Carp Catchers Blog

One of the problems with using leadcore is the size of the knot used to attach it to the mainline. In a previous blog I showed you how to tie a proper needle knot, which is an extremely small and strong knot. In this blog I am going to show you a very good alternative devised by Keith Moors. Keith used to write for the mags in this country before he bought a carp fishery in France and moved there. Anyway on with the demo.

These are the components used to tie the knot.

I’ve used the ESP Bulk Spool Leadcore  in sandy gravel as I find it really easy to work with. I’ve used the Korda Fine Baiting Needle because it has a really wide body which helps to stretch out the leadcore sheath making easier to thread things through.

Step 1

Pull out about 2 inches of the lead

Step 2

Trim off the lead

Step 3

Singe the end of the leadcore sheath with a lighter to stop the sheath fraying.

Step 4

Loop the end of your mainline

Step 5

Trap the loop in the needle and close the latch of the needle

Step 6

Pull the looped mainline through the leadcore sheath, it should look like this

Step 7

Thread the end of the leadcore down through the loop

Step 8

Pass the leadcore over the bottom part of the loop

Step 9

Thread the leadcore over and under the top part of the loop

Step 10

Thread the leadcore over and under the top part of the loop again

Step 11

Gentley tease down the knot, then pull down tight

Step 12

Pull back the leadcore sheath to expose the tag end

Step 12a

Snip off the tag end

Step 14

Let the sheath go and you have your finished leadcore leader knot. Small, strong and unobtrusive!

Best fishes

John

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

The KD Rig is named after Kenny Dorset the angler who developed it. The KD rigs advantage is that it increases bait separation and kicks the hook out at a more aggressive angle than the standard knotless knot. I have seen it tied using braid, but in my opinion a soft hooklink and a soft hair will negate the supposed above advantages. However many of the braid tied variations that I’ve seen are pop up rigs with a shot on the hair. In this demonstration I have used a soft fluorocarbon, which is still stiff enough to provide the above advantages ie. increased bait separation and an aggressive hooking angle. If you want to use a pop up with the stiffer version shown here you will need to put some tungsten putty on the hooklink itself. This will make this version of the KD rig an even better hooker in my opinion than the braid tied one. If anyone would like me to expand on the bait separation issue which I think is crucial to most rig mechanics please leave a comment. The components I used to tie the KD rig are ESP Soft Ghost  and Gardner Incizor Carp Hooks 

Step 1

Cut a length of the Ghost Fluorocarbon and tie a small overhand knot for the boilie stop

Step 2

Thread on your boilie and put a boilie stop in the loop. The reason for putting the boilie on before you tie the rig is to enable you to set the hair to the correct length.

Step 3

Set the hair so that there is a 10cm gap between the bottom of the bait and the top of the hook

Step 4

Thread the end of your Ghost hooklink through the eye of the hook

Step 4

Whip two turns of your hooklink around the shank making sure to whip away from the join in the eye of the hook

Step 5

Now let the bait drop and whip a further 3 to 5 turns under the hair

Step 6

Thread the tag end of the Ghost as per photo

Step 7

Moisten and bed down the knot here I am using The Korda Pulla Tool

Step 8

Tie a figure of eight loop knot at the other end, moisten and bed down. If you don’t know how to tie this knot see previous blog

The finished KD Rig

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

Tying a pop-up to a D-ring is sometimes necessary when using pop-ups which lose their buoyancy if pierced with a baiting needle. A lot of anglers just don’t have the confidence to tie pop ups because they feel the pop ups may come off on the cast. But if you use the slip knot demonstated below there should be no danger of them coming off . The Bait Floss used in this demonstration was the ESP Bait Floss.

Step 1.

Remove about 4 inches of Bait Floss from the spool and form an overhand loop. (See picture below)

Step 2.

Now form another smaller overhand loop inside that and pass the tag end through both. (See pictures below)

Step 3.

Tighten the smaller loop to form a knot this will now have formed a slip knot with the bigger loop. (See picture below)

Step 4.

Place your chosen pop up inside to loop and slowly tighten it down until it grips the bait, then tighten it fully making sure it tightens down into the pop up. If the pop ups your using are not soft enough for this to happen I find it helps to make a small groove in the pop up for the bait floss to sit in. (See picture below)

Step 5.

Now tie the bait to your rig with 3-4 overhand knots and blob the tag ends with a lighter being careful not to burn the rig or your fingers. (See picture below)

The bait should now be secure enough to stay on your rig for the entire period it’s in the water, give it some practice so you’re confident enough if you have to do it on the bank.

Tight lines

Dave

Some interesting news for those of you experiencing problems with knots for fluorocarbon. One of the big American line manufacturers has done some research on knots and fluorocarbon. They found that one of the most popular and strongest knots the palomar, weakened fluorocarbon by up to 30%. Gardner Tackle who have considerable knowledge on fishing lines, suggest using the blood knot, which is usually considered one of the weakest fishing knots. So you might want to consider doing some knot tests yourselves armed with this information.

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

The Needle Knot is a very small neat knot used to tie a mainline to a leadcore leader. As for knot strength the needle knot rates at approximately 100%. The kneedle knot is the prefered knot when considering carp safety as due to its compactness it allows beads, hooklinks, rings etc. to slide of easily in the event of the mainline breaking. The Items you will need to tie this knot are leadcore in this instance I am using ESP Bulk Spool Leadcore  in the Choddy Silt colour, a largish sewing needle, a lighter, some scissors and your mainline obviously.

Step 1

Pull out an inch or two of the lead from the leadcore.

Step 2

Snip of the lead wire

Step 3

Insert the kneedle into the empty leadcore sheath and seal the fibres with the lighter to prevent fraying

Step 4

Thread your mainline through the kneedle and thread the kneedle through the leadcore and out of the side approx. half an inch in

Step 5

Pull the kneedle and mainline through the leadcore sheath

Step 6

Lay the kneedle alongside the leadcore sheath like so

Step 7

Whip the mainline around the leadcore and kneedle 5-6 times in the direction of mainline

Step 8

Thread the tag end of the mainline through the eye of the kneedle

Step 9

Pull the kneedle and tag end through the loops created by the whipping

Step 10

Moisten the knot then slowly pull the mainline and tag end in opposite directions to bed down the knot

Step 11

Carefully snip of the tag end

The Finished Kneedle Knot

Your knot should look even neater as I have used an extremely thick line for photographic clarity.

If you are finding the blog useful and informative why not put it in your favourites folder or bookmark it. Also any comments would be welcome (keep them clean!).

Best fishes,

John�

The Leader used in this demonstation is the ESP Tapered Shockleaders tied using the Mahin Knot.

Step 1.

Form a small overhand loop with the shockleader. (See picture below)

Step 2.

Now pass your mainline through the loop. (See picture below)

Step 3.

Then whip the mainline 7 times up the leader. (See picture below)

Step 4.

Now whip the mainline 6 time back the other way and pass it back through the overhand loop. (See picture below)

Step 5.

Moisten the line thoroughly and slow tighten it down so it forms a nice neat knot and trim the tag ends. (See picture below)

The shockleader is now ready to use, the knot needs to be atleast 3 turns onto the spool with the knot positioned at the bottom of the spool to avoid it getting snagged on the cast.

Tight Lines

David