Simplicity Wins

[Pennywise74]

Been carp fishing now 31 years and can honestly say imo the simple knotless knot with supple braid has been the most successful.  I like a lot of people have been influenced by the media and tackle companies n regard to the latest rigs which I have caught well on but in no way better than the knotless knot I started out with in 1990.  Sometimes just keep to simplicity n be confident in your own experience not media pressure to sell products 

[yonny]

In terms of hooking potential I probably agree but due to the potential for tangles I can't bring myself to use supply braid.

Ultimately we'll be most successful in what we're confident using so just choose any rig you like and make sure you use it well😃

[Pennywise74]

Yeah there’s always that but a small pva stick and hitting the clip does help. Most of the places I fish are shortish casts of up to 60 yards so that helps too. But defo agree with use what your confident in to the best 👍

[salokcinnodrog]

1 hour ago, Pennywise74 said:

Been carp fishing now 31 years and can honestly say imo the simple knotless knot with supple braid has been the most successful.  I like a lot of people have been influenced by the media and tackle companies n regard to the latest rigs which I have caught well on but in no way better than the knotless knot I started out with in 1990.  Sometimes just keep to simplicity n be confident in your own experience not media pressure to sell products 

Yes and no! 

I'm possibly a few years older than you and can go back to tying your hair onto the hook. 

I think that the knotless knot was a late 1990's idea, (I could be wrong) as until around 1994 I was tying hairs on with mono, whipping thread or dental floss, and using either biro, shrink or silicone tubing to keep the hair to the shank, and extend the hook shank. 

Personally I found that on some lakes or fish, a standard knotless knot rig could be ejected, but add a line aligner and the fish would be hooked. This was watching the fish at close range, seeing the pick up with the knotless knot and watching the hook and bait get blown out. 

The change to the line aligner put the same fish I had seen eject the rig on the bank. Instead of ejecting it, they couldn't deal with it and ran. 

If everyone is fishing the same rig, same length, or even same material hooklink then the fish will 'learn' how to deal with it. 

Add in how you feed, your baiting situation and you can change things in your favour. 

There are definitely times when you need something different from the normal. Pressured fish, particular spots or how you bait up may need you to change your rig. 

[Pennywise74]

Not tried it much with aligners but will try it more this year for my bottom baits 

[Pete Springate's Guns]

2 hours ago, Pennywise74 said:

Not tried it much with aligners but will try it more this year for my bottom baits 

My standard approach for bottom baits/wafters is a supple braid with line aligner.
Like Yonny says, its what I’ve got confidence in particularly when a small pva bag of crumbled boilie is attached👍

[...]

At moment I'm using ESP Tungsten Loaded Brown Semi Stiff for all my rigs, Bottom Bait, Wafters and Pop Ups... 

Bottom Bait and Wafters are all knot less knotted to a Nash Claw and a Piece of silicone on the bottom bend of the shank. (like a blow back) 

 

The Pop ups are a Ronnie Claw on the ESP with a Tungsten Bead holding the rig down. 

These are my main 2 rigs at moment I use on a Heli Safe Tubing Kit, about 6/7 Inch long. 

[Pennywise74]

Thanks for that I may have a look at the soft version. 

[greekskii]

For simplicity you can’t beat a multi rig. Just two loops in coated braid. but like any rig you have to be able to tie it properly and use it properly too. 
 

imo everything has its purpose, you wouldn’t lash a supple hair rig with a bright pop up at a single show. Or use one on a crayfish infested lake. We always have to keep an open mind about rigs and use what’s appropriate based on; stock levels, angling pressure, nuisance species, crayfish, lake bottom, weed, what bait we are using, how we are baiting up, and plenty of other factors, even the genetics/physiology of the fish. 

[elmoputney]

5 hours ago, greekskii said:

For simplicity you can’t beat a multi rig. Just two loops in coated braid. but like any rig you have to be able to tie it properly and use it properly too. 
 

imo everything has its purpose, you wouldn’t lash a supple hair rig with a bright pop up at a single show. Or use one on a crayfish infested lake. We always have to keep an open mind about rigs and use what’s appropriate based on; stock levels, angling pressure, nuisance species, crayfish, lake bottom, weed, what bait we are using, how we are baiting up, and plenty of other factors, even the genetics/physiology of the fish. 

Have you seen Julian Cundiffs variation on the multi rig? I went through a phase when I quite liked it, it's just the addition of shrink tube really but it stops it slipping so easily, 

I tend to mainly use Ronnie's now though, with a gemini stiff boom so they are nearly always fishing for me , I found the rudd were causing all sorts of damage to supple rigs and they would often come back tangled, I've been playing with thinking tackle noodle kickers in solid bags though lately, look pretty useful but so far I've not caught using one 😂 I just prefer to have some kind of kicker though with whatever rig, the middle one in pic was my old bag rig I would still happily use that too, although I prefer a wide gape now, I think I have almost got to the point where I am confident with whatever I chuck out but I can't help enjoying a Tinker at times, it's nice to see if you can improve things 

 

[salokcinnodrog]

7 hours ago, greekskii said:

For simplicity you can’t beat a multi rig. Just two loops in coated braid. but like any rig you have to be able to tie it properly and use it properly too. 
 

imo everything has its purpose, you wouldn’t lash a supple hair rig with a bright pop up at a single show. Or use one on a crayfish infested lake. We always have to keep an open mind about rigs and use what’s appropriate based on; stock levels, angling pressure, nuisance species, crayfish, lake bottom, weed, what bait we are using, how we are baiting up, and plenty of other factors, even the genetics/physiology of the fish. 

