Carp Catchers Blog

This rig can be used for a variety of baits, such as boilies, plastic baits, maggots and pop-ups when weighted down with putty or shot. It looks like a very complicated rig to tie but it is infact simple but effective when used correctly. The components used to tie this rig are Korda Hybrid Stiff Coated Braid, a Korda Wide Gape Hook, Korda Weed Green Shrink Tubing, ESP 0.5mm Silicone Tubing and Kryston Heavy Metal Plus.

Step 1.

Cut about 10 inches of the stiff coated braid off the spool strip about 3 1/2 inches of the coating off and tie a small overhand loop knot in the end for your hair stop.

Step 2.

Now thread on a 3mm length of silicone tubing. (See picture below)

Step 3.

Being careful not to snag the braid thread the point of the hook through the silicone tubing with the point heading towards to hair loop and slide the hook round so its sitting with the silicone on the top of the bend on the shank. (See pictures below)

Step 4.

Now thread the braid through the back of the eye to the front and adjust the length of the hair to suit the bait you intend to use, then tie a knotless knot making sure the silicone tubing is still sitting at the top the bend on the shank, this is done so that the bait weighs down the point of the hook helping to drive the hook in but obviously move the silicone tubing down the shank a bit for pop-ups. Remember to whip the 1st turn of the knot away from the join in the eye. (See picture below)

Step 5.

Cut a small piece of the Korda Safe Zone Shrink Tube so its long enough the cover the knot and give about 8mm of shrink tubing below the eye of the hook. (See picture below)

Step 6.

Using the Solar Rig Cone steam the shrink tubing over the kettle to give the shrink tubing an inturned curve, but be careful not to make the gap between the point of the hook and the tubing too small as this will actually hinder the rigs hooking ability rather than enhance it, also make sure not to burn the hooklink if your steaming it over your stove on the bank. (See pictures below)

Step 7.

Now tie a figure of eight knot at the other end of the hooklink for faster rig changing, i prefer to make my rigs around 6 inches in length. The figure of eight knot is used for this as it won’t cut into the coating under tension. (See picture below)

Step 8.

To finish the rig steam it straight over the kettle or pin it straight on a rig board but be careful not to straighten out the shrink tubing by pinning it too tight, then complete the rig with a couple of blobs of Kryston Heavy Metal plus to pin it down to the lake bed. (See picture below)

The rig is now complete and ready to cast out.

Tight Lines

David

Being able to splice your own leadcore leaders will enable you to use a wider range of leadcore leaders in your fishing as you can’t buy most types of leadcore in ready spliced leaders, it will also enable you to splice your leaders to your fishing needs. Splicing leadcore can take some practice but once your got the hang of it and your confident you will be able to benefit from it in your fishing.

The leadcore used in this demonstration was Kryston Score Gold Leadcore.

Step 1.

Peel back the outer coating of the leadcore to reveal the lead inner, remove about 2-3 inches of the inner leadcore. (See picture below)

Step 2.

Once you’ve pulled the outer coating back to its original position you need to thread a splicing needle up the inside of the coating away from the lead inner about an inch. Start threading the needle up the outer coating from the end of the lead inner. (See Pictures below)

Step 3.

Now slightly blob the end of the outer coating to prevent the splicing needle unravelling it as your pulling it back through. (See picture below)

Step 4.

This is the time to add a swivel or clip to the leadcore if you wish to splice one on for your lead setup. Hook the splicing needle onto the end of the coating and close the gate to prevent the needle snagging. (See picture below)

Step 5.

Step 6.

Now gently coax the needle back through the outer coating of the leadcore using the needle, to make it easier if your struggling try pushing the outer coating together as your pulling the needle through this will make to hole through the centre of the outer coating slightly larger. The finished spliced leadcore should look like this. (See picture below)

Whatever you do, don’t splice a swivel onto the mainline end of the leadcore as this will prevent your lead or rig coming off the leader in the event of a break when fishing running, inline or helicopter lead setups and is also likely to pick up weed and become snagged on the lake bed. 

Tight Lines

David

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Atomic Tackle’s Offloader lead enables you to fish a completely safe inline setup with the knowledge that you lead will drop off in the event of a break in your line or if the fish gets snagged. The components used in this demonstration are Atomic Tackle’s Offloader lead and Rig Marole’s Freefall Rig Tubing.

Step 1.

Thread the Rig Marole Freefall Rig Tube onto your mainline. (See picture below)

Step 2.

Put the plastic insert in the lead and cut the insert down to the correct length so the lead will sit tight with the rubber sleeve on the end. (See picture below)

Step 3.

Now thread the rubber sleeve and the plastic insert on your mainline. (See picture below)

Step 4.

Then tie the size 8 swivel onto you mainline using a Palomar knot. (See picture below)

Step 5.

Now slide the plastic insert over the swivel making sure the eye of the swivel is lined up with the pin hole in the insert. (See picture below)

Step 6.

Then using the pin applicator push a pin through the pin holes to hold the swivel in the insert. (See picture below)

Step 7.

