Carp Catchers Blog

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

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

Congratulations to Andre Kormoniki from London on landing the world record carp. Andre used a  Greys Platinum 12ft 6” 3lb Carp Rod to land the 91lb, YES 91lb monster from Luke Moffats Le Graviers water in France last week. The leviathan is known as the scarred fish or the fish of two halves as it has a scar running round its body. The scar was caused by a rope which was tied around the fishes body to retain it, this was done many years ago before people were less concerned about carp care. The bait Andre used was the awesome Baitcraft T1 a bait with a track record for the bigger specimens. Andre used a blowback rig tied with a Kryston Super Mantis hooklink and a Korda Longshank X Hook to catch the carp of a lifetime. Not content on catching the world record Andre went on to catch ten more fish including carp of 63lb, 56lb, two at 50lb, 40lb, 37lb, 33lb, 32lb, 29lb and 27lb. Well done again Andre, Well done also to Luke Moffet for nurturing such a special water and such a colossal fish.

Best fishes,

John

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

                                                                                                                               

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