Which hooklink? good question, I’m going to run a little mini series featuring the most commonly used hooklink materials. I’ll also discuss the accepted wisdom as to their best use.
Coated Braids
Coated Braids as the name suggests are supple braid hooklinks covered with a thicker, stiffer material usually a plastic of some description. Some good examples are:-
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   Sufix Camfusion        Super Mantis Atomic Jelly Wire           Super Mantis
These coated braids have a plastic coating. The coating can be stripped back to reveal the supple inner braid so that you have a stiff section running from the swivel towards the hook and a supple section near the hook. This is essentialy a combi link rig but easier to tie, which is the main reason coated braids were developed. Coated Braid Combi Rigs can be used with bottom baits or if you put some tungsten putty where the coated section ends, pop ups. Coated braids can also be used without stripping back any coating to produce a stiff rig with increased abraision resistance.

Cut your desired length of coated braid, decide how much coating you want strip and grip tightly with your thumbnail (if you have any).

Dig into the coating with your thumbnail and pull away till the coating is removed.

If you don’t have any nails get yourself a  Korda Strippa Tool they strip away the coating quickly without damaging the braid, they’re brilliant.
korda Hybrid Stiff/Soft
Korda Hybrid Stiff and Korda Hybrid Soft  differ to the above because they have a fluorocarbon coating which is both stiffer and heavier than the plastic coatings. Because of their inherent stiffness the Korda Hybrids need to be steamed over a kettle to straighten them and to bed down knots though this is extra work it is worth it.
There are lots of different combinations that can be tied with these hooklink materials, imagination being the only limit.
Best fishes,
John
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Tags: atomic jelly wire, Blog, coated braids, combilink rig, korda hybrid soft, korda hybrid stiff, korda strippa tool, kryston super mantis, Sports, stiff rig, sufix camfusion, Weblog
Posted in Carp Fishing, Carp Fishing Tackle, Carp Rigs, Fishing Knots, Hints And Tips, Hooklinks, Information, Terminal Tackle | No Comments »
Angela and I recently hired a cruiser on the Oxford stretch of the River Thames. It was really hard work as the cruiser was a bit big for two people but we had a wicked time just float fishing off the back of the boat both of us catching a fish a chuck. One of my ambitions was to catch a new personal best perch and boy did I get one, check out the photo below, it weighed 3lb 5oz and is the biggest perch I’ve ever seen. My new PB was caught long trotting 3 white maggots and feeding approx. 10 mixed maggots every trot down. The swim went quiet just before the take so I knew there must be a big predator about, as the roach, perch and dace we were catching were of a good size. The more usual bait for perch is red maggots on the hook and I did try them but catch rates went down until I switched back to whites, the river was very murky so that may have been the reason. The fight was amazing and I can’t wait to go back.

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Best fishes,
John
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Tags: Blog, Long Trotting, Oxford, Perch, River Thames, Sports, Thames Cruiser, Thames Perch, Weblog
Posted in Catch Photo, Catch Report, Coarse Fishing, Information, News, Perch Fishing, Predator Fishing, River Fishing, River Thames, Specimen Fishing | No Comments »
Tags: angling intelligence 12 metre baiting pole, angling intelligence 8 metre baiting pole, angling intelligence feature finder, carp fishing, marginal hotspots, weed rake
Posted in Carp Angling, Carp Fishing, Carp Fishing Tackle, Hints And Tips, Information, News, Product Reviews, Tackle Reviews | No Comments »
The D-rig has many uses in carp fishing but the D-rig tied in this demonstration is best suited to a bottom bait, my chosen bait for this rig is a bunch of maggots tied onto the rig ring with bait floss.
The components used in the demonstration is the Korda IQ Xtra Soft Flourocarbon Hooklink with a Korda size 8 Wide Gape and a Korda Rig Ring.

Step 1.
Start by cutting a 10 inch length of the IQ hooklink, then attach the hook with a knotless knot leaving an inch above the hook. (See picture below)

Step 2.
Now slide a rig ring onto the IQ above the hook. (See picture below)

Step 3.
Then thread the IQ through the back of the eye to from a small D with the rig ring running on it, trim the excess and blob the end with a lighter being careful not burn yourself or the hooklink below the hook. (See pictures below)


Step 4.
Pull the rig ring gently so the blobbed end sits against the eye, it should look like this.

