Carp Catchers Blog

This Carp Catchers Blog will show you how to prepare hemp. The fresher the hempseed the easier it is to prepare so try to make sure your supplier (if it’s not us) has a regular turnover.

The first step is to soak the hemp in water for 24-48 hrs. Make sure that there is plenty of water over the hemp as some of it will be absorbed by the seeds. Step 2 is to boil the hemp till the seeds split and a little white sprout appears, if you add a little salt to the water it helps to keep the seeds a nice shiny black. After cooking you can add any other flavourings or additives that you like, although it is more than adequate as it is. Once the water has cooled it ready to use or bag up as required. Make sure to keep the hemp in the water it was boiled in as this will contain all that lovely hemp oil. Also if the hemp dries out it will float!! Freezing is the best way to store your cooked hemp if you are not going to use it straight away. Here at Carp Catchers we do dry Mega Hempseed in 5kilo bags.For those that don’t want to prepare their own we also do our frozen ready prepared Mega Hempseed with maggots, casters plus added betaine. We also have Dynamite Baits Frenzied Hempseed  and for PVA bagging TFG PVA Friendly Red Hot Chilli Hemp .

Best fishes,

John

The Shot On The Hair Rig is basically a bottom bait rig with a small shot added to the hair to allow a pop-up hookbait to be used. This completely alters how the rig to reacts to how it would with a bottom bait. The hookbait is allowed to move more naturally due to it’s bouyancy and the length of the hair. The shot on the hair allows you to either critically balance or overweight the pop up hookbait.  The nature of supple braid allows the hookbait to be picked up with minimal resistance and the pattern of the hook means the point hangs low below the hookbait helping it to grab hold. The simplicity of The Shot On The Hair Rig makes it easy to tie and it minimises the bulky components such as shrink tubing used on some rigs.

For the purpose of this demonstration I used the Korda Supernatural Hooklink, a Korda Kurv Shank Hook and a No.4 split shot. The shot size is determined by the size and bouyancy of your choosen pop-up, the bigger and more bouyant the pop-up the larger the shot. I found a No.4 shot to work perfectly with a 14mm Richworth Pineapple Hawaiian Pop Ups  although it varies between different makes and types of pop-ups.

Step 1.

Cut 14″ of Korda Supernatural from the spool and tie a small overhand loop knot in one end.

Step 2.

Thread on your choosen pop-up and secure in place with a bait stop.

Step 3.

For this version of the rig pinch the shot onto the hooklink below the pop-up. This will give you a slow sinking hookbait which is almost critically balanced. We will show you an alternative version of this rig, which has  the shot positioned differently, soon.

Step 4.

Thread the Korda Kurv Shank Hook onto the hooklink passing the braid though the back of the eye to the front and position the bait about 6mm from the top of the hook.

Step 5.

Now whip the hooklink up the shank of the hook 6-7 times and then pass the hooklink through the back of the eye to the front to finish the knot.

Step 6.

Double over the other end of the hooklink.

Step 7.

Then form a loop with the doubled over section of the hooklink.

Step 8.

Now pass the end of the doubled over section around the bottom and through the back of the loop created in step 7.

This creates the figure of eight, if you get this eight shape then you have done it right.

If you struggle with tying the knot then try this method. Alternative Figure of Eight Loop Knot.

Step 9.

Now gently tighten down the knot and trim the tag end.

The rig is now complete and ready to be attached to your lead setup.

The rig is best fished of with a small Dynamite Stick or PVA Mesh Bag thread down the hooklink over the hook to avoid tangles.

Tight Lines

Dave

We now have the new Dynamite Baits Robin Red and Banana Nut Crunch Ranges in stock. The Dynamite Baits Robin Red Hookbait Dip,  Liquid and Fluro Pop Ups are all made with the original Haiths’ Robin Red. Haiths’ Robin Red is arguably one of the finest and most popular carp catching additives ever and Dynamite Baits have now made it available in this user friendly range. For more information or to purchase please click on the above link.

The new Dynamite Baits Banana Nut Crunch Boilies ,  Hookbait Dip and Pop Ups were developed by Terry Hearn and feature a crunchy banana and chopped nut base with a creamy banana flavoured attractant. The base maximises the leakage of the natural sugars and attractants, making the Banana Nut Crunch range a perfect alternative to fishmeals. For more information or to purchase please click on the above links.

                          Dynamite Baits Robin Red Range

                         Dynamite Baits Banana Nut Crunch Range

Best Fishes,

John

The Atomic Tackle Maggot Rig uses the inline lead setup fished helicopter style allowing a large PVA stocking of maggots to be tied to the swivel at the base of the lead. This enables the hook to be secured to the PVA stocking so once cast out the PVA bag will melt leaving your maggot hookbait lying in amongst the other maggots.

For the purpose of the demonstration I used a Gardner Readymade Mag Aligner Rig.

Step 1.

Pull out the large ring swivel from the base of the lead.

Step 2.

Now thread your mainline through the lead. ( If using leadcore or a leader, you will need to splice or loop the swivel on)

Step 3.

Tie your mainline to the swivel, I would suggest a palomar knot. To tie a palomar knot double over your mainline and pass it through the eye of your swivel.

Then tie an overhand knot with the doubled over mainline.

Now pass the swivel through the loop made by the overhand knot.

Then moisten the knot, slowly tighten it down and trim the tag end.

Step 4.

Once the knot is tied pull the swivel into the insert in the base of the lead.

Step 5.

Now you need to either tie your rig to the swivel above the lead. If the rig has a loop in the end pass the loop through the swivel before passing the hookend of the rig through the loop and tightening as I’ve done in this demonstration.

The finished rig should look like this.

The large ring at the base of the lead is for the PVA mesh bag to be tied to, then all you need to do is push the hook through the PVA mesh to secure it for casting.

