Thoughts on my rig?

[the_stig]

Hi All,

 

I'm posting two pics of a rig I tied last night, I would love to know your opinions please. First let me explain the purpose: I'm fishing a new water that holds a small stock of very large fish, the bottom is silty, but it's not a thick silt, it's a thin layer of the black stuff. I have been pre-baiting now for the past couple of weeks and will continue to do so for another 3 weeks before fishing for the first time.

 

I'm pre-baiting with a home-made boilie, along with small quantities of hemp to keep them rooting around in my swim. I'm scattering the bait around a fair bit, over an area about the size of a tennis court, so I have kept the hooklink fairly long (imo), the idea being that they will be moving from one bait to the next, not "hoovering" like they would on a carpet of pellet or particle.

 

The rig is 8" of Kryston Snakebite Dark, with the last 1,5" or so stripped back to give it a hinge effect. I've used a standard 7 turn knotless knot with a small piece of shrink tube to protect the knot and create a little more angle on the eye of the hook, making the angle a bit more aggressive. The hair is run along the shank of the hook in line with the hook point, where I've secured it in place with a small rig bead. The bead can move on the shank if a little force is applied, so I should know if I've been done.

 

The hook itself is a Fox Armapoint LSC #2, I have 2 home-made 16mm boilies on the hair with a rubber stopper to keep them tight up against the boilie stop and a single fake maze to counter balance the weight slightly.

 

On the swivel end I have tied a perfection loop, which is hidden by the anti-tangle sleeve, attached to a #8 quick change swivel.

 

Please feel free to comment, good or bad. Thanks, Stig

 

[the_stig]

The business end...

Please excuse the poor quality pics, taken on my mobile.

 

[garysj01]

If i were scattering baits, i would use half a bottom and half a pop up, the carp will be moving in over the singles that you have scattered, why use something that looks completely different on the hook, if your fishing over silt, try 2 foam nuggets as well, just to ensure the bait flutters down like the free offerings.

[the_stig]

Good point @garysj01...I will keep that in mind and make adjustments. What do you think of the actual rig?

[garysj01]

Personally i don't like long shank hooks, but that's just personal preference, rig looks alright though fella, you just have to stick with what your confident in. Only thing is, can you explain the bead on the hook, what's that for?

[matt859]

I would ditch the bead on the hook and use a small ring instead then because youve scattered the boilies around a large area I would up the length of the rig to 12". Im like the idea of a half and half bait as it will look a bit more like the freebies. You havent used corn as a prebait so the use of one to give the bait some movement or a fleck of colour seems pointless.

 

what colour do your baits wash out to? I would use half a pop up that matches the washed out shade.

 

well done for putting it on the forum.

[the_stig]

Thanks for the replies gents, much appreciated. @garysj01 the bead is there to keep the hair in place. It's something I'm trying instead of using a little piece of shrink tube, since it's easier to move if I want to change the length of the hair.

 

@matt859, I tied this rig up at about 10,5" first, but it seemed awefully long, so I reduced it to 8" instead. I don't feel all that confident in such a long hooklink tbh. I will definitely take the advice of using a half bottom bait and half pop-up, that makes so much sense I'm kind of wondering why I didn't think of it in the first place.

 

I will tie up a couple with rings instead of beads, I've never fished blowback rigs, but the thinking behind it makes sense. Thanks for the advice, definitely appreciate it.

[garysj01]

just make sure you test the sinking of the bait on the bank before you cast,

[the_stig]

Sure, I will probably do a few tests at home to see how it goes first anyway