jontain

I have never had a problem with steaming the hook link, once the kettle is boiling properly it will only take a few seconds to fully shrink the tubing down so shouldn't damage the line. I also like to steam in a kicker by leaving about 1cm of tubing past the eye of the hook and whilst steaming hold the hooklength at an angle which will hold once the tubing cools. This can really help with barbless rigs.

I need to get more confident with bottom baits for hook baits, 9 times out of 10 I will opt for a pop-up or balancing a bottom bait.

Ah I see, to be fair my chods are usually fished naked with 4-6 inch of tubing between the bottom bead and the lead. Not only has this reduced hook pulls but also moves the lead away from the fish during the fight. On this particular lake with the small fish and deep silt I tend to use no more than a 1.5 oz lead so hoping that the lead doesn't cause any damage, I can't say I have ever noticed any but I will keep this in mind mate.

Oh really? I did scale it all down as there aren't many larger fish in the lake but I didn't realise these popup style rigs weren't suited to the smaller stock? I have heard that the 360 rig, which has received a lot of attention in the press, can be a death trap for the smaller fish but there was no explanation as to why?

Guilty as charge me laud! I wanted to test it out as it looks a lot like chod rig with a higher curve but I wanted to see the difference in takes/hookholds. I had it in mind for my difficult syndicate which has more than its fair share of the green stuff. I like to test changes out on my nice easy park lake as I can see what does and doesn't work rather than sitting on my hands wondering if the rig is fishing or if the fish have moved on.

Haha, I think you would struggle to get away with it on this lake as every time I've been the balif comes round for a chin wag! Also he brings luck so would likely end up having to unhook a fish in front of him lol

Hook is a wide gape and the curve is made using one of fox's withy pool sleeve. The fish was about 8-10lb

Unfortunately it's a barbless rule on the water so barbs are not an option, good point though. I did think it was unlucky as I have not heard anything negative about the withy pool?

Hi all. Just wanted your thoughts on the withy pool rig. Tied up a couple a few months back. Have had 3 fish on them so far but the last fish suffered torn tissue on the bottom of the mouth (inside by about an inch). I am slightly apprehensive to use it again because of this as I played the fish in gently, it looks as though the hook may have slipped (barbless) and has torn from the initial entry point. I gave the wound a liberal coating of mouth treatment but I wasn't overly happy with the level of damage. Should got a picture of damage but wanted to get him back and recovering ASAP. The other takes on this rig nailed them right in the bottom lip rather than inside the mouth and resulted in no damage at all. Thoughts?

That is a very good point and not something I had considered! I have a 20m spool of the braid so was thinking a simple way might be to just measure out 5 meters so that I can make up 3 aswell as having 1 spare but not sure how much this would relate to turns etc.

Hi guys, Any tips on how long to make the snag leader or does this depend on the situation? I have heard somewhere (can't find where) that its 3 wraps of the spool which I get but is that 3 wraps of the spool and then the rest of the length of the rod or longer than that?

Evening guys, Been tying up my own chod rigs and getting used to working with he stiffer materials. Just wanted to confirm I have got the swivel knot correct, I have been setting them up so the knot is not pulled right down to the swivel to leave a loop but is pulled down tight with the tag end which is then bobbed. Is this the right knot for the job, using 2 turns rather than the 4-5 on this example? http://bivvy.tv/Knots/Tucked-Half-Blood-Knot.php

Would fluorocarbon offer a similar abrasion resistance to the braid? Never heard of nylon polyleader?

I was planning to use a 15 lb mono tied to a braid like the arma kord or kryston quicksilver, not sure if 30 lb or 50 lb would be best though as I am a braid virgin...

Haha not as much as my mate! (who hasn't fished with me since his last escapade, think I may have upset him by telling him straight on what I thought of his attitude towards fish safety... whoops). In all seriousness though this is not for snags such as over hanging branches but the need for a material that can take the abuse of the sharp gravel edges, the clams and mussels and the thick Canadian weed. My concern is the strength of this key knot as I loose sleep as it is if I loose a rig, even when I know it has been setup in the safest possible way. But a long length of braid even without the lead seems like it could do some serious harm in terms of tethering etc