Give it a go.

Dave

The Guru Pellet Cones  are an innovative alternative to PVA bags that enables an angler to present a small pile of feed around the hookbait. The tangle free presentation that the pellets cones provide is ideal for use with small soft pellets or groundbait.

The pellets I used in this demonstration were Dynamite Baits Marine Halibut Pellets.

If your using groundbait or softened pellets start from step 4. If your using harder pellets and are scolding them follow steps 1-3 first.

Step 1.

Pour the pellets into the bottom of a bait container.

Step 2.

Now pour boiling water over the pellets until they are all just covered over with the water and leave for 20-30 mins.

Step 3.

After 20-30 mins the pellets should still resemble their original shape but they should be soft to touch and lighter in colour.

Step 4.

Now take the pellet cone and hold it from the thin end.

Step 5.

Gently scoop some pellets into the cone, compressing them in as you go.

Step 6.

Once the cone is full compress it firmly with finger and thumb.

Step 7.

Now pass the fine baiting needle through the pellet cone, going in from the wider end and out the thinner end. Your now ready to pull your baited rig through the pellets, once you’ve pulled your rig through remove the cone and its ready to cast out.

The compressed pellets will look like so when attached to your rig.

Once cast out the pellets will hold together until they reach the bottom.

Within 30 seconds they will have broken down leaving a small neat pile of bait around your hookbait…..

Give them a go.

Tight Lines

Dave

Here’s a nice 35lb 2oz mirror carp I had recently. It led me a right dance as it got into a massive weed bed and even though the lead had dropped on the take I had to go out in the boat to free it. It was well hooked though and it was never going to come off. I used half a kilo of scattered 18mm Mainline Activ-8  boilies as bait and the hookbait was a snowman with a 10mm Mainline Hi Visual  Milky Toffee pop up. The rig was tied D rig style with a size 6 Gardner Longshank Incizor  hook  and a 30lb GLT No Can See Fluorocarbon Hooklink .

Best Fishes,

John

Its getting to that time of year again when maggots are becoming more widely used due to them being such an effective winter bait. Have a go at tying this rig and see how you get on.

The components used in this demonstration were the Korda IQ2 Xtra Soft Fluorocarbon , Korda Wide Gape  hook size 8 and  Korda Micro Rig Swivel.

Step 1.

After cutting your required length of fluorocarbon tie on a Korda Wide Gape using a knotless knot making sure to whip round the shank twice on the way back down to the eye. 

Step 2.

Now thread a micro rig swivel onto the tag end above the hook.

Step 3.

Then pass the tag end through the back of the eye to the front and trim the tag end down to about 3-4mm. This will have created a D shape on the back of the shank for the swivel to move on.

Step 4.

Holding the hooklength out of the way slowly blob the tag end with a lighter to secure it in place. Make sure not to burn the hooklink as this will damage the fluorocarbon and increase the chance of it breaking. Also take care not to burn yourself.

Step 5.

To finish the rig tie a figure of eight knot in the other end setting the desired length of rig you require and trim the tag end.

The finished rig should look like this.

This rig works best with a large bunch of maggots and a couple of imitation pop-up maggots to help counter the weight of the hook. This rig isn’t strictly a maggot rig and can be used with other baits as well. 

The knots used in this demonstration can be found in previous blogs by using the search bar on the top right hand side of the page.

Give it a go.

Tight Lines

Dave

Another single hookbait which could be utilised well in the winter is artificial baits, preferably the flavoured or high-viz variety as they need some attraction to them. The Enterprise Artificial Boilies 10mm , the Niteglow Eternal Boilies and the Solar Everlasting Hookbaits are all top artificial baits that will work well as single hookbaits. Don’t discount artificial sweetcorn as a single winter bait either the ever popular Enterprise range or the new Cotswold Bait Creations Soft Floating Corn. Imitation baits are resistant to nuisance fish, won’t lose bouyancy, go soft or lose attraction.

Give them a go.

Dave

In the previous Carp Catchers Blog we talked about dips and glugs but we didn’t make clear what the difference between them is. This Blog will correct that.

Boilie Dips

Boilie dips are normally quite viscose and clear. They have a powerful flavour dissolved in a neutral carrier. Your hookbaits can be left to soak in them indefinitely and this will have an added effect/benefit of hardening them. Boilie Dips can be used with bottom baits, but they are ideally suited to pop ups. A couple of good examples are the  Richworth Impact Boilie Dips and Mainline Hookbait Enhancement System.

Glugs

Glugs are normally quite thick and based on a liquid food source. Very often they will have the same liquid attractors and nutrients as the boilies they represent. Hookbaits can be left in them indefinitely and though both bottom and pop ups can be glugged longer soaking is more suited to bottom baits. The reason for this that glugs or food dips as they are sometimes known are quite heavy and soak right into the hookbaits and this can affect the buoyancy of pop ups. Glugging into a food dip before casting is the more usual way to get an extra boost is the more usual way to use glugs with pop ups. A couple of good examples would be Nash Baits Top Rod Food Dips and Fresh Fish Mussel And Oyster Liquid .

Best Fishes,

John

Glugging or dipping single hookbaits can improve their pulling power and increase the chances of a run when no free offerings are available. Most pop-ups have a matching dip/liquid to go with them which can be used to soak hookbaits in for increased attraction. Although that doesn’t mean to say that hookbaits have to be soaked in matching dips, you could always try something different and mix hookbaits with different liquids. Try dipping or glugging your singles and see how your results improve. Two of the more popular dips are the Richworth Impact Boilie Dips  and the Mainline Hookbait Enhancement System

Glugging or dipping baits can be messy business, there are items out there such as the Sixth Sense Stainless Steel Dipping Tool which makes the job far less messy.

Tight lines

Dave