By Big Rik and Stuart Dennis
We’ve probably spent the last few years tying rigs and experimenting based on taking a real pleasure in pushing our own boundaries when it comes to the dynamics of hook holds and anti ejection possibilities.
We’ve played with most materials and tried to think things through in order to make sense of what really goes on under the surface. Whether that’s pop-up baits taking into consideration water pressure or bottom baits avoiding hook point debris, you name it and we’ve probably touched on quite a bit with our thinking. Yes we’ve been known for being ‘riggy’ as Warren Gaunt calls it, but have had much enjoyment along the way and will probably always be the same I’m afraid.
There’s loads of useful information on the net or in traditional publications written by some of the best thinking anglers ever and it’s their brain power you rely on to form the basis of your own rig tying in order kickstart your own experiments or improvements. Look at the line aligner or the Withey pool rig, superb thinking, by superb anglers, been around for an age and still catching big carp all over the globe.
We must confess to lurking on another carp site recently and following a most bizarre thread called ‘the knotless knot versus the line aligner’. There were good arguments for both, but what amazed us was that 80% of posts voted for the knotless knot and then went on openly to support their choice by stating that they couldn’t be bothered to tie the line aligner due to it being well, ‘just too much hassle’ when all they wanted to do was fish!
Is it us or is that just crazy? We spend all that money on the latest buzzers, bivvies, rods and pods but when it comes to that last few inches it’s sometimes deemed a hassle? To us that’s just ridiculous. If anything, in the quest of catching more carp the importance should be given to your rig and then work backwards to your rod, then your reel, then your buzzers and so on.
Setting the traps by careful research and placement, followed by delicate baiting and positioning and sat behind a rig that may or may not work based on not being bothered enough to tie an affective hook link is just ‘blanking and frustration’ waiting to happen.
Graham came out with an excellent line a while ago (probably used many times) “The more I practice, the luckier I get” Surely that applies to the right use of rigs for the right venue for the right scenario?
This being said we spent some time going back over the various features that the FM Contributors had had published and found that there was loads of thought-provoking stuff covered. However, much of this was a while ago and much of it had got lost in the FM vault. This being the case we thought we’d renew their life cycle via the following links in order to regurgitate them.
Here goes:
