"wonder rigs!" re inventing the wheel?

[ouchthathurt]

do you feel, like me, that all these new wonder rigs have a faint hint of "de ja vous" to them?

 

for instance, i brought my first carp angling magazine for years recently, and every "big name" angler were all going on about the wonders of the "KD rig", the "revoloutionary rig" that will improve your catch rate, with out a doubt.

 

as i looked at this new "wonder rig" i couldnt help but think how similar it looked to a rig called the "simple/complicated rig" that steve renyard brought to the magazine buying generation a few years back.

 

yet, another angler made the comparison from the KD rig to the "shot on the hair rig" which was claimed to have similar hooking properties.

 

yet again, comparisons were made to supposedly unknown rg called the "through the eye rig" that was used on a few waters in the mid nineties, yet actually appeared in rob maylins "tiger bay" first published in 1988 about fishing savay and the colne valley in the 1980s, called the "through the eye pop up rig" (No1 carp angling book - tiger bay!)

 

all of the above rigs work of the same principle of kicking the hook out at an aggressive angle, yet despite the re-incarnations and name changes, they are essentially the same blooming thing.

 

i used to think i was missing out by not buying magazines, now i realise not being bombarded by these excessive, constant, and quite frankly, useless attempts to reinvent the hair rig, is actually an advantage, as i now just stick to my simple, proven rigs that i'm confident in. rather than try the latest

 

"hooking/singing/dancing/wonder/fantaboulous/braided/pop-up/snowman/twister/gripper/swimmer/longshank/benthook/barbed/tubed/shrunk/swivelled/floating/sinking/wafter/corked/maggot/ringed/D/A/B/KD/XYZ rig"

 

that someone is claiming the best thing since lenny middleton and kevin maddocks thought "hey if i tied the bait to the hook instead of burying it inside it might hook better..."

 

 

what does everyone else think, do you look at these new "wonder rigs" and think, yep, seen that one before, or doy you think, WOW!!! i simpily MUST try that one straight away? can carp anglers think for themsleves when it comes to rigs?

 

[nafy118]

one that got me was i tink it was in advanced carp a few months ago the "sliding rig" i know a very good angler that was fishing the colne valley and savay etc through the late 70's and through the 80's and i remember him showing me th eexact same rig 2 years ago, then here it was a few months back by a 'new' angler saying hes just thought it up the other night and has made a few changes since . . . no he hadn't it was 100% the same as what i was shown 2 years ago

[noknot]

He did'nt did he

[nafy118]

he did

[ouchthathurt]

well i never... ought to be ashamed of themselves!!!

 

i see it a lot, i remember using Zigs in the early nineties to target these carp who sat basking over a sunken log 1ft under the water over 8ft margins. i would cast a zig tight to the log then the pop up would be set at 7ft so it hovered just on the edge of the sunken log. the carp would drift along the margins, up onto this sunken log, following it like a road then at the root end, the carp would skim over the edge into the 8ft of water below. brilliant ambush carping.

 

also...

 

if every "named" angler are all claiming to be the only person to be using the latest rig, and they all claim to use slack lines and mono hooklinks and particles ont boilies so they are "different from the crowd" then how they can they possibly be different? they ALL claim to be the only person to be using a particular method!

 

say they are the only person to be using, say, method X, then they tell the anglng public their method X, then say 1/3 of their readership start to use method X then they no longer are the only person to be using it, yes? so does this mean they have changed their methods to do something else? say method Z? so they are telling the world they are on method X, when they are realy on method Z? is this fair on the magazine devouring public? personally, i dont mind what they do, as i take these angling publications with a large pinch of salt anyway, and really dont care what they are up to, but what of those who follow their articles religiously? those that actually read, digest and try their articles based on the fact they think this named angler is using it?

 

i understand and accept that for newcomers, angling publications are an easy and readily accessible source of easy to follow advice on many methods to carp fishing, for me, reading yet another article called "50 ways with PVA" or something similar really doesnt float my boat, but thats just me. i know that these articles can prove invaluable for those who want to learn the subject they are covering.