Step 5.
Now tie a figure of eight loop in the other end of the IQ and trim the tag end. (See picture below)

The finished rig should look like this.

Tight Lines
David
Tags: bait floss, Carp Rigs, d rig, Hooklinks, knotless knot, korda fluorocarbon, korda iq xtra soft, korda wide gape hooks, rig rings
Posted in Carp Angling, Carp Fishing, Carp Fishing Tackle, Carp Hooks, Carp Rigs, Fishing Knots, Hints And Tips, Hooklinks, How To, Information, Rigs, Terminal Tackle | No Comments »
Tags: Boilies, century ng rod, d rig, gardner longshank incizor hook, glt no can see, hookbaits, snowman
Posted in Boilies, Carp Fishing, Carp Hooks, Carp Rigs, Carp Rods, Catch Photo, Catch Report, News, Rigs, Terminal Tackle | No Comments »
Tags: blowback rig, Carp, hookbaits, maize, pop up sweetcorn, pva, snowman rig
Posted in Carp Fishing, Carp Fishing Tackle, Carp Hooks, Carp Rigs, Catch Photo, Catch Report, Customers catch, French Carp Fishing, Hooklinks, Information, PVA Bags, Rigs, Terminal Tackle | No Comments »
The summers drawing to an end and the colder weather will soon start to set in with the light fading earlier and the nights getting colder. It is essential to stay warm on the bank and be comfortable for the duration of your stay for you to fish to the best of your ability. There a several essential items that will help you do so, a good set of warm waterproof clothing such as the Prologic Max4 Thermo Armour Jacket and the Prologic Max4 Thermo Armour Bib&Brace is a good start to staying warm, a good cooker that works well in the cold is another item which will help you stay warm with constant supply of hot drinks and food, the Trakker Armolife LCG Stove is a lightweight compact stove that will take up little room in your tackle bag but will make a big difference to you time on the bank.
If your doing longer sessions and staying overnight then a comfortable bedchair such as Nash Indulgence Mark 4 with a good well insulated sleeping bag like the Nash Frostbite All Season Sleeping Bag will help keep you warm on those cold winter nights. Another essential item is reliable headtorch such as the Headfire Dual Colour LED Head Torch is also an essential item for night fishing as it will provide you light while leaving your hands free to tie rigs and handle fish with ease, LED headlights are exceptionally good as they are very bright and extremly economic on batteries with no bulb replacement necessary.
Take a spare set of clothes with you and plenty of spare pairs of socks as theres nothing worse than cold feet when you’re on a long session.
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Stay warm this winter and you can still enjoy your fishing in comfort and concentrate on your fishing.
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Tight Lines,
Dave
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Tags: bedchairs, compact stoves, head torches, lightweight stove, sleeping bags, waterproof clothing, winter clothing, Winter Fishing
Posted in Carp Fishing, Carp Fishing Tackle, Hints And Tips, Information, Winter Fishing | No Comments »
The Inline Shocka Rig can be very effective on waters where the fish are using the weight of the lead to drop the hook, the principle behind the shocka rig is that the carp is allowed to move off with confidence but is then meet with the full weight of the lead as it makes contact with the rubber bead which drives the hook home.
The components used in this demonstration are a Korda Safe Zone Kamo Leader, a Korda Buffer Bead, a 3oz Korda Inline Flat Pear Lead and a ESP 5mm Rubber Shock Bead.

Step 1.
Thread a Buffer bead down the leader and push it securely over the swivel on the leader. (See picture below)

Step 2.
Remove the hard insert from the inline lead as this allows the lead to run with less resistance up the leader. (See picture below)

Step 3.
Now thread the leader through the lead and slide the lead down to the Buffer bead. (See picture below)

Step 4.
Thread a 5mm Shock bead down the leader and sit it on the tungsten collar closest to the lead, if you want to setup this rig with something other than a Korda safe zone leader then use a smaller bead to sit tight onto your leader/leadcore or rig tubing but make sure it will come free in the event of a break so the fish can lose the lead. (See picture below)

This is how the finished setup should look.

And this is the point where the fish will come in contact with the lead and hopefully hook itself. (See picture below)

Tight Lines
David
Tags: Carp, fish, korda, korda kamo leader, shocka rig
Posted in Carp Angling, Carp Fishing, Carp Rigs, Hints And Tips, How To, Information, Rigs, Terminal Tackle | No Comments »
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