1 hour ago, elmoputney said:

tend to mainly use Ronnie's now though, with a gemini stiff boom so they are nearly always fishing for me , I found the rudd were causing all sorts of damage to supple rigs and they would often come back tangled,

 

Crayfish and rudd, proper rig tanglers; anything with soft braid you might as well forget it. 

Use a mono hair with crays and risk it being cut off, although 25lb braid won't get cut in half. 

How on earth crayfish can find a pop-up above them and walk it down to the lakebed beggars belief. 

This is where coated braid or if the braid section is VERY short, a combi-rig comes into its own to deal with rudd and crays. 

Worse is when you can't use real bait and have to go wooden, even if you do go to a genuine meshed pop-up. For me that is time for the rig ring on the hook shank and a braid hair with a uni-knot loop to hold the pop-up. 

Saying that @nigewoodcock has seen crays flare up at carp trying to get the bait, although I've caught carp with the pop-up chewed or even totally missing. 

 

[elmoputney]

I once heard a story 2nd hand about a certain water near me that will remain nameless but apparently Gary Beyes was fishing it at the time and there were loads of crayfish in there and it was a nightmare, one day he was fishing eating a curry at the time (maybe ) and all of a sudden hundreds of crayfish all came walking out the lake and just went somewhere else, never to be seen again, they didn't know how they had got there, but they just got up and left 

My disclaimer is I have no knowledge if this is actually true,I didn't really know the guy that told me, but what a great story, would be amazing if it was true wouldn't it ? 👌

[framey]

They get into the lake that way sometimes so can’t see it being a problem 

they can live out of the water

[Pennywise74]

My all time most successful boilie flavour was Hutchys Crayfish in Richworths 50/50 was deadly 

[carpepecheur]

16 hours ago, elmoputney said:

I once heard a story 2nd hand about a certain water near me ... all of a sudden hundreds of crayfish all came walking out the lake and just went somewhere else,👌

I wouldn’t doubt that story. I fish a lake near me that was stuffed with crayfish. They make a brilliant bait and crushed crayfish makes a brilliant ground bait. Mostly, I put down traps and took a load home to eat. Then about three years ago, they completely disappeared and you couldn’t catch a single one. They have only just started to slowly return.

[Pennywise74]

Maybe try having a curry 

[salokcinnodrog]

On 07/01/2022 at 17:02, elmoputney said:

I once heard a story 2nd hand about a certain water near me that will remain nameless but apparently Gary Beyes was fishing it at the time and there were loads of crayfish in there and it was a nightmare, one day he was fishing eating a curry at the time (maybe ) and all of a sudden hundreds of crayfish all came walking out the lake and just went somewhere else, never to be seen again, they didn't know how they had got there, but they just got up and left 

My disclaimer is I have no knowledge if this is actually true,I didn't really know the guy that told me, but what a great story, would be amazing if it was true wouldn't it ? 👌

If there are loads of crayfish, otters will often munch them over fish.

I know a few lakes that we discovered otters on by crayfish claws and mussel shells appearing on the bank well away from the water line.

 

The other predators for crayfish are grebes, catfish and eels.

The cats and eels can actually get into crayfish holes to eat them.

 

The most simple rig I suppose is mono fished with a simple knotless knot. I prefer to add a line aligner to even that.

As I said in my first post, a mono hooklink, properly tied hook, line aligner and that lovely whipping thread or dental floss hair, tied to the eye, then whipped down the shank actually still works

[framey]

Tie on a hook 

 

 

god forbid…

[Jone5y]

When I used to fish for carp, I used to keep everything as basic as possible so that the only significant variable was where I was sticking the bait. As long as the bait was likely presented cleanly enough on the bottom, that was good enough for me. It was incredibly stress free. All my effort went into finding where the fish were and moving onto them - or away from them as was more often the case.

[Pennywise74]

Yeah couldn’t agree more I used to waste loads of time on latest rigs n didn’t catch me any more than my simple rig I’ve used for 30 year. I’ll be sticking to that and concentrating more on location from now on. One thing I have had great success on in low lying weed lately is the KOrda method feeders as I feel you can present decent in low weed as I suppose it’s just like a bag presentation 

[Jone5y]

I'd trust a side-hooked wine gum near the carp over a high-tech boilie on a fancy rid nowhere near the carp.

Edited January 25, 2022 by Jone5y

[B B]

1 hour ago, Jone5y said:

I'd trust a side-hooked wine gum near the carp over a high-tech boilie on a fancy rid nowhere near the carp.

Iv had whiting on a wine gum.. red was the go to colour 

[bluelabel]

Prawn on a big hook and freelined... how simple do you want it...? 😛👍

[Pennywise74]

Worked the John Wilson many times 

[emmcee]

On 25/01/2022 at 16:53, Pennywise74 said:

Yeah couldn’t agree more I used to waste loads of time on latest rigs n didn’t catch me any more than my simple rig I’ve used for 30 year. I’ll be sticking to that and concentrating more on location from now on. One thing I have had great success on in low lying weed lately is the KOrda method feeders as I feel you can present decent in low weed as I suppose it’s just like a bag presentation 

Sorry to split hairs here, but are you saying for 30yrs you concentrated more on rigs than location? Surely Location is 99% of the puzzle, for me it is anyway.  The last 1% is putting a bait in front of them that they will eat, attached to a rig that works. As everyone knows, if you aren't on the fish , then you can't catch the fish.