 

do you think that magazines should move away from the current trends of publishing and pushing forward these new and wonder rigs, and perhaps concentrate mre on the basics, like bait making, location, feature finding, KEEPING IT SIMPLE!!! etc. in this day and age of carping where "SAFE" rigs are all important, then shouldnt magazines stop showing these latest wonder rigs who often turn out to be quite dangerous and not as safe or effective under water as they are on their kitchen table at home where it was origionally concieved?

 

[nafy118]

well i never... ought to be ashamed of themselves!!!

 

i see it a lot, i remember using Zigs in the early nineties to target these carp who sat basking over a sunken log 1ft under the water over 8ft margins. i would cast a zig tight to the log then the pop up would be set at 7ft so it hovered just on the edge of the sunken log. the carp would drift along the margins, up onto this sunken log, following it like a road then at the root end, the carp would skim over the edge into the 8ft of water below. brilliant ambush carping.

 

also...

 

if every "named" angler are all claiming to be the only person to be using the latest rig, and they all claim to use slack lines and mono hooklinks and particles ont boilies so they are "different from the crowd" then how they can they possibly be different? they ALL claim to be the only person to be using a particular method!

 

say they are the only person to be using, say, method X, then they tell the anglng public their method X, then say 1/3 of their readership start to use method X then they no longer are the only person to be using it, yes? so does this mean they have changed their methods to do something else? say method Z? so they are telling the world they are on method X, when they are realy on method Z? is this fair on the magazine devouring public? personally, i dont mind what they do, as i take these angling publications with a large pinch of salt anyway, and really dont care what they are up to, but what of those who follow their articles religiously? those that actually read, digest and try their articles based on the fact they think this named angler is using it?

 

i understand and accept that for newcomers, angling publications are an easy and readily accessible source of easy to follow advice on many methods to carp fishing, for me, reading yet another article called "50 ways with PVA" or something similar really doesnt float my boat, but thats just me. i know that these articles can prove invaluable for those who want to learn the subject they are covering.

 

do you think that magazines should move away from the current trends of publishing and pushing forward these new and wonder rigs, and perhaps concentrate mre on the basics, like bait making, location, feature finding, KEEPING IT SIMPLE!!! etc. in this day and age of carping where "SAFE" rigs are all important, then shouldnt magazines stop showing these latest wonder rigs who often turn out to be quite dangerous and not as safe or effective under water as they are on their kitchen table at home where it was origionally concieved?

 

 

could't agree more, i buy magz doesn't mean i read the technical bits tho, i like to rad whats happening in the other realms of the country that i dont know about, like last month i read that a 30lb carp was found dead alongside a motorway but none of the local lakes recognised it!!! poachers? illegal stocking but the fish died before it got any where??? who knows

[ouchthathurt]

i saw that in carp talk, on the front cover. didnt buy the mag though, just wanted to see the article. how the hell can you "lose" a 30lb carp? its gotta be poachers or a french import, either way, it did not deserve to end up there.

 

[nafy118]

more like how the hell do you leave it next to a motorway

[ouchthathurt]

it dies in transit to wherever your taking it, its an illegal move, without paperwork, its worthless now its dead, so why not pull over and sling it out the back of the van? some people are sick.

 

moving back to the subject of magazines slightly, when i was younger, the emphasis was on bait, every article had a bait recipie involved, aminos peach, robin red fishmeals etc, it taught us that bait was the overriding factor, and as a result, i grew up learning how to formulate a great bait, and concocted a bait on a premier aminos base, with GLM, betaine, fruit factor 6, smoked ham flavour, granulated sugar and salmon oil, with the egg shells crushed up for exta calcium, it was a stonking bait that still works just as well as it did when i made it up 15yrs ago. rigs were hardly mentioned in articles, and as such all i did was straight mono hooklinks with sensible bait application.

 

these days it seems to be all about having the most advanced, complicated rigs with little more than a passing mention to the most important item of the whole package, the bait in the first place! people are tying the most complex rig in the magazine, then coupling it with a cheap, low quality bait and slinging the whole sorry mess somewhere into the pond.

 

[lizardking]

I cant believe you still on the old smoked ham wonders!! how you been mate long time no see!!

[salokcinnodrog]

Brought this up again...

 

 

I wonder how many of these re-invented rigs are causing confusion and bewilderment to current anglers?

