Carp Catchers Blog

The new ATTS Bite Alarms and Nash Box Logic TT Rig Station have just come in. These babies will make the Ideal christmas presents for carpers everywhere. I’ll do a short review on them below, for more details and to purchase them go to the main site via the links.

ATTS Bite Alarms – ATTx V2 Receiver

The New ATTS Bite Alarms are the ultimate tackle tarts item. However you don’t need to be a tackle tart to appreciate and make use of their unique features. The ATTS’s most unique feature is that it is the first silent alarm, the audible alarm is given by the ATTx V2 Remote receiver. There has been a lot in the media recently about sound travelling down the line and spooking the carp the ATTS will prevent this. The ATTS is the smallest bite alarm on the market and along with it’s silent function and matt black, soft rubber touch finish, the ATTS is the ultimate stealth alarm.

                             ATTS Bite Alarms

                             ATTx V2 Receiver

Nash Box Logic TT Rig Station

The Nash Box Logic TT Rig Station is absolutely brilliant, I’m just amazed that nobodys produced something like it before now. The TT Rig Station organises and stores all of your terminal tackle, PVA, marker floats, leads etc. The Rig Station also stores all of your rigs and comes supplied with 20 rig pins. The most ingenious part though is that the rig station is just that, it doubles as a work station where you can tie your rigs with everything to hand, you can even critically balance your hookbaits. Check this one out I don’t think you will be disappointed.

                   Nash Box Logic TT Rig Station

Best fishes,

John

There have been a few instances in the media recently where The Multi Rig has been referred to as The Johnny Mac Rig . This is because Jon Macallister has used the rig to good effect, catching some of our most desirable carp. Though he uses it almost exclusively for his fishing, Jon makes no claim to the “invention” of the rig. That honour goes to Mike Kavanagh who also brought us The Stiff Rig . The beauty of the multi rig is that you can change your hook quickly without having to tie a new hooklink. The following step by step guide shows you how tie the Multi Rig.

These are the components that I used to tie the rig.

Step 1

To tie the Multi Rig it is best to use a coated braid in this instance I am using Sufix Camfusion

Step 2

Cut a length of the Camfusion and tie a figure of eight loop knot (see previous blog). The loop should be approximately 45mm long.

Step 2

Thread the loop through the Gardner Longshank Incizor hook

Step 3

Thread one of the small Korda  rig rings onto the hookshank. The rig ring on the shank of the hook is to prevent the hooklink catching and possibly parting in the join in the eye of the hook.

Step 4

Thread one of the Rigmarole 4mm Rig Rings  onto the loop

Step 5

Thread the hookpoint through the loop

Step 6

Tie a size 8 swivel to the other end of the hooklink with a figure of eight loop knot, moisten and bed down

Step 7

Position the D on the hookshank. A good starting place is midway between the hookpoint and the barb

Step 8

The finished rig

Step 9

Thread on a pop up of your choice, put some tungsten putty on the knot and you’re done.

There you have it The Multi Rig.

Best fishes,

John

The Figure Of Eight or Double Overhand Loop Knot is an extremely strong loop knot with many applications. Below is a step by step photographic sequence showing you how to tie it.

Step1

Choose your hooklink material and cut the desired length. I have chosen Sufix Camfusion 15lb for this demonstration.

Step 2

Double the hooklink over and form loop to the approximate size that you require for your rig.

Step 3

Form another loop in the doubled over hooklink material

Step 4

Thread the end of the first loop through the second loop

Step 5

Thread the end of the first loop through the second loop again

Step 6

Gentley tease the knot down, this is the figure of eight

Step 7

Moisten the knot with saliva and bed down then trim off the tag end. The finished Figure Of Eight Or Double Overhand Loop Knot.

Hope this is of use, any comments would be welcomed and appreciated.

Best fishes,

John

I don’t want to sound preachy, but I’d like to have a word about carp care. All you carp anglers out there should have a decent unhooking mat suitable for the size of carp you’re fishing for, but how many of you have something to treat the hookhold or any wounds your prize might have. We have a certain duty of care to the fish we catch, so we should all carry something to treat any wounds or ulcers they may have. The Korda Carp Care Kit is an excellent product which fulfills this need. The kit which was designed by the lads at Thinking Anglers has two different bottles of treatment and treatment applicators all in a handy, compact case. The two treatment bottles have different uses, one is for any mouth damage and the other is for any wounds or sores on the body. The Korda Carp Care Kit offers our quarry the best possible chance of a speedy recovery. So please if you haven’t already got one or something like it, invest in the future of your sport and get one. 

Best fishes,

John

Here’s a nice photo of customer James with a double figure pike. James was boat fishing at Pitsford Reservoir and took the fine specimen lure fishing a copper spoon.

Best fishes,

John

Many of those of you new to carp fishing and many of you that are not, will think looking at the carp fishing mags that every one is catching but you. This is not the case, if you look at how many catches appear in the magazines and add them all together the number is miniscule in comparison to how many people actually carp fish. Not catching or in carp speak, blanking, is part of carp fishing and should fire you up to succeed in your next session. I pride myself in being quite consistent when it comes to catching carp, but at the moment I’m blanking like a good un’ and it’s really got my brains going into overdrive. Forget Dr. Wii’s brain training go carp fishing. Seriously though, I’m not the only one blanking, the syndicate as a whole is struggling. There has only been one fish out in 18 days and there’s been a heck of a lot of rods hours fished for that one fish. I’m really enjoying it though, but as my girlfriend Angela said, I’d be enjoying it more if I’d caught one. So if you are blanking too, don’t despair you are in good company. The carp are in their autumn/winter transitional period, which puts them out of sorts and off the feed. This transitional period, which happens every year, seems to have started a lot earlier this year and many lakes across the country are fishing poorly. So as I said previously don’t despair, keep on keeping on and the rewards when they come will be well worth it.

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

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