hutch

In what sizes ? Would you not bee better using a spade end hook ? I know its more work to whip then on but would give you a neat presentation if you require the area round the top of the hook to be small and neat. I think some of the Drennan specailist patterns have smaller eyes

Maybe avoid totting up the RRP on all that lot NM

As far as I know steam wont effect the line or the hooklink material, in fact it is useful for straightening certain materials, with the shrink tube be careful not to use to much so that when u steam it down it doesn't close the gape of the hook to much, if you want to create a line aligner i use a slim baiting needle to pierce the tubing and pull the hooklink material through the tubing and then steam it at a slight angle.

@Ross Sorry it wasn't directed purely at Nick its just he seems to have a good idea when it comes to items like this, I always read what anyone puts right or wrong, some of the info you get here you could never acquire from reading the mags.

Out of interest Nick have used any of the more supple fluoro's in this type of situation, as they may not stick up or look as obvious

I personally use a fluoro leader but remember the length that you can set your chod would be dictated by the length of the leader

Sounds about right to me, its essentially a helicopter rig using just the mainline, the 1 thing you need to watch is the fact that swivel that connects the hooklink is running on your main line so you run the chance of cracking off if it grates through the line, to combat this you can use something home made using beads and tubing to house the rig (there are a couple of threads via the search that cover this in more detail pics included), a chod bead which basically houses the rig and stops it grating on the line or something like a fox heli sleeve which has a thin piece of tubing that comes of the lead sleeve so when in carp battle mode the link slides onto the tubing off the sleeve to stop it grating.

Would depend how hard the crust is on the top of the silt, if the water is clearish and you see the spot try dropping a lead on it and seeing how far it plugs in which be my major concern about using a fluro rig in this situation, if the lead plugs into the silt on cast then you are going to be left with a section of the hooklink sticking straight out where the lead has plugged in, personally i would probably use a supernova braided hooklink in this situtation Bait wise a slow sinker/wafter or a snowman should just sit nicely on top of the silt

I do , don't use to the same lengths Phil does but brilliant for presenting a wafter when fishing over smaller particle baits

4 turn bloodknot works well for attaching fluoro to swivels quick change links etc ... useful link http://kryston.com/articles/ultimate-knots/

A normal chod/SR would be ok for zig fishing but IMO a krank/curve would hold the bait to far away from the hook or hold the bait at the wrong angle for effective hooking.

Same as CM clear water or if the fish are a little spooky, if the bottom you are fishing over is a bit soft or not spotless clean it can pay to use a slightly more supple fluorocarbon, I generally a D rig style and a SR Arma Point, the out turned eye suits the presentation.

like emmcee im not a big user of inline leads, but when I do its mainly for margin work, started using the avid safety inlines last year found then to be excellent the drop is controlled by how tight you fit the tail rubber. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XIFqq2Bz4U