Now put the line through the groove in the side of the lead and push the insert into the lead. (See picture Below)

Step 8.

Slide the rubber sleeve over the plastic insert to hold the lead in place and push the rig tube into the sleeve, the lead setup is now complete. (See picture below)

Tight Lines

David

This part of How To Tie A Chod Rig will demonstrate how to tie the hooklink to complete the rig with components from Gardner Tackle, ESP and Korda.

The construction of this rig is the same as the construction of the rig tied in part 2 except it uses a Gardner D-Ceptor Carp Hook, Gardner Trip Wire, a Korda Rig Ring and an ESP Ring Swivel. This is what the finished rig should look like.

Alternatively if your not 100% confident in tying you own chod rig up you can buy ESP Helicopter Rig Leadcore Leaders and they can be used in conjunction with Gardner’s D-ceptor Tripwire Chod Rig.

Tight Lines

David

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The next part of How To Tie A Chod Rig will demonstrate how to tie the hooklink to complete the rig. ESP components were used in this demonstration.

Step 1.

Tie your ESP Stiff Rigger MK2 Carp Hook onto a 6-7 inch length of ESP Stiff Rig Bristle Filament using a knotless knot which can be found in a previous blog. Make sure to leave a long enough length of bristle filament above the hook to make the D-Rig loop. (See picture below)

Step 2.

Now slide an ESP Oval Rig Ring onto the short length of bristle filament above the hook. (See picture below)

 Step 3.

Then form a loop by passing the tag end through the back of the eye of the hook and trim it down to right length, then blob with a lighter but be careful not to burn the hooklength or your fingers. (See picture below)

Step 4.

Now tie the other end of the bristle filament to an ESP Big Eye Swivel using a 3 turn blood knot, make the rig about 3 inches in length. Then steam it gently over a kettle to create the curved hooklink, the Solar Rig Cone is ideal for this job. (See picture below)

Now remove one of the beads from you helicopter leader setup and slide the swivel down to the other bead before threading the top bead back on. Here is what the finished rig you look like.

Adjust the distance between the lead and the beads on the leader to suit the lake bed you are fishing. 

Tight Lines

David

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Customer Ian Smith has been catching again. Fishing Swan Lake on the Bluebell complex Ian used an ESP Striptease Hooklink tied to Korda Wide Gape Hook to tempt this new personal best common carp. Ians’ immaculate common weighed 30lb 6oz and was caught on Dynamite Baits Fresh Prawn Boilies and was his first fish from Swan. Excellent result Ian Well done.

Best fishes,

John

Here is the other report from one of the anglers we sponsored in The British Young Carp Anglers Competition.

BRITISH YOUTH CARP ANGLING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2008.

Young hopeful: Matt Outen, Oakham.

Venue: Richworth Linear Fisheries, Brasenose 1.

Eliminator: QUALIFIER 3, Wednesday 13^th August 2008.

   Hi guys, after reading various articles on the past few years’ competitions in the well-known Crafty Carper magazine, I was hungry for a portion of the action and after entering this year’s competition in June, I was raring to go! I had read that zig rigs especially score well on Brasenose 1 and so was practising like crazy upto the competition on a few local venues, concentrating on the accurate spodding of a sloppy soupy mixture of groundbait, micro pellet and hemp to create a lingering cloud in which to fish my zig rigs over (small pop-up or cut down piece of flouro foam fished in the upper layers of the water on a long mono hooklength straight from the lead). After steady success in practising, I was confident that my plan of attack would catch so long as the weather conditions were correct and the carp were cruising/feeding in the upper layers of the water.

   After speaking to John and Angela at Carp Catchers fishing shop in Market Harborough about my plans of fishing the competition, they kindly agreed to support me on my quest! John especially was a great help and a wealth of knowledge when it came to setting a game plan and tactics.

So, the big day!

0730hrs – After drawing peg 41 on the roadside bank on B1, a qualifying peg earlier in the week and with fish showing at about 60yds range in front of me I was confident that my zig rigs would score well. Setting up 2 rods on zigs and having 2 rods in reserve for bottom baits allowed me to be flexible in my approach if the conditions changed.

0900hrs – At the sound of the horn, the air was filled with spod rockets and the water was bombarded with bait. I spodded my sloppy spod soup over my 2 zigs which were about 10 feet apart at 75yds range, at first with 10 spodfuls, and then kept topping up with a spodful every 3 or 4 minutes to keep a cloud of attraction around my hookbaits.

0930hrs – I suddenly hear a rip-roaring one toner and almost jump out of my skin only to see a fellow competitor nextdoor on my right leaning into the first fish of the day. Unfortunately that fish wiped out both of my zig rigs but I allowed the fish as it would not have made any difference to me qualifying for the final. The lad from next door came over to me and thanked me for allowing the fish and tipped me off that he had caught the fish on plastic corn with a tiny PVA bag of pellet… As you can expect I put the zig rig tangled rods to one side and blasted two rods with a single grain of fake corn and a PVA bag out at about 90yds range to where I had seen a few fish rolling. Before I had even finished sinking my line and setting the bobbins my rod tip was dancing on the rests and I hooked into my first and unluckily only fish of the day.

