Carp Catchers Blog

We now have a Wychwood account and have had the first batch of products in, they all look good quality and value for money. So what have we got? well first up we have the  Wychwood Flexi Rib Shelter  which has a registered design on its unique erection method. So what is it? The Flexi Rib Shelter is a lightweight pramhood style bivvy. It is easy to erect due to its two break pole system and its’ revolutionary erection system. The erection system is simple but brilliant, the poles are fixed at one end and then you flex the poles and pop them into the receiving rings at the opposite end. The Flexi Rib has some nice attention to detail as well, the chromed steel joints when the shelter is erected are hidden behind the pole retention sleeves, so no shiny metal to give you away.

We also have the Wychwood Equinox 12K Big Pit Reel and Wychwood Riot 65 Big Pit Reel in as well. The Equinox 12K Big Pit Reel looks good and has a massive 13 ball bearings making it incredibly smooth and fantastic value. Check the rest of the specs for yourself I’m sure you’ll be impressed. The Riot 65 Big Pit Reel hasn’t got quite as many bearings as the Equinox but 5+1roller bearing is still impressive for a reel at this price point. The Riot has huge cranking power and is a pretty good looker also, have a look.

In The bite alarm department the Wychwood Extremis VTS Bite Alarm and Extremis V Bite Alarm are now in stock.

I’ve got masses more coming in from Wychwood and will keep you updated.

Best fishes,

John

Leader knots are used for tying leaders of any sort from your mainline, leaders can be used for shockleaders when casting long distances or spodding as at a higher breaking strain they will take the force of the cast without the risk of cracking off. Leaders are also used for certain fishing situation where they maybe required for their abrasion resistance.

The Leader material used in this part of the demostration is the 5olb Korda Arma Kord, which is a braided leader material.

Step 1.

Hold your mainline and the arma-kord running parallel with each other but with the ends in opposite hands. (See picture below)

Step 2.

Now with the braided Arma-kord form a loop alongside your mainline to begin the grinner knot. (See picture below)

Step 3.

Pass the end of the Arma-Kord round the mainline and through the loop 4 times. (See picture below)

Step 4.

Moisten the knot slightly a tighten it down slowly making sure its nice and neat. (See picture below)

Step 5.

Now repeat the process with your mainline, forming the loop then passing it round the Arma-Kord and through the loop 4 times, before moistening the knot a gently teasing it tight again making sure its neat. (See pictures below)

Step 6.

Gently tease the two knots until they are sitting tight together and trim the tag ends. (See picture below)

Your now ready to use the leader, you want the leader atleast 3 turns onto your spool with the knot at the bottom lip of the spool so it doesn’t snag when you cast.

Part 2 will show you how to tie another leader knot but this time with a nylon leader.

Tight Lines

David

Here’s my latest catch which weighed 19lb 11oz. Though it looks really nice you can see it’s well spawned out, but I was happy none the less. I caught the mirror using my normal rig and it came from the area that I have been baiting regularly with good quality freezer boilies. The boilies I used on this particular occasion were Mainline Activ-8 in a mixture of sizes.

Best fishes,

John

In the second part of Which Hooklink we are going to look at Rig Maroles Hydro-Link  . It is in a category by itself because it is for the moment totally unique it has a fluorocarbon inner and a soft braid outer sheath. The fluorocarbon inner makes it extremely stiff (stiffer than coated braids) and heavy. The soft braid outer can provide a supple section to your rig. The heaviness provided by the fluorocarbon inner could give it the edge over coated braids most of which have a neutral bouyancy making them rise above the lakebed unless they are weighted. A photo sequence on how to use Rigmaroles Hydrolink is shown below and I am sure you will see it’s possible benefits in your rig designs. Hydrolink comes in four colours, Camo(shown in the photo sequence), weed, silt and gravel.

Step 1

Cut a length of Hydrolink to suit (camo hydrolink shown)

Step 2

Push the fluorocarbon inner out of the outer sheath to start and then pull out the required length

Step 3

Cut of the fluorocarbon inner section

Step 4

Pull on the braid section. You now have an ultra stiff section with a supple braid section to tie your rig.

I hope this gives you a clear idea on how to use Rig Maroles Hydrolink and that has sent your rig tying brain into overdrive.

Best fishes,

John

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Customer Rob O’Brien has been hauling at Etang De Rendevouz again here are a couple catch photos’ to wet your appetite. Beautys’ aren’t they? They both weighed 25lb+ full catch report soon.

Best fishes,

John

Exciting news now for the lure anglers among you, we now have a selection of the world famous Rapala Lures. Yes they are quite pricey but they are considered to be the finest lures available. They are made from the very best materials including VMC Treble Hokks and their actions are as realistic as you can get. Also each and every Rapala Lure is individually tank tested and hand tuned before it is boxed. The Pike season is now underway so give the Rapala Jointed Floating Lure Perch or the Rapala Shad Rap Deep Run Lure Fire Tiger a go. We will have more coming later in the month

  Rapala Jointed Floating Lure Perch              Rapala Shad Rap Deep Run Lure Fire Tiger

Happy hunting

John

The Domhoff/Dumhoff Knot is a whipping knot traditionally used to attach line to spade end hooks. However more recently it has become very popular in tying The Chod Rig and The Hinged Stiff Rig. These two rigs are normally tied using hooks with an out turned eye some good examples are, the ESP Stiff Rigger MK2  , The Korda Choddy Hook and the Gardner D-Ceptor Carp Hook.