 

The majority of experienced anglers all say put the basic simple rig in the right place, with the right bait and you will catch, yet the magazines are advocating all singing all dancing "new" super rigs, yet many probably only catch because of the numbers of people using them.

 

Possibly more fish are caught on a basic knotless knotted/line aligned rig than the rest put together, but the newcomer doesn't know that, the magazines are telling the whole truth in an effort to sell.

 

Now I know I went complicated this year, to the Sliding rig, and I "accidentally" re-named a rig last year a version of the 1up 1down in an attempt to throw a blind as I was testing something out on my lake. My difference was the 1up was a pop-up chopped in half, making it look like a mushroom off the lakebed.

 

No matter what happens I still say that in most fishing put the most simple rig in the right place, with the right feeding situation, be that bed of groundbait, particles boilies or pellets and then looking at hookholds and even "dropped" fish change the hair or rig length accordingly, you will catch.

[poleaxe21]

I used to be an advocate of maxima hooklinks with knotless knot and line aligner. Simples.

 

That was until i actually witnessed two carp well in excess of 30lb feeding on my spot. One by one they picked away at my free offerings and then swam off leaving my hookbait (identical to the free offerings) in lone situ.

 

I still belive that a simple mono rig will score well at time. But i have now settled on a rig that i am happy to take anywhere. I don't belive it to be complicated in the slightest. I basically wanted a rig that did the following things well:

 

Low vis

Good anti-tangle properties

Allowed plenty of movement in the hookbait

Avoided the attentions of bream

 

Straight away my preference was for fluorocarbon to play a role to tackle the first two requirements. The thrid requirement was achieved by tying a very supple hair (actually very fine cotton) to a rig ring and mounting this, sliding, on the hook shank, stopped at the bottom of the bend by a hook bead (thinking anglers). To avoid the bream i decided to try going back to the days of the original hair and use 2-3"+ of seperation between hook and hookbait. This the bream find very difficult to deal with, and due to their small mouths, rarely get hooked. However, this in itself presents problems. Because i use critically balanced hookbaits, through the attentions of nuisance species it is possible that the hair may become tangled whilst in situ, and ruin the presentation (also a problem where crayfish are present - as in most of the waters i fish). This can be rectified by using a stiffer hair but then i would once again be sacrificing the natural movement of the hookbait.

 

This rig is finished off with a piece of shrink tubing over the eye of the hook, line aligner style, and connected to about 8-12" of soft fluorocarbon.

 

Sounds complicated? It's not.

 

As you can see the rig is far from perfect. I do have to make alterations and sacrifice certain properties in different situations. When fishing marginal spots where crayfish are an issue i do stiffen the hair thus sacrificing natural movement in the hookbait. Also, this rig was designed with carp of 30lb+ in mind. Very large mouths to say the least. all of the large carp i hooked on this setup were well hooked, 2" back in the bottom of the mouth (this can't only be attributed to the rig, but to bait application...something to think about). However, towards the middle of October i dropped off my regular water for various reasons and i am currently fishing a water where the average carp is in the low doubles (but fin perfect, dark old creatures!). Suddenly i started receiving aborted takes, and even with the carp i did land, the hookholds left something to be desired (outer edges of the lips). This i could only attribute to the size of their mouths, and thus i have had to shorten the seperation between hook and hookbait considerably (also, shortening the length of the hooklink...). This has resulted in a few bream on the bank (but at 13lbs+ i'm not complaining), but since the tweaks i am yet to receive an aborted take, or lose a carp through a hookpull. Also, hookholds have been considerably better.

 

The point that i am trying to make is that while very simple mono or braided hooklinks definatly still do the buisness, and yes some rigs are designed to catch the angler (excessive items of terminal tackle needed = increased profits) not the carp, there is still a place for the understanding of rig mechanics (something that requires an understanding of bait application and patterns...).

 

I firmly belive that the analytical angler, who understands the mechanics of his rig, and who is willing and able to adapt to conditions and scenarios, will, ultimatly, perform better in the long run.

 

Blindly following the latest trends in rigs is one thing. Being aware of what is out there, and formulating ideas of your own based on simple requirements, is another thing entirely, and not something to be ignored.

 

Tight lines all.

 

Happy tinkering!