Main line and hook length advise needed

[1eye101]

Hi guys

I'm looking to buy some main line and suitable hook length and need some advise as I'm a newbie. I'm targeting small carp to begin with, but appreciate that bigger fish could take the bait. Any help greatly appreciated.

[tonybranno]

Whats the make up of your lake? Are there numorous gravel bars, snags and weedbeds? If there is then i would go for 15lb mainline minimum. If your lake is relatively clear then you could go down to 12, 10 or even 8lb mainline if your rods can handle such lighter line.

 

Hooklength wise i would go for anything between 15 - 25lb. That is more of a personal choice really because my favourite coated braid is only available in 25lb BS and i use it everywhere, regardless of if the lake is clear or snaggy.

 

I hope that helps bud!

[zander1]

I would advise that you use a tried and tested main line like diawa sensor, its a very reliable line that wont cost the earth ( rrp £6.99 but you can probably get it for less), and has very good knot strenghth.

 

depending on what the bottom of your lake is like you can get a way with the simplest of rigs,For you hook lengths you could probably get a way with tieing a Knotless knot hair rig out of your main line untill you find out about what others are catching on where you are fishing, or get some korda IQ xtra soft 10-12lb and tie the same rig (this will catch almost anywhere) , avoid using un coated braids untill you have got your casting and feathering right as it can tangle very easily.

[1eye101]

Thanks for the help gents......what breaking strain would you advise for the diawa sensor?

[zander1]

Like the other chap said, it depends on the waters you fish, personaly i would go for the 12lb one as it takes some breaking and you can still cast it a good distance . I use 10lb sensor clear for fishing on the Top and the normal browny coloured variant in 12lb for fishing on the deck.

[1eye101]

This is a great help, thanks very much.

I fished last week and caught my first carp at a whopping 1lb! But also lost 2 at the peg which I think was due to a blunt hook. These felt a decent weight and faught quite hard so I assume these were carp. I used 2 maggots on the hook on running rig with a small pva mesh bag with 3mm pellets fished to a smal island. I really enjoyed it hence why I want to get the correct mainline and hooklength.

 

I know this is not the right section to ask but as I have this thread running.......I'm thinking of fishing a hair rigged tutti fruity boilie over a bed of vitalin with a sweet additive mixed in. Is this method ok as it gets colder and if so how much should I ball in?

[zander1]

its one of those trial and error situations as is nearly everything in carp fishing,sounds like youre on the right tracks but dont use to powerfull addatives and dont put a lot of bait in your swim. to be honest i havnt had a winter session this year but i have found over the winters that i have fished to keep a constant but small amount of bait going in, on the waters i fish, i normaly hair rig a 10mm halibut pellet and a peice of plastic corn (in case the pellet comes off) or a 16mm halibut boilie (going against the general rule of winter fishing) and i put a few 6mm halibut pellets in a PVA bag the size off a 50p whith every cast, use a small lead ,1.5oz-2.0oz, so you can re cast more offten than normal, say every hour and catapult the odd boily here and there over the course of your session say 3-4 boilys every 30 mins but no more as too many freebies can be worse than having no freebies at all. thats my tactics any way, different things work for different people on different waters. dont be to concerened about the efficiency and how fancy your rigs are ,just make sure you use a good, sharp, reliable hook like korda wide gapes or fox arma point ssbp, you want to use the smalest hook you can get away with so try size 10-12 to begin with. Thats my thoughts any way, im sure there are loads of more experienced anglers on here that you can get better info off