Quest Baits Blog

When should we use fluorocarbon as hooklinks and when not to?

Over the years on many different pressured waters in the UK I have tried and tested many different hooklink materials to suit my style of fishing.  Waters that I target are gin clear, especially in the colder months, and this makes the carp are very tricky to catch due to the the fact that every little item of end tackle can stand out on the lake bed, making it very easy for Mr carp to suspect danger and move away.  I made a massive step forward when I started using Fluorocarbon in 10lb and 12lb.

At all times we are trying to improve our chances of getting that all important pick up and due to the fact that fluorocarbon is transparent to the lake bed, regardless of whether your hooklink is laid upon silt, weed, gravel, or clay, it gives you a massive edge.  I believe using this material correctly you can put 30% more fish on the bank.

Your lead arrangement can also play a vital role; should we choose inline, lead clip system, helicopter or running rig?  All have there place… but at all times make sure that in any case of cracking-off or snagging-up your end tackle is safe and the lead will be dropped every time.

Hooklink lengths using the fluorocarbon can vary from 2” to 12” depending on the situation i.e. what you’re fishing over and the bait you’re placing on the hair.  Does the hair have to be fluorocarbon? continue reading…

Can you please tell me what you think are the best rigs for winter and the cold weather.  Thanks.

Cold water rigs for me, differ very little from my normal rigs, however I do like to scale things down somewhat. You have to only go back to your tiddler bashing days to know that fining your rigs down results in more bites and winter feeding, which is often short, highlights this.

There are many rigs in use today however most carp anglers have a failsafe rig which always seems to work for them. The rig that I’ve had my most success with by far, in all conditions, is a simple blow back rig, fined down with a size ten or twelve Mugga hook.  This rig has caught me winter carp from day ticket waters, to club lakes to hard UK syndicates with fish up to 36lb in the depths of winter.

The materials I use are a 15lb coated braid hooklink, I like PB products Jelly Wire, Gardner size 8 or 10 Mugga hooks and Fox Teflon rig rings in 3mm.

I’ve pictured the rig here as it is actually on my rods now, a simple split shot at the break in the braided hooklink coating (about 1 1/2 cm from the hook) is all that you need if you want to use it for pop-ups, a rig that I’ve caught UK carp up to nearly 56lb.

I fish this rig at approx 9 inches to start with, lengthening or shortening as required.  Remember if the fish can’t get it in their mouths they can’t get hooked! Two 10mm Quest boilies make the ideal hookbait.

Couple this rig with a running lead, or as I do with a shake free semi fixed lead, and you have everything you could need, come rain or shine, sun or snow!

Good luck, Spencer Humble

We spoke previously about the ever faithful Chod rig, however it is far from the answer to all our rig problems. Different fish feed differently and in particular Commons seem to be much more cagey around pop-ups and choddy’s than those greedy Mirrors. In my current syndicate water is a carp that is very very rarely caught however when it is nailed it seems to be on pop-ups quite some way off of the bottom!

I’d just like to add a couple of pics of the other two rigs I use. With these and the Chod in my armoury, I never need anything else.

The Merekat Rig

The Merekat rig.

The title gives it away a bit!

An x-line hooklink (Maxima in summer/cloudy water) tied with a no knot, but with the hair trapped by just two turns of the knot, with a further 5 turns up the shank. A stiff rigger hook is the perfect hook for the rig, changed to a Korda Choddy when fishing over gravel, as they have a beaked point. A figure of eight loop fixes the hooklink to the swivel. I particularly like this rig with a bottom bait with a small plug of a matching pop up, nicely balancing the bait. The Merekat rig… Simples!

My multi-rig

My multi-rig

Invented by Micky Kavnanagh, made famous by Johnny Mac and made personal by me! The Multi rig.

I use this rig for pop ups, bottom baits and my favourite with twin barrel shaped bottom baits.

The benefits of this rig are numerous, however being able to change your hook in seconds is a massive bonus. Yes you spend more on hooks, but you definitely get more pick ups by doing so! continue reading…

Hello Shaun

I need some help please I have just started to fish a lake which has a little weed on the bottom so I have started to play around with the reverse combi rig. I cannot work out how to tie on the supple braid for the hair part so I was just using IQ for both the boom section and for the hair. But after seeing a picture of your rig in Carpworld I think it could be the missing piece I have been looking for.

So I was wonder if you have the time if you could send me a few pics to show me how to tie this rig as you do as I am almost there my e mail is……..

The above is an email I received to-day. I have left the persons name off so that you can see I treat questions with confidentiality. If ‘Mr Stiff IQ’ wanted to keep this as a little trick up his sleeve on the venue he is fishing then I’m not one to alert the anglers there as to what he is doing.

This is a good question and one I have received several times since I first published it after my success catching Buffalo Carp on it in Texas exactly this time last year. continue reading…

After carefully going through the procedure of locating the fish, making the rig and selecting the best bait we cast our lines out and wait. Sometimes though it is hard to be confident that the rig is positioned properly and the hook is not snagged.

A good method to initially mask the hook is to fold a piece of PVA foam around it knowing then that it won’t get snagged on its descent to the lake bed and will dissolve a few seconds later. The hook will be held off the bottom of the lake until the foam dissolves and will then gently settle into position. When fishing over a bed of silt PVA foam will ensure that when the lead embeds itself into the bottom the hook will not also be masked.

If you are casting a fair distance the PVA foam may not withstand the cast if attached or folded around the hook. Another way around this is to put a couple of foam pieces into some funnel web and compress them to make a small PVA bag. Then attach this to you hook prior to casting to create a similar effect.

Best wishes, Samantha.

Following on from Rons Rig post I wanted to add my thoughts, mainly revolving around the Chod rig. Yes I know, its in every magazine, on every website and every corner! But is it on your rods? Its nothing new, its just a fad, it is nothing special. Really?

The simple truth is that Carp find it very difficult to deal with and whilst it doesn’t ideally suit a rock hard clean bottom, lets be truthful, how often do you fish like that anyway? If casting to where the fish are feeding, without having to cast a marker out to check the bottom debris, silt depth etc appeals then give it a try. Its not just a fashion!

Id add that it suits a boiled bait fishing scenario where you can spread baits a little so that Carp move from bait to bait, or alternatively and particularly at this time of year, single hookbait fishing. All you need is some very buoyant pop ups, such as Quest baits of course and the rig components to make a choddy.

I’m not going to list them all because its been done to death, however Ill chuck a few little things in the mix! Have you tried it running some length between beads? Have you tried it with x line and without leadcore(The naked Chod)? Have you tried it with a spaghetti back stop? Do you need a backstop at all?

Some tips: Use it with a light lead, ideally with at least two foot between lead and top bead, try it on x line, mould some lead substitute putty around the base of the swivel and use a korda sinker with a rubber bead over it as an upper stop, that way you don’t need a big length of leadcore. Most importantly you must must ensure that the rig is safe, our Carp are precious……

Have a play, get it right and you could just turn your year around!

All the best,  Spencer Humble