Carp Catchers Blog

Over the years I have chopped and changed between all the lead setups you can think of and I’ve tried a range of rigs with varied results. Currently I’m using either inline leads or helicopter setups with line aligner rigs or the withy pool rig for pop-ups. When setting up my inline setup I use a 5-6ft length of Kryston leadcore along with a Korda square inline lead and a size 8 swivel pulled into the hard insert, the leadcore leader is attached to my mainline using a Palomar knot as I believe it to be the strongest knot possible. My helicopter setup is made using an Atomic dung lead with a TFG Secret Trap Leader , a Korda helicopter sleeve over the swivel of the lead followed by two clear  Osprey Tactical Photo-Chromic Rig Beads holding the ring swivel and Korda kwik clip in place for ease of changing rigs. I also add a couple of pieces of tungsten putty to the leader to help weigh it down and pin it to the bottom, I use the Palomar knot again to attach the leader to my main line as with my leadcore leaders. Obviously these lead setups don’t suit every fishing situation so I do change over to other setup where needed.

My line aligner rig consists of a Korda wide gape hook tied knotless knot style to a 6in length of Sufix stiff silt hooklink with half an inch stripped back behind the hook with a small piece of silicone tubing to hold the bait close to the back of the hook and a weed green piece of shrink tubing to add a better angle to the hook to help aid with the rigs hooking ability. My withy pool rig is tied using Armaled kik-bak hooklink combi link style, a size 8 Fox series 5 hook with a Solar rig ring and bead on the back of the hook and some clear Korda shrink tubing to give the long angled section below the hook. The pop-up is then weighted down with some tungsten putty. I also like to add a couple of small blobs of Tungsten putty up my hooklinks to help hold them tight to the bottom. All my rigs are finished with a figure of eight knot and an Osprey tactical clear anti tangle sleeve as I like to be able to change them quickly when fishing.

David

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I’ve just returned from a 48 hour session at Elson’s, I arrived at the lake around 5 o’clock on Wednesday evening and after a quick walk round I discovered there was no one else on so I had pick of swims. I settled for the swim I had over the previous weekend, after getting the rods out on the spots with a pineapple flouro pop-up on one rod and Mainline fusion boilies on the other two I sat back for the evening. The next 24 hours were very uneventful with not so much as a liner although fish were regularly showing themselves they didn’t look interested in feeding. As the late afternoon set in there was a downpour of heavy rain which followed the showers we’d had all day, this obviously dropped the temperature and it looked a lot more promising for a take. I spent about half an hour tying fresh rigs consisting of Korda wide gape hooks and  Sufix Stiff Silt with a small bit of silicone tubing on the back of the hook and some shrink tubing to create a better angle on the hook; and cooking up some hemp for the far margin rod to get myself ready for another night. After walking round to bait up the far margin I got back to my swim and all the rods went out on the button allowing me to sit back knowing they were all fishing how they should be.

At around 1 o’clock I received a slow take on the far margin fusion boilie rod which after a short fight resulted in a very familiar common carp weighing in at 16lb 12oz on my new Reuben Heaton Digital Scales, after looking over the pictures once the fish had been released it struck me to be the same fish I landed on a session back around Easter time along with my PB common. The photos were also my 1st self takes with the new camera. The rest of the night was quiet until early morning when I landed 2 Tench to 6lb 8oz, along with my 1st ever coot which was released no worse for wear.

Cheers

David

The Matrix Sweeper Bite Indicators and Stage Stands have come in along with some other cool bits and pieces as promised in an earlier blog. If you’re fed up with your bite alarms bleeping all the time in windy conditions then the new Matrix Sweepers are well worth a look and come in a real nice colours. The Matrix Stage Stands are designed to aid those of you fishing venues with wooden platforms, they screw into the staging and you then insert your banksticks and lock them in giving you a rock solid set up. The Stage Stands have a removable insert so they will accomadate any diameter of bankstick. We also have the Hot Head and Dinky Hot Head Isotopes as well as the Drag Weights in now. For those of you that like a bit of bling The Matrix Fluoro Wheels are the buisness, they fit the Stevie Neville and Nash Solid State Bite Alarms so check them out. We will have more from Matrix soon plus we’ve got lots of other stuff to review as soon as we can.

Best fishes,

John