I started playing around with different ways of camouflaging my end tackle to suit the lake bed I’m fishing.I’ve started fishing a large 70 acre gravel pit in the south west which holds a small amount of large carp that have proved themselves to be hard to catch, so I’ve been taking my end tackle to the next stage to see if I can blend it all in to match the lake bed. After playing around with making my own leads and camouflaging them I started to play with a lead clip, then the rubber and the rig tubing. All you need is a blow torch and some powdered coating which will match your lake bed.
I love the hooking potential and the anti-tangle properties of in
line leads however, they do have their drawbacks, i.e. in the unfortunate event of a break off then a fish could potentially be trailing a long length of line including any leaders that may have been used.
After seeing one of Steve Fantauzzi’s similar rigs which incorporated the use of a large bead and drilling the front of the lead out slightly, I was impressed with the idea but wanted to simplify it a little.
I simply used a flexi-ring swivel spliced onto the leadcore via the larger ring. Then using another flexi-ring swivel I simply slide it onto the leadcore helicopter style. The lead is then attached to the leadcore by pushing the swivel into the end of the lead and running it around the outside of the lead (normal drop off style). However I found that the swivel was being gripped too tightly for the lead to drop off easily, so I simply cut the plasticinsert back slightly (see note) and placed an ESP Heli Bead onto the eye of the swivel and this gives just the right amount of resistance to prick the fish without being too tight.
martin vaughan wrote:
I’m off to Spain next week to fish the river guadiana (the orellano). Being a bit of a novice I’m after any advice you can offer on rigs. What coated braid would u recommend, length of leadcore & hooklink ? Its a guided trip with Extrema Fishing and all i have to supply is end tackle so any tips or advice
would be gratefully appreciated. cheers martin
Jamie Simpson Replies
Hi Martin
I assume you will be targeting Carp rather than Catfish. Not knowing the river in question makes answering a bit vague but here goes.
I would certainly recommend a strong braided hooklink such as 25lb Silkworm or similar, if you prefer coated braid then you won’t go far wrong with Korda Hybrid. In my experience rivercarp certainly aren’t rig shy and basic heavy gauge set ups will suffice. I would use hooklinks of at least 18″ and about 4ft leadcore leaders. Assuming the reels are supplied then I would imagine they will be spooled up with line around 18lb. Hookwise I would suggest size4 minimum and would recommend either Korda LongshankX (tough as old boots) or Rigsbiz R2 hooks. There is no need for clever blowback rigs or even shrink tubing as a basic no knotknot will be fine. (more…)
I decided to write this piece about one of the hooklink presentations I have been using to good effect this season. I would recommend the use of this rig on firm bottoms such as sand and gravel, light silt and sparse weed, but not fished in thick weed or heavy silt as I feel the hooklink may sit up off the bottom awkwardly.
Just recently I have started using a lot more combi-link rigs again, and for the life of me I can’t remember why I stopped using them in the first place, perhaps the introduction of the coated braids maybe played a part in this. With a lot of anglers switching to combi-rigs made by simply stripping coating off the braid I think I may have been a little paranoid that the fish would suss it out and my results would suffer.
I used them almost all the time in the late nineties and I guess I must have either moved onto a venue that I found an alternative more productive, or as I said, become paranoid about their effectiveness with so many other anglers now using a similar type of presentation. Anyway I have been using them quite a lot again this year on a couple of venues and have tweaked them to suit my requirements really well. (more…)
How often should you change your line and what causes the deterioration in it’s stated breaking strain?
I changed my main line prior to my recent trip to France and have already stripped it back off to be replaced.
Replaced after just one week may seem excessive to some people but if you think about it thats 7 days solid angling, fishing near overhanging trees with some underwater debris. Not to mention a few Carp played on it and in hot sunny conditions.
I use Berkeley Big Game for most of my general fishing and at around £10 for 1700 odd meters, it’s not exactly expensive. A useful tip is to have backing line on your spool and only replace around 250 meters. The reason for 250 meters is that it is well past my maximum castingdistance and if I have to strip back a few yards near the hooklink then I have a bit to play with. This also applies to if I have a crack off for some reason. (more…)
Since James Harrison’s first piece in this magazine about carp captures being a result of many things coming together at the same time and most captures basically being ‘meant to be’, I have got to thinking an awful lot. Obviously, the more experienced angler will always catch a few more because he/she makes sure to be there when the right factors are coming together and the rig is in place ready for where the fish will undoubtedly turn up.
I have looked long and hard at my own fishing and, these past couple of weeks apart, I have never particularly struggled to catch carp and for many years I have used exactly the same rig for all of my bottom fishing on everything except soft silkweed. (more…)
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