Carp Catchers Blog

Customer Dodge Green had a nice result from Gigantica recently. As most of you know Gigantica is quite a hard water and the week that Dodge was there only 4 carp were landed with 5 lost. The nice 39lb 8oz mirror below fell to Dodges rods after only 6 hours fishing, with another lost on the last night. The winning tackle included 12lb Pro Clear  tied to a 4ft 24lb Grand Max leader and a 3oz Atomic Inline Lead. The rig was tied blowback style with Korda Supernatural  in gravel brown tied to size 6 Nash Fang Twister  hook with two Korda Sinkers  on the hooklink. Bait was from Deception Baits. Well done Dodge!!

Best Fishes,

John

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

Here’s a little Carp Catchers tip to help pin that mainline down on the lakebed. The Korda Sinkers  were developed to keep rigs pinned down, but try spacing out 3 or 4 of the large size along your maniline at the rig end to really sink your mainline. I’ve got them on my set up and they really work well sinking your mainline straight away, even quite heavy braided mainlines. For more information or to purchase please follow the above link.

Best Fishes,

John

Carp are very wary creatures when put under angling pressure and they soon wise up and learn the tricks to avoid capture. One of which involves identifying anglers lines and avoiding the areas which they have identified as dangerous. There are a variety of methods anglers have at their disposal to try and eliminate these issues. These include back leads both flying and clip-on, tungsten putty to pin leaders and hooklinks down and now Korda have released their Sinkers. The Sinkers contain tungsten and are designed to pin down hooklinks.

Backleads have been around for years and have been used to good effect by many anglers in deceiving wary carp. The principle of a backlead is that they are attached to your line to pin it down to the bottom.

Clip-on back leads have been used for years and were first used with stones and paper clips. Nowadays there are many available on the market such as  Korda Intelligent Backleads (See picture below). The idea behind clip-on back leads is that once you’ve cast out you slacken off your line and clip on a small weight. Once clipped on you slide the backlead down your line into the margin. This pins it down out of the way of any passing fish, thus concealing the line from their ever wary nature. These also work well in preventing tangles when playing fish under the rod tip as they hold your other lines out of the way. The disadvantage of backleads is they can create unnatural line angles. These unatural line angles reduce indication of bites and can at times cause your line to sit awkwardly, especially in the presence of weed.

Flying back leads such as  Korda Safe Zone Flying Back Leads (See Picture Below) are attached to your line prior to casting out. They are shaped so that they fly back up your line towards the rod on the cast using air resistance. Flying back leads sit closer to your terminal tackle and pin your leader down more effectively than clip-ons. Unfortunately lying back leads also have a few disadvantages as they are affected by side winds, casting technique and also cause awkward line angles if used incorrectly.

Tungsten putty is reasonably new to the carp world but has been used to good effect since its appearance. It can be moulded on hooklinks and leaders to pin them to the lake bed. You can also rub tungsten putty up and down braided mainline or hooklinks further enhancing your presentation. Tungsten putty is incredibly heavy for the quantity you need and it works really well at pinning everything down to the bottom out of the way of wary carp. There are many brands on the market with a range of colours available including  Gardner Critical Mass Putty . (See Picture Below)

The newest product available to modern day carp anglers are the  Korda Sinkers which are tungsten hooklink weights. Korda Sinkers are easily threaded onto your hooklinks to keep them pinned to the lake bed. Sinkers are easy to attach, grip the line incredibly well and are fish friendly. (See Picture Below)

All these products will work to your advantage in the right situations. Give careful consideration to when and where to use them, as if used incorrectly they could hinder your chances of catching. Think about the make up of the lake bed, depth variations, weed growth and decide whether they will work to your advantage. Take these factors into account and you might find, one or a combination of a few of these products will help you put more fish on the bank. Give them a go and Pin It Down.

Tight Lines

Dave