Nailed by Official Nash Tackle

NASH E-ZINE WINTER 2016

NAILED! Land more and lose less with our essential guide to better hook holds

NAILED

TO THE POINT There’s greater awareness than ever that hooks need to be as sharp as possible. Fang hooks require no additional sharpening from the packet, and come with sticky sharp points but any hook point will deteriorate in use. Catch a bream and your hook is no longer as sharp as it could be. Retrieve a rig and it catches on the lake bed as you lift it off bottom, no longer as sharp as it could be. Pull a hook repeatedly into PVA sticks – no longer sticky sharp. Check your hook points every time you retrieve and recast or rebait. If the hook scores your nail under gentle pressure the point is still keen.

RIGGED UP AND READY Understanding that hooks are easily degraded through use means you need to be prepared to change them more regularly. A good supply of pre-tied rigs before a session encourages you to change hooks however often it’s required. If you don’t have a well stocked rig board you’ll find excuses not to change rigs to a sticky sharp fresh hook, and it will cost you fish. Getting through more rigs and a few more rig materials is a small price to pay for catching more fish because your rigs are always at their most efficient.

THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT Hook holds can be easily improved by altering the length of the hooklink. It’s fashionable to use short links, but they also limit how far a hook is taken into the mouth by a feeding carp, and sometimes hook holds close to the edges of the lips or in the scissors can easily pull free. If your hooks are close to the edge of the lips, add an inch at a time to the length of the links and see if the position of the hook changes. Optimum length depends on the size of the carp, the nature of the bottom and the feeding situation but improving hook holds often means longer not shorter links. 32 www.nashtackle.co.uk

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NASH E-ZINE WINTER 2016

NAILED

BEAT THE BOUNCE How do you play a carp – off the clutch or using backwind? It’s rarely considered but how you play a carp can also affect your chances of landing it. Watch the end tackle when someone backwinds and the lead tends to swing around much more in the water than if you play a carp using the clutch. Any bouncing around of the lead behind a rig can easily pop a hook out. Some people backwind very well in response to a fighting carp, others less so. A clutch is a much more consistent way of giving line under controlled and steady tension.

DIAL UP THE DRAG By the time a bobbin pulls up to the alarm and a carp takes line from the reel the hook hold should always be secure. Pressure from a line clip and also your drag or free spool helps firmly pull the hook point securely in before you even pick a rod from the rests. Many carpers still set their free spool or fast drag reels to a minimum tension for a taking carp, so much so that even heavy indicators can pull line from the reel. Make a taking carp work for the line rather than giving it away. More tension from the reels is better than less.

GREAT WEIGHT DEBATE Do heavier leads give better hook holds or increase the chances of losing fish? There’s no hard and fast answer. On the one hand a heavier lead helps pull a hook point in further when a carp tightens a link, but unless you eject a heavy lead you then have it swinging or bouncing behind the hook during the fight which can result in hook pulls, particularly in soft mouthed carp. Either losing the lead or choosing to go a lot lighter with 1 oz or 1.5 oz leads ensures pressure is more directly applied to the hook point during as you play it, rather than being absorbed by a heavy, swinging lead behind the rig. 34 www.nashtackle.co.uk

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NASH E-ZINE WINTER 2016

CITRUZ

PICK A PATTERN Most carp anglers have favourite hook patterns which they reach for routinely everywhere they fish. Rig confidence is crucial, but if you’re losing more than an odd carp try changing hook patterns. Often the simple difference between a straight point on a Twister and the wider gape inturned point Fang Uni can be enough to solve a problem instantly, and vice versa. For reasons we can’t always put our finger on a different pattern will often completely change your lost to landed statistics. It can often vary from venue to venue.

CULTURED ® Citruz pulling power - now with a winter coat

STRETCH SECURITY Aside from its ability to outwit the most accomplished head shaking carp that dump rigs, the amazing stretching Triggalink material also cushions against hook pulls. When wet Triggalink is an amazing shock absorber, preventing unnecessary pressure being directly applied to the hook point even when playing energetic carp. If you momentarily lose contact with fish in weed or when dealing with crossed lines it ensures there is still pressure on the point. It’s one of the very best tactics for ensuring you land carp hooked amongst weedbeds or close to thick pads. Once the hook goes in, it stays in!

PUTTING ON WEIGHT Weighting hooklinks encourages hooks to turn faster for hook holds in the middle of the bottom lip. For Multi Rigs and other traditional pop up rigs try significantly increasing the counter balance weight, so rather than slow sinking the bait is well over shotted and spins more readily as the bait is lifted off bottom. For bottom bait and snowman rigs add a Clinger Tungsten stop and cover it with a good size slug of putty an inch behind the kicker or shrink tube – it makes a big difference to hooking potential, helping to turn the hook before the link is fully tightened.

Coated with Nashbait’s unique dissolving Culture skin infused with powdered versions of the killer Citruz attractors, Citruz Cultured® Hookbaits slowly release complex fruit esters, aminos and nucleotides for cold water action where other baits fail. For best results use with Citruz Cultured® Fizzing Stick Mix that gently fizzes, steadily releasing food particles and deadly Citruz attractors through the water column, drawing carp to the hookbait using sight, sound, smell and taste. GET HIGH-VIZ WITH FIZZ!

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