0100hrs – Off the mark with a gorgeous simmo strain mirror carp of 9lb12oz! At this point I was in 3^rd place as I was one of three people to catch!

After 10 o’clock action all around the lake was very slow until about 3’oclock when the wind changed and the hacking wind blowing over my shoulder pushed the fish to the other side of the lake out of my range… With our section (side of the lake) not catching anymore fish, I was doubtful if I would qualify but persevered none the less trying single flouro pop-ups, and maggot approaches to try and tempt a bit from any carp that may have been passing through my swim.

1800hrs – Unfortunately my efforts were not fruitful and I ended up in 15^th place out of the 16 people that managed to catch, so all in all not a failure and I really enjoyed fishing at a different complex and meeting lots of new young carp anglers.

Last but not least, I would just like to thank john and angela for the support they have given me!

TO ANY YOUNG BUDDING HOPEFULS OUT THERE… get practising for next year, enjoy yourselves but still fish hard and the best piece of advice I can give you is to be prepared for any fishing situation, and gain as much knowledge from more experienced anglers and of the competition venue before you fish your qualifier!

All the best in fishing,

Tight lines,

Matt Outen

That man Josh has been at it again catching this beauty of a Crucian Carp. Josh was fishing Bluebell Lakes in Northamptonshire and used an ESP Helicopter Leadcore Leader set up to catch his fish. 

The Chod rig is a setup that has over the years banked lots of fish, it works so well due to the hooklink being extremely stiff and its ability to be cast long distances without tangling. Another big advantage of The Chod Rig and the reason it got it’s present name is its ability to present a bait cleanly over a choddy bottom ie. weed, silt, leaves etc.

Part 1 will demonstrate how to set the leader and lead up using ESP components.

Step 1.

Splice the ESP Leadcore with a loop in one end and an ESP Clip link on the other. (See picture below)

Step 2.

Now slide on an ESP Helicopter rig sleeve and push it down to the clip link. (See Picture below)

Step 3.

Then thread on two 3-4mm lengths of 0.5mm ESP Silicon tubing. (See picture below)

Step 4.

Followed by two 5mm ESP Rubber Shock Beads  with an ESP Big Eye Swivel in the middle. (See picture below)

Step 5.

Now you need to decide on a lead, most people prefer a distance lead for this setup the lead shown is a grippa lead. Once you’ve choosen the lead, you need to remove the swivel with a pair of wire cutters or pliers. (See picture below)

Step 6.

Now clip the lead onto the clip link. (See picture below)

Step 7.

Then push the helicopter sleeve over the clip and loop at the top of the lead, slide one of the pieces of silicone down to just above the sleeve and push the first rubber shock bead over the top then position the other piece of silicone an inch above and do the same with the last rubber shock bead.

So far it should look like this.

The beads and swivel can be positioned at any point along the leadcore to compensate for depth of weed or silt.

Tight Lines

David�

Getting a good picture and correct weight of a capture is important to a lot of anglers and fish welfare is paramount when doing so to help you to be prepared and get some good shots of your carp here’s a few tips on how.

Firstly pick a nice flat area for your unhooking mat and make sure there is some sort of foliage close behind to give a good background for any pictures. Once you’ve landed your prize secure it in the margins with a bank stick through the spreader block of your net making sure its deep enough to hold the fish safely and get everything ready and laid out close to hand. You want to wet your weigh sling and mat, zero the scales, fill a bucket of water to keep the fish wet and prepare the camera.

Once everything is ready lift your capture from the water ensuring all it’s fins are folded back against the body before doing so and lay it gently onto the unhooking mat, some good choices are the Chub Carp Care Cradle or the Venture Carp SI Protection Mat . It maybe easier to have the sling laying over the mat for easy transfer of fish from net to sling. Once unhooked it would be advised to apply some sort of fish friendly antiseptic to hookholds or any damage on the fish in general, such as the Korda Carp Care Kit which has two seperate solutions for hookholds and external damage. Now transfer the fish from the net to sling and move the rod and net out of harms way, then hoist the fish up on the scales to weigh the fish. Once the fish is weighed move scales out the way and lift the fish carefully for photos, putting two fingers either side of it pectoral fins and two fingers either side of its anal fin, this will make it easier to hold the fish steady and avoid it slipping out of your hands. Although this down to personal preference, some people prefer to hold it differently, stick to what feels comfortable.

If the fish flips while being held up for a photo roll it back onto your forearms and lower it back onto the mat.

When taking photos some people prefer to kneel and others prefer to squat down and rest their elbows on their knees to help hold the fish steady. Try to get who ever is taking the photos to try and get level with the fish and frame your whole head and the fish without cutting off any fins. Having you at positioned in front of some foliage will make a nice back drop for the photo and will help draw focus to the fish and yourself.

Try taking photos from other angles as well itll give you a better representation of the fish’s size and will also show some of the fish’s colour better.

During the process of weighing a photographing your capture make sure to keep the fish wet and avoid keeping it out the water for longer than a few minutes.

Tight Lines

David