Angling Lines blog

Double hook shown to me by the European angler

A European gentleman turned up at Vaux one day last year when I was fishing.  His first question was could he fish the lake, to which my reply was no.  His second question was how big are the fish, because he was an angler who had travelled around to many European lakes where he had caught some large fish.  We chatted generally on fishing topics whilst I continued to tie a stiff boom rig.  This caught his eye and so I went on to show him half a dozen rigs along with baiting and tactics which, as a UK angler, I use.

He then wanted to share his most popular rig with me.  His hook length set-up does not incorporate a hair.  Instead his preference is to use soft hook baits, such as potatoes, beans and soft paste boilies which he makes himself.  He presents his baits by drilling a hole through the given bait and pulling the hook into the bait so it is embedded in it.  This is fished on a free running set-up so that, as he explained to me, the fish is allowed to take the bait and run, allowing sufficient time on the take for it to crush the soft boilie from the hook and so self-hook itself.  If he is using potatoes or beans he would strike into the carp.  He only uses small leads so the weight of it is light enough just to set the hook.  He would then wind down and strike into the fish.

His copy of my rig

After I had shown him my normal set-up incorporating the stiff boom plus soft braid hook length and size 6 or 7 hook, he asked if he could tie and show me his version of a stiff boom rig with the hook he normally uses for carp fishing.  Taking materials which I had in front of me, he went off and returned with the boom rig just as I would tie it, but with a double hook set-up.  I was shocked, to say the least.  He confirmed that this was normal practice for him and I asked whether the hooks were sold as predator or carp hooks.  He replied that they are not specified and are sold for either… you make your own choice.  He explained that he rarely loses a fish and never has a hook hold move in the mouth of any fish, large or small and so there is no mouth damage.  Comparing the hooks we use, both barbed and barbless, with his double hook, his parting comment was that he believed our hooks would lead to mouth damage and that their double hooks are more humane.

Makes you think doesn’t it?

Chas, Etang de Vaux

David writes;

The Winter fishing at Vaux this year has been superb – see the January 28th Blog post here

In this post from Chas, the owner of Vaux , he gives away one of his winter edges… his Ice Rig!

Chas's Ice Rig

From May 2002 when we bought Vaux until March 2004 when it was opened as a carp fishing venue, the mill storehouse was converted into a gîte, extensive works were carried out to the banks, fish stock was introduced ….. and we were at liberty to fish our lake. For the past six years, we have been lucky enough to fill the main season weeks with carp anglers and it is not until the season winds down that it becomes ours to fish again. That means Winter fishing! continue reading…

The Chod Rig has to be one of my most my favoured rigs. I’ve opted to use it for the majority of my sessions lately, and with some personal touches I think it’s as perfect as I can get it. Instead of using leadcore I use a 48-inch Tungsten Ex-Heavy Leader from TFG and instead of using beads, due to a lack of them in my tackle box, I’ve replaced them with two 6mm boilies that have been air dried for a week. After looking into it I am confident they will stay hard in the water for up to 24 hours.

Before I cast out I like to put two foam nuggets on the hook to prevent any debris getting attached to it as it finds the bottom of the lake and attach a small PVA bag of my Quest favourite boilies. Then I can wait for the action, but hopefully I’ll not be waiting too long!

The beauty shown below fell to my chod rig November this year. It works for me so go out and give it a go!

Samantha Collins-Ratcliffe.  (reproduced with thanks from the Quest Baits Blog )

Following on from my article on early season tactics and zig rigs. Here is an article by Ian Gemson from Smart Carping on how to set up a Zig rig.

by Ian Gemson

The Zig-Rig a simple method for fishing bait mid water that has accounted for many large carp.

The Zig-Rig allows a buoyant bait to be fished from the lakebed (legered) at any set depth from a couple of inches above the lakebed right up to the water’s surface. This allows the angler to be able to present the hook bait at the depth at which the carp are either cruising or more importantly feeding.

The Zig-Rig can be used in many situations where hook bait presentation at certain depths is critical, like on the surface during hot weather, or as another example, just above light weed where normal hook bait may become hidden within the weed. Other uses may be sub-surface where carp maybe cruising, say a couple of feet below the surface, or even sub-surface where wildfowl may become a nuisance.

My preferred Zig-Rig setup is a 8lb Drennan double stretch mono hook length tied to a buffer bead setup in a running rig style,, which is fished on the lakebed (legered) and setup with a bite-alarm and indicator as you would normally.

The Zig-Rig is a tremendous rig which is very easy to setup however it is often overlooked in the carping fraternity.

continue reading…

Hi All
Saw this interesting article over on the Quest Baits site by Samantha on Snag fishing….

By Samantha

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…