Carp Catchers Blog

This rig is ideal for use in solid PVA bags when fishing them into weed but it will work in most fishing situations you may come across. Because The Reverse Combi Link Rig is tied with a supple braided hooklink it is prone to tangles if it isn’t used correctly. The components used in this demonstration were ESP T6 Raptor Carp Hooks, ESP Sink Link and ESP Ghost Fluorocarbon Hooklink. (See picture below)

Step 1.

Cut a 6 inch length of Ghost fluorocarbon and start by tying a small hair loop in one end. (See picture below)

Step 2.

Now tie your hook on with a knotless knot, setting your hair to the desired length. (See picture below)

Step 3.

Then double over the other end of the Ghost leaving a length of about an inch back to the eye of the hook. (See picture below)

Step 4.

Cut an 8 inch length of ESP Sink Link braid and pass one end through the doubled over the Ghost fluorocarbon and then whip it round the fluorocarbon towards the eye of the hook 7-8 times. (See picture below)

Step 5.

Whip the Sinklink 6-7 times back away from the hook before passing it back through the Ghost the same way that it came in. (See picture below)

Step 6.

Moisten the knot and slowly tighten it making sure it pulls together neatly to ensure the knot doesn’t slip, a little rig glue may be added to secure it further and trim the tag ends blobbing them with a lighter for an extra neat presentation. (See picture below) 

Step 7.

Finish the rig with a figure of eight knot for quick and easy rig changes. The finished rig, should look like this. (See picture below)

The Reverse Combi Link Rig can be used for both bottom baits and pop-ups. Add tungsten putty to the knot joining the two materials, to pin the bait down when using pop ups.

Tight lines

Dave

Customer Ian Smith sent in this photo of a nice common carp caught back at the end of last October. Ian used Nash Scopex Squid Plus Freezer Boilies  to tempt his nice clean 15lb specimen. His snowman rig was tied with  ESP Striptease Hooklink . Well done Ian

Best fishes,

John

The Albright Knot is the perfect knot for joining mono to braid, which makes it the ideal knot for combi link rigs or leaders. Below is a step by step photographic sequence showing how to tie The Albright Knot.

Step 1

Form a loop in your mono or fluorocarbon.

Step 2

Thread your braid through the nylon loop

Step 3

Whip the braid around the nylon going away from the loop about 5-6 turns. if you

are a belt and braces person you can whip another 5-6 turns going back towards

loop but I have never found it necessary. The version shown makes for a neater

more unobtrusive knot.

Step 4

Thread tag end of the braid back through the nylon loop the same way it came in

Step 5

Gently tease the knot together

Step 6

Bed the knot down tightly, it is probably best not to moisten this knot before tightening

Step 7

Trim tag ends

Step 8

The finished Albright Knot.

Best fishes,

John

Spinning Traces

The components used in this demonstration were E-SOX Titanium Pike Wire, Berkley Cross-lok Snap Swivels,  Drennan Micro Crimps and ESP Hi Performance Swivels. (See picture below)

As with the deadbait traces, a good pair of wire cutters and crimping pliers are needed.

Step 1.

Cut a 12 inch length of pike wire and thread a crimp onto the wire. (See picture below)

Step 2.

Now thread a snap swivel onto the wire and thread the pike wire back through the crimp. (See picture below)

Step 3.

Then using the crimping pliers, flatten the crimp in three central positions. (See picture below)

Step 4.

Repeat the past three steps with a normal swivel on the other end of the pike wire. (See picture below)

The finished trace should look like this. (See picture below)

The normal swivel can be tied to your mainline with the snap link at the other end being used to quick hassle free lure changes.

Tight Lines

David

Customer Gary Smith braved the elements over the Christmas holidays to bag this immaculate 20lb common carp. Gary used a kilo of  Nash Scopex Squid Plus  Boilies as free bait to tempt his common. His rig was tied with 25lb Sufix Camfusion  hooklink to a snowman hookbait. Garys’ catch shows that the carp will still feed on a bit of bait even in the coldest of weather.

Well done Gary.

Best fishes,

John

Deadbait Traces

Being able to make your own pike traces can allow you to be a lot more versatile in your fishing as you can alter your trace length and the distance between the hooks to suit your fishing. Making your own pike traces will also save you more money in the long run and can be a lot more satisfying when you land fish on them. To make your own traces you will need a good pair of wire cutters and crimping pliers. (See picture below)

The rig components used in this demonstration were Drennan 7 strand pike wire, Drennan semi barbed trebles, Drennan slim crimps and ESP Hi Performance Carp Swivels. (See picture below) 

Step 1.

Cut a 13-14 inch length of pike wire off the spool and thread a crimp on to one end. (See picture below)

Step 2.

Now thread a treble hook on and double the pike wire over. (See picture below)

Step 3.

Now thread the other end of the pike wire through the crimp. (See picture below)

Step 4.

Then using the crimping pliers flatten the crimp in three central places making sure that no wire protrudes beyond the crimp as your mainline could catch on this during the cast. (See picture below)

Once crimped the hook should look like this. (See picture below)

Step 5.

Now cut a small 1-2 inch length of pike wire from the spool and bend it in the middle passing it through the eye of another treble hook. (See picture below)

Step 6.

Then thread another crimp down the pike wire to your desired distance away from the bottom treble and thread the two tag ends of wire holding the second treble through the crimp and crimp in three central positions again. Making sure that no wire protrudes like before so it doesn’t catch your mainline. The method of using another piece of wire to attach the second hook avoids kinking the main pike wire. (See picture below)

Step 7.

