Regular customer Scott had a nice result recently. Fishing an afternoon session at a local lake Scott had two doubles, the biggest of which was a 16lb 6oz common(shown below). Scott caught his fish using a chod rig constructed from ESP Bulk Spool Leadcore in choddy silt and the new ESP Curve Shanx Carp Hook . Well done Scott!
Best fishes,
John
![[del.icio.us]](http://images.del.icio.us/static/img/delicious.small.gif){kind=small}
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
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�
Customer Ben had a nice result recently with this lovely mirror carp weighing 28lb. Unfortunately there is no catch report. Gorgeous fish though.
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
Here’s the promised catch report and more photos’ from Rob O’Briens recent trip to Etang Rendevouz.
