Hair length

[onedaya30]

Hi All,

 

I am sure that it is an old chestnut, but I wondered what lenth of hair people favour?

 

I have been playing around with the length recently and can now see advantages/disadvantages to both... so I thought I would throw it open to the floor

 

I look forward to everyone's opinions; although I am sure that we will all agree that there are no right or wrong answers to this question

[nash_gadgeteer]

I always prefer a hair that is approx twice the diameter of the bait, from the silicone rubber..

 

I always use a tiny piece of tubing to change the angle of the hair, which aids hooking capabilities.

 

Plus when using a PVA stick then the hook hopefully lays flat on the bottom and then is hidden from view by the groundbait.

[woods_1985]

i agree that there is no real answer but with a pop-up shorter the better (or even a d-ring)

bottom baits i have been known depending on the situation to fish a hair twice the length of the bait!

[onedaya30]

Interesting that you

prefer a hair that is approx twice the diameter of the bait, from the silicone rubber

 

What is your thinking behind that

 

It sounds like quitre a long hair which I can imagine offers good seperation, however, isn't there the danger of lots of 'single beeps' as the smarter fish simply mouth the bait and avoid the hook?

[nash_gadgeteer]

Interesting that you

prefer a hair that is approx twice the diameter of the bait, from the silicone rubber

 

What is your thinking behind that

 

It sounds like quitre a long hair which I can imagine offers good seperation, however, isn't there the danger of lots of 'single beeps' as the smarter fish simply mouth the bait and avoid the hook?

 

As i mentioned i use alot of PVA sticks which i slide over the hooklink and down over the hook shank, this hides the hook in a small dusting of stick mix, plus i find the longer hair is harder to deal with from a carp's point of view.

 

Best thing to do is try it various lengths where you fish and see which ones work, worth investing in a small tank for testing at home with, like the shows.

[gap]

Silly12Sally, what hair length do you prefer?

[fishermanjoe]

Silly12Sally, what hair length do you prefer?

 

wrong thread mate.

PMSL

 

[codfather]

more by the sounds of it

[jpole]

Interesting that you

prefer a hair that is approx twice the diameter of the bait, from the silicone rubber

 

What is your thinking behind that

 

It sounds like quitre a long hair which I can imagine offers good seperation, however, isn't there the danger of lots of 'single beeps' as the smarter fish simply mouth the bait and avoid the hook?

 

As i mentioned i use alot of PVA sticks which i slide over the hooklink and down over the hook shank, this hides the hook in a small dusting of stick mix, plus i find the longer hair is harder to deal with from a carp's point of view.

 

Best thing to do is try it various lengths where you fish and see which ones work, worth investing in a small tank for testing at home with, like the shows.

 

But don’t put in with your angelfish or you will hook one

And if you put bait with small fish they just round it around the bottom of the tank 3-4 inch fish.

[nash_gadgeteer]

Interesting that you

prefer a hair that is approx twice the diameter of the bait, from the silicone rubber

 

What is your thinking behind that

 

It sounds like quitre a long hair which I can imagine offers good seperation, however, isn't there the danger of lots of 'single beeps' as the smarter fish simply mouth the bait and avoid the hook?

 

As i mentioned i use alot of PVA sticks which i slide over the hooklink and down over the hook shank, this hides the hook in a small dusting of stick mix, plus i find the longer hair is harder to deal with from a carp's point of view.

 

Best thing to do is try it various lengths where you fish and see which ones work, worth investing in a small tank for testing at home with, like the shows.

 

But don’t put in with your angelfish or you will hook one

And if you put bait with small fish they just round it around the bottom of the tank 3-4 inch fish.

 

Don't have fish in you test tank

[onedaya30]

Wish some one had said no fish an hour ago. My son's in tears since I caught his goldfish on a 3lb Longbow.

 

3oz's in weight, not much of a fight; so I wasn't too chuffed either

 

I am off to the neighbours pond to test the rigs in there now-some of the goldfish run to almost a pound

[carpingod150]

I prefer it to be quite long, so the fish has some room to 'blow' the bait back without the whole rig being efected. THats with bottom baits anyway, with pop-ups I find the fish tend to 'snatch' at the bait, so obviously a shorter hair would be better

[onedaya30]

getting back on track from the tank test humour:

 

Do you think different materials demand different hair lengths e.g. Combi Rigs compared to supple braid

[carpingod150]

getting back on track from the tank test humour:

 

Do you think different materials demand different hair lengths e.g. Combi Rigs compared to supple braid

I only ever use supple hairs anyway, I'f I'm using mono or fluoro I whip on a cotton hair

[salokcinnodrog]

Hi All,

 

I am sure that it is an old chestnut, but I wondered what lenth of hair people favour?

