Carp Catchers Blog

The Claw rig is a very effective bottom bait rig. With no shrink tube or rigs rings its also very simple to tie.

For the purpose of this demonstration I used the Korda Hybrid Stiff Coated Braid, a Korda Kurv Shank  Hook and a 3mm length of the Korda Silicone Tubing.

Step 1.

Remove roughly 4 inches of coating from the Korda Hybrid stiff hooklink and tie a small overhand loop in the stripped end.

Step 2.

Now thread a 3mm section of Silicone tubing onto the hooklink.

Step 3.

Then pass the hook point through the silicone tubing towards the loop tied in step 1. Make sure not the snag the hookpoint in the braid on the way through as this could damage the hooklink.

Step 4.

Thread the hooklink through the back of the eye and then thread your choosen hookbait onto the hair and secure it with a bait stop. Set the hair with about a 1cm gap between the hookbait and hook.

Step 5.

Now whip the hooklink up the shank of the hook 6 times before passing it through the back of the eye to create a knotless knot. 

Step 6.

Next thread two of the small Korda Sinkers onto the hooklink. It is easier the strip a small amount of coating off the end of hooklink as the coating makes it too thick to get the sinkers on.

Step 7.

Tie a figure of eight knot in the end of the hooklink.

Double over the end of the hooklink and create a loop like so….

Then pass the end of the doubled over loop through the loop just created….

And again….

Moisten the knot and pull it tight.

Step 8.

Position the Korda Sinkers evenly apart along the hooklink and gently steam it straight over a kettle.

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

Due to the stiffness and nature of this rig it is best fished over firm/hard lakes beds.

Tight Lines

Dave

Ian Smith has been amongst them again with this nice mirror carp of 27lb 8oz. Fishing on the Bluebell Lakes complex Ian used a nice bed of  Mainline Baits Response Pellets in the Activ-8 flavour and  Nash Scopex Squid Liver Plus Robin Red  boilies to catch his broken linear mirror. Ian’s rig consisted of a 4oz Korda lead fished drop off style and a Korda Hybrid Stiff hooklink  tied to a Atomic Longshank Haula hook. Nice fish Ian well done.

Best fishes,

John

Here’s a report on customer Rob O’ Briens personal best. It was caught a while ago but Robs’ only just sent me the photos’ and report. Robs’ huge mirror carp was caught at Vallee lake in Normandy, France. Fishing to a drop off tight to an island Rob used a snowman rig tied with Korda Hybrid Stiff  to a Korda Wide Gape Hook   to trick the 50lb 2oz beauty. Rob fished over a bed of partiblend and pellet with around twenty  Cranberry & Caviar Freezer Boilies with matching hookbaits. The fish didn’t put up much of a fight according to Rob, but he was over the moon to see a carp that barely fitted in the net. Nice one!

Best fishes,

John

Here’s the promised catch report and more photos’ from Rob O’Briens recent trip to Etang Rendevouz.

                                                                                                                               

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

