Carp Catchers Blog

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:-

            

   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

 

 

�

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.

 

Best fishes,

John

 

�

The  Angling Intelligence 12 Metre Baiting Pole and  Feature Finder  are now in. These products look really exciting and will give you an edge I’m sure. Firstly The 12 Metre Baiting Pole was developed because anglers using the 8 metre Baiting Pole were having such good results that they realised with another 4 metres even more of those carpy hotspots would be in range. The baiting poles allow you to drop your hookbaits and particle baits under bushes and other marginal hot spots with minimum disturbance. They can also be used to stealthly bait those same hotspots regularly to keep the carp coming back for more. The Angling Intelligence Feature Finders were also developed directly from angler feedback.

 Anglers discovered that when they were using the Weed Rake 2  they could really feel the contours of the lakebed but obviously the weed was catching on the tines. The guys at A.I. realised that the weed rake being made of stainless steel was harder than lead so it did not absorb vibrations as much and therefore those vibrations were transmitted more readily to the rod tip. The shape was also a contributary factor to the increased sensitivity it’s blocky shape and sharp edges catching the lakebed more readily than conventional leads. So the tines were removed and slots put in their place to create more edges, the shape was tweaked and after much field testing the Feature Finder was born.

So if you want an edge in your carp fishing The Angling Intelligence 12 metre Baiting Pole and Feature Finder are definately worth a look.

Best fishes,

John

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

I recently christened my new Century NG Rods with this beauty of a lunker weighing 28lb 6oz. The fish came from a spot that I’ve been baiting regularly with good quality boilies throughout the year. My rig consisted of GLT No Can See fluorocarbon tied D rig style to a Gardner Longshank Incizor Hook, the hookbait was a snowman and was lodged well back in the fishes mouth. When I get a bit of time I will show those of you that don’t know how to tie the D rig.

Best fishes,

John

Â

Here’s a nice scenic shot of a full moon I took on a recent session at Wellington Country Park. Enjoy!

Best fishes,

John

Customer Rob O’Brien used Korda Hybrid Stiff to hoodwink these French beauty’s weighing 32lb and 36lb respectively. Rob was fishing Etang Rendevouz in France and also caught carp of 25lb,22lb,18lb and 15lb in his week long session. Using a snowman blowback rig consisting of size 4 hooks tied to a Korda Hybrid Stiff hooklink Rob cast tight to the margins of an Island. Hookbaits were 3 pieces of maize topped of with a piece of Enterprise Pop-Up Sweetcorn these were put into a pva bag along with 20 freebies. Rob reports that he encountered every weather condition possible on his trip including hail and snow and winds from all directions. This week see’s Rob back at Etang Rendevouz, so hopefully we will have some more photos’ and catch reports from him soon. Good Luck Rob!!

 

Best fishes,

John

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.

 

Stay warm this winter and you can still enjoy your fishing in comfort and concentrate on your fishing.

 

Tight Lines,

Dave

�

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

Heres the photo of the first twenty James caught on a recent day session at Headlands Lake. James’ PB carp weighed 23lb 6oz and was caught on a Blowback rig tied with Kryston  Super Mantis , hookbaits were Mainline Activ Maple-8 dumbells .

The photo quality isn’t perfect as it was taken on a camera phone but a cracking fish all the same.

Well done mate

Tight Lines

David �