 

I have been playing around with the length recently and can now see advantages/disadvantages to both... so I thought I would throw it open to the floor

 

I look forward to everyone's opinions; although I am sure that we will all agree that there are no right or wrong answers to this question

 

The perfect hair (and hooklink) length is where the hook falls into the Carp's bottom lip, just inside the mouth.

If its too long then the hook is too deep inside the mouth, if its too short then the Carp is hooked in the extremity of the lip, or you may suffer hookpulls where the hook has gone in too far forward.

 

There are a fair few threads about rigs and hair lengths, hooklink lengths, so it may be worth digging up some of them. The one with most explanation is probably called Complicated Rigs, and is in the Advanced Carp Fishing section.

The whole thread is worth a good read.

[onedaya30]

I have tried the hair that is twice the bait diameter on a couple of 4 hour sessions and have scored 4 fish, best 14lb's so i have to accept that the theory works.

 

Looks good on the rig too-thanks Nash Gadgeteer

 

Before anyone asks about the size of the fish-it is a runs water and there are alot of small fish so double's are good and yes I know the water is warming up so they will be feeding harder, but the runs I got were above average fish f0r the water.

[onedaya30]

Hi all, I just re-read my last post and it should say best 12lb-sorry mis type due to alcohol.

 

I know in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter, but never lied about fish and didn't want to start now

[matsta30]

i vary mine

depends where im fishing

if i lose fish a few times i change the length of my hair and keep on doing it until i land every fish i hook

 

matt

[kevman]

Korda extender stops in three sizes ,the largest allow a hair to be extended by 11.5mm , smallest 2.5mm , really useful, if you make your hair for a 10mm boillie , the largest will let you use a 20mm bait without changing the hair length

[salokcinnodrog]

Korda extender stops in three sizes ,the largest allow a hair to be extended by 11.5mm , smallest 2.5mm , really useful, if you make your hair for a 10mm boillie , the largest will let you use a 20mm bait without changing the hair length

 

May be useful, but so is a Length of Hair Braid or mono.

 

Not as specific as Korda's extenders, but I've been extending hairs that way for years and don't see why I should put money in someone else pocket for something that I can do with a little intelligence and common sense myself

[boots_n_braces]

interestingly on the water im on atm ive noticed i need a longer hair with particle hook bait than with boilies (i think its down to the larger surface area the suction force has to act on with the boilies so it flys up a bit faster and easier pound for pound) and because the boilies are larger and 'use' more of the hair i can use the same hair length for all my baits (up until now i was using adjustable hairs- but id never buy anything korda lol)

 

Actually now i read its not even that interesting lol but a little food for thought

[salokcinnodrog]

interestingly on the water im on atm ive noticed i need a longer hair with particle hook bait than with boilies (i think its down to the larger surface area the suction force has to act on with the boilies so it flys up a bit faster and easier pound for pound) and because the boilies are larger and 'use' more of the hair i can use the same hair length for all my baits (up until now i was using adjustable hairs- but id never buy anything korda lol)

 

Actually now i read its not even that interesting lol but a little food for thought

 

It is rather interesting as I've nearly always fished a shorter hair and rig for Particles than I do for Boilies, probably something to do with trying to avoid the hook and bait going too far back in the mouth so as to avoid Bite-Offs.

 

Do you find you end up with shorter rigs for particles than you do for boilies or are the 2 about the same, or do you change dependant on the feeding situation?

[snobber]

I always set my bait on the bend of the hook, and tied a knotless knot.

 

Works fine!

[levigsp]

I prefer mine quite short nowdays,my reasoning is if its to long my flat cap keeps falling off

[boots_n_braces]

salokcinnodrog- you always give me food for thought lol I do use shorter hooklinks for particles mainly because i rarely fish them as singles so in my experinence the fish isnt going to move far straight away like if u had a yard or to between each bait so i dont like giving them to much slack to play with.

 

in terms of hair length ive never had any problems with bite offs on long hairs as its only the bait that goes right to the back rather than the hook and hklink.

 

TBH the water im on atm is the first time its really bein my choice how i fish as on other busier waters i just do the opposite of everyone else and it works beautifully theoretically a 4ft braid hklink should let the carp get away with it every time but use it on a water everyone else is using 8" stiff links on and it works wonders! At the minute im using short mono hooklinks and short curled up braid hooklinks on the bed of particles (braid is outfishing mono 7to1 atm!!!) with all the rigs being straight hair rigs. The third rod is fished roaming with a few boilies round it on long braid hooklinks with either mini withy pool rig or mini anchor rig which to my mind makes up for the long hooklink (so far no signs of them getting away with it and all the runs are full blooded but who knows)

 

i once caught a 2lb roach on 3" hair!! greedy git had shoved a 14mm boilie in and couldnt spit it back out i got it all the way to the net with the hook hanging out!