Quest Baits Consultant Ron Key talks to Phil Calloway about his recent trip to Texas for the Buffalo Carp.
Check out the Clip in HD
Browsing Posts published in March, 2009
Quest Baits consultant Ron Key talks about the new Surf ‘n’ Turf boilie.
By Carl Bullock;
It goes without saying that in the unfortunate event of a break off the less the fish is towing around the better, to that end I prefer to use a helicopter rig as theoretically all the fish should be left to tow around is the hooklink. I say theoretically as we can never be certain of all the underwater features/foliage that may hinder the hooklink from coming free. However in my eyes it is certainly a damn sight safer than the hooklink being tied directly onto the end of the mainline or leader etc, leaving the fish potentially towing 100+ yards of line or braid, whether the lead comes off or not.
There is no mistaking the effectiveness of the recently popular ‘Chod’ type rigs and the helicopter is a rig I have been using since I left the dark arts of match fishing around 17 years ago. But like all good things it does have its drawbacks, and one of those is in weedy waters, where ideally we want the lead to drop off very early on to give us a greater chance of landing our quarry. There are some recent ‘ready made’ rigs from the tackle manufacturers that do just that, but they also look like most ‘ready made’ rigs and in my opinion are way too obvious and obtrusive with bulky parts. So to that end a few friends of mine and I set about trying our own version with a less obvious profile (and a tidier one too).
When fishing snags, tree lines or next to awkward features you will generally have more success if you place the rig tight under the tree coverage or very close to the snag during the day.
The reason is that many carp, especially in pressured waters, tend to hold up tight under the trees or directly in the snags during daylight hours. This may be because there is noise and/or a disturbances, or probably due to the general angling pressure from fishermen.
Whatever the reason, carp prefer to hold up in “safe” areas where they rarely get caught. In the past, I have placed effective carp fishing rigs up to 12 feet away from hanging trees when casting to the opposite bank, and on many occasions, have not caught all day.
continue reading…
By Carl Bullock;
It may be hard to believe due to the weather we have been receiving lately, but spring is definitely on its way. Already the daylight hours are increasing in length. I’ve recently witnessed a number of various flying insects creeping there way into the kitchen and just the other week I saw flowers starting to bud in the mother-in-laws garden.
And all this to me indicates that it is time for preparation, time for stocking up on bait, time for new lines and just generally time to get a good spring clean on the go. I usually fish right through the winter, but due to work and various courses I have not been able to get out much at all.
It goes without saying though that the spring time, whether you are taking the rods out of hibernation or not brings an element of excitement and even more fishing. So here are a few things I do in preparation for those hungry carp waking up.
Aps wrote:
Hi, I just watched the long distance casting video (part 1) with the legend that is Mark Hutchinson, and I am slightly confused! In the video under reels he is using a shimano ultegra 5500 xtb and he mentions;
“Add a washer for better line lay !”
Can you please explain, how and why he does that?
Hi Aps – good question! It is easy to see how Hutch’s advice could be a little confusing.
When you buy most new reels you will find a bag of extra metal washers inside the box. If you take off the spool from the reel you will see that the washers will go onto the metal spindle the spool sits on and you can slide the washer down so sits at the bottom. Then the spool goes back on in the same way it came off. continue reading…
