be honest my thinking is, when a carp picks up your rig, i like to think it can't feel the lead until it starts to move off, giving the bait the time to be sucked in and settle a little before the fish feels the resistance of the lead. The running system i think gives you better and quicker indication, i use short lengths inside solid pva bags, and slightly longer with sticks.

thanks chaps, i asked leggs the other day and we came up with some, bluebell, the monument, horseshoe, cromwell, orchid, sandhurst, im just getting an idea for the raffle/ auction, i already have linear, and now thanks to leggs, cromwell as well, just interested where you would all like to fish ill get my emailing cap on again

Interesting i must say, i have read about anglers looking closely at there quarry and changing hook and bait sizes accordingly.

Ive never used the palm test, as long as the hook is sticky sharp then thats enough, a basic rig works best, maybe with a couple of little tweaks here and there, but simple is the way forward,

Seeings as there is so many variable's involved i would agree with Jez, all depends how a particular fish responds IMO

Right Fella's Which day ticket water would you most like to fish? There's a genuine reason for this thanks guys

Hi chaps Im currently testing out two variations of a rig at the moment, One where the hook is tied on KD style, the theory is the bait can be blown out leaving the hook to take hole in the fishes mouth. One where the hair comes off right round the bend of the hook, the theory is the bait makes the point heavy, bringing the hook down into the fishes mouth again. As i have caught hundreds of fish on both i just wanted to see which one of the two had the better hooking ratio. So my question is, what do you tie and why do you think it works?

Best piece of advice i can give you is change one thing at a time, whether its the hook, length of hair. length of hooklink or whatever or you won't know why its worked.

I don't think leadcore cause's tangles, in fact tangles are 90% down to the angler, you just have to learn how to cast and how to feel certain presentation components down, im a strong believer you get the feel of certain rigs and know instinctively when they have tangled or not.