Step 1

Form a loop in your hooklink material

Step 2

Lay the loop against your hook and grip firmly

Step 3

Wind the hooklink once round the hook away from the join in the hooks eye

Step 4

Grip the turn with your opposite hand and continue winding the line round the shank of the hook towards the point. Do as many turns as is necessary, at least five.

Step 5

Pass the end of the hooklink that you have been winding round the hookshank through the loop created in step 2.

Step 6

Lubricate the turns with saliva and pull the two ends of the hooklink.

Step 7

Trim the tag end.

Step 8

Finally bed the knot down to the eye and you’re done.

That’s it, hopefully you will now be able to add the Domhoff/Dumhoff Knot to your carp fishing armoury.

Best fishes,

John

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I get quite a lot of catch photos’ as most of you that read the blog regularly will know. Now all of them are welcome, but here are few tips on getting really good shots of your new personal best or special catch. I know it’s hard, but when you catch a special fish don’t run round like a headless chicken. Retain your catch in a safe manner and compose yourself. Next get your camera ready, if a friend, relative or passerby is going to take the photo show them how to use the camera if they don’t already know and explain what it is you want from the shot. Now, and this is one of the most important tips, select the background for your catch photo. Make sure there are no bivvys, nets, chairs, rubbish etc in the background, a nice bush, hedge, flowers or similar that will fill the majority of the shot are ideal. Avoid tree trunks, rushes or long grass as these can look like they’re are growing out of your head. Check the position of the sun, the camera operator should have it behind them shineing towards you. Make sure that the camera operator is crouched down at the same height as you and is not casting a shadow on you or the fish. The camera operator needs to position themselves fairly close to you and adjust the zoom to ensure that all the fish, your head and torso are in the shot, ASK THEM! On dull days use the flash function, this helps to “fill in” the shot and create a sharp image. At night obviously use the flash but also use your cameras red eye function. If you are taking photos’ of large fish such as carp or catfish, have plenty of water to hand and douse the fish regularly to protect it’s mucus layer and also give you a nice shiney fish to photograph. These simple steps don’t take long and they should help you get decent trophy shots. I may do a more in depth look at photography and trophy shot techniques in the future. Hope this has been of some help.

Best fishes,

John

We have a few new arrivals to look at this time. The New  Waverunner Atom Bait Boat looks set stun, it is compact and robust with lots of unique features. One of Atom Bait Boats unique features is a magnetic hook release which alllows you to drop your hookbait independantly from your bait. This feature amongst other crafty little ruses enables you to place you hookbait off your main baited area to hopefully trick one of those bigger carp. Check out the main site for a full list of specifications.

On the bite alarm front the Prologic Senzora VTSW Remote Bite Alarm Set not only looks good with bags of features but apppears to be really good value, have a look for yourself. The new polyphonic alarms should also be in soon and I look forward to having a play with those.

If you’re looking for a rig tube to really pin your end tackle to the lakebed The New Rig Marole Free Fall Rig Tube  may be what you’re after. It has a coiled stainless Steel wire inner covered with a supple plastic coating making it both very heavy and extremley abrasion resistant. A friend of mine (a very capable angler) has been using it extensivley recently with very good results.

For the pike anglers among you Dynamite Baits have launched a new range of pike deadbaits, we had some of their frozen perch deadbaits delivered. I’ve never seen perch deadbaits before, so these babies might give you an edge in your fishing. They might also give the perch anglers out their some food for thought.

Best fishes,

John

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Which hooklink? good question, I’m going to run a little mini series featuring the most commonly used hooklink materials. I’ll also discuss the accepted wisdom as to their best use.

Coated Braids

Coated Braids as the name suggests are supple braid hooklinks covered with a thicker, stiffer material usually a plastic of some description. Some good examples are:-

    Sufix Camfusion             Atomic Jelly Wire             Super Mantis

These coated braids have a plastic coating. The coating can be stripped back to reveal the supple inner braid so that you have a stiff section running from the swivel towards the hook and a supple section near the hook. This is essentialy a combi link rig but easier to tie, which is the main reason coated braids were developed. Coated Braid Combi Rigs can be used with bottom baits or if you put some tungsten putty where the coated section ends, pop ups. Coated braids can also be used without stripping back any coating to produce a stiff rig with increased abraision resistance.

Cut your desired length of coated braid, decide how much coating you want strip and grip tightly with your thumbnail (if you have any).

Dig into the coating with your thumbnail and pull away till the coating is removed.

If you don’t have any nails get yourself a  Korda Strippa Tool  they strip away the coating quickly without damaging the braid, they’re brilliant.

korda Hybrid Stiff/Soft

Korda Hybrid Stiff  and  Korda Hybrid Soft  differ to the above because they have a fluorocarbon coating which is both stiffer and heavier than the plastic coatings. Because of their inherent stiffness the Korda Hybrids need to be steamed over a kettle to straighten them and to bed down knots though this is extra work it is worth it.

There are lots of different combinations that can be tied with these hooklink materials, imagination being the only limit.

Best fishes,

John

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