Now thread another crimp down the wire followed by a swivel, then thread the last tag end of wire back through the crimp and flatten in three central places to finish the trace. Again making sure that no wire protrudes beyond the crimp as your mainline will catch on it. (See picture below)

The finished trace will look like this. (See picture below)

You can make your traces to your own desired length to suit bait choice and fishing situation.

Tight lines

Dave

Now that winters here many of you will be using maggots as bait. In this blog I’m going to show you how to tie a rig with the new improved Korda Maggot Clip . There is more than one rig that can be tied with the maggot clip and I will feature those in future blogs.

These are the components that I used to demonstrate this rig

Step 1

Cut a length of your desired hooklink material, in this case I am using Korda Hybrid Soft

Step 2

Strip off 4-5 inches of the coating

Step 3

Tie a small overhand loop in the stripped section

Step 4

Cut a length, 10mm approximately of the ESP Sink Rig Tube and thread it up towards the loop. The rig tube prevents the live maggots from wriggling around and masking your hookpoint, a little dodge thought up by Nigel Sharp I think.

Step 5

Thread the Korda Maggot Clip through the loop and push the rig tubing tight to the clip

Step 6

Thread the opposite end of the hooklink through the eye of the Atomic Claw  hook and whip the stripped section of the hybrid soft up to the rig tubing

Step 7

Thread the tag end of the hooklink through the eye of the hook again and pull to bed down the knot

Step 8

Tie the swivel at the other end of hooklink with a figure of eight loop knot

Step 9

Moisten both knots and pull tight to bed them down. I’m using the excellent Korda Pulla Tool in this shot.

Step 10

Thread on the required number of maggots. I was extremely suprised how easily the maggots went on, so Korda really have improved the sharpness of the clip.

The business end of the finished rig

The finished rig

Best fishes,

John

There have been a few instances in the media recently where The Multi Rig has been referred to as The Johnny Mac Rig . This is because Jon Macallister has used the rig to good effect, catching some of our most desirable carp. Though he uses it almost exclusively for his fishing, Jon makes no claim to the “invention” of the rig. That honour goes to Mike Kavanagh who also brought us The Stiff Rig . The beauty of the multi rig is that you can change your hook quickly without having to tie a new hooklink. The following step by step guide shows you how tie the Multi Rig.

These are the components that I used to tie the rig.

Step 1

To tie the Multi Rig it is best to use a coated braid in this instance I am using Sufix Camfusion

Step 2

Cut a length of the Camfusion and tie a figure of eight loop knot (see previous blog). The loop should be approximately 45mm long.

Step 2

Thread the loop through the Gardner Longshank Incizor hook

Step 3

Thread one of the small Korda  rig rings onto the hookshank. The rig ring on the shank of the hook is to prevent the hooklink catching and possibly parting in the join in the eye of the hook.

Step 4

Thread one of the Rigmarole 4mm Rig Rings  onto the loop

Step 5

Thread the hookpoint through the loop

Step 6

Tie a size 8 swivel to the other end of the hooklink with a figure of eight loop knot, moisten and bed down

Step 7

Position the D on the hookshank. A good starting place is midway between the hookpoint and the barb

Step 8

The finished rig

Step 9

Thread on a pop up of your choice, put some tungsten putty on the knot and you’re done.

There you have it The Multi Rig.

Best fishes,

John

The Figure Of Eight or Double Overhand Loop Knot is an extremely strong loop knot with many applications. Below is a step by step photographic sequence showing you how to tie it.

Step1

Choose your hooklink material and cut the desired length. I have chosen Sufix Camfusion 15lb for this demonstration.

Step 2

Double the hooklink over and form loop to the approximate size that you require for your rig.

Step 3

Form another loop in the doubled over hooklink material

Step 4

Thread the end of the first loop through the second loop

Step 5

Thread the end of the first loop through the second loop again

Step 6

Gentley tease the knot down, this is the figure of eight

Step 7

Moisten the knot with saliva and bed down then trim off the tag end. The finished Figure Of Eight Or Double Overhand Loop Knot.

Hope this is of use, any comments would be welcomed and appreciated.

Best fishes,

John

In this third part of which hooklink we will be looking at braided hooklinks. Braided hooklinks are almost self explanatory in that a soft material is braided to give it a smooth finish and extra strength. The most popular material for braids is Dyneema which is the registered name for a super strong polyethylene fiber. Because Dyneema floats it is often braided with another material usually Dacron to counteract its bouyancy. Kevlar another registered name is increasingly becoming more popular as a fiber for braiding due to its incredible resilience. Kevlar is the stuff they use to make bulletproof vests so that tells you how tough it is. It also is braided with other materials such as Dyneema to give it different properties. Some good examples of braided hooklinks are shown below.

Korda Supernatural      Sufix Silky Soft          Super Nova               Sufix Nu-Flex

Braids

Braids were originally used because early carp anglers believed that carp could feel hooklink materials with their lips. Because braids are soft, thin and supple they reasoned that the carp would be less likely to detect them. Nowadays though they are used as a supple hooklink which allows the hookbait to act naturally. Braids are also very useful when using solid PVA bags as the hooklink can be folded into even the smallest bag.

Though braids are usually used to construct supple rigs they are quite commonly used to tie combi-link rigs, this is because supple rigs are easier for the carp to eject. Combi-link rigs are tied with the braid at the hook end knotted to a stiffer boom section which is attached to the swivel. This gives a rig which has a supple hook end, therefore hopefully catching somewhere in the carps mouth with the stiffer boom section making ejection more difficult. Another variation of the combi-link rig is to have a stiff hooklink material at the hookend attached to a braid section running to the swivel.

Carp Care

Finally just a word of caution some fisheries are banning the use of thin braids as they believe they have a cheese wire effect and cut into the scissor area of the carps mouth. If you find that this is happening in your own experience please, please stop using them.

Best fishes,

John