One of the guys down the lake the other day noticed that I didn't appear to be using a small piece of silicone tubing to trap the hair down the shank of my hook on my standard bottom bait rig and asked me to explain why? after all it is very fashionable these days, well I don't give a flying hoot really about wether or not it's trendy,the only thing i'm concerned about is converting as many pick ups as possible into takes! Let me explain................over many years of angling i've often been able to observe carp feeding at very close quarters on some of the gin clear waters i've fished, conningbook, milton, swan and harrow being prime examples and what i've learned by hanging out of trees wearing polaroids is that most of the time when carp are actually feeding they don't move off at all with the bait in fact exactly the opposite, nine times out of ten I would see feeding carp that were sucking and blowing sometimes just off the bottom and other times with their heads buried and bodies tilted up , their gills expanding and then closing, the pectoral fins would clearly be seen wafting up food in the water ......this is normal carp behavour whilst feeding. Therefore it makes logical sense to me that to stand any chance of the hook catching into the lips or inside the mouth of a carp feeding in this manner then the hair on which the bait is mounted needs to come off the eye of the hook or close to it, the other way with the silicone on the bend means that when the bait is blown out the hook will follow the bait.... bend first (the wrong way) and obviously stand no chance of pricking or taking hold in the soft inner mouth of the carp. It will however turn very nicely every time when tested by being dragged over the palm of your hand i.e. when the fish moves off with the bait in its mouth in which case it is effective ....but only if the carp are feeding in this manner ....my observations suggest to me that they certainly don't do that very much at all !!Alternately I have the hair coming from the eye end of the hook which means that the hook will again follow the bait but this time be blown out point first (the correct way) and therefore stand a very good chance of pricking or taking hold in the carps mouth. To me it's clear which way is going to bring about more pricked carp and i'm certain that i get more chances because my way works which ever way the carp are feeding that particular day, but if the carp are more or less stationary tilted up and sucking and blowing like I described earlier then my way will bring a hell of a lot more takes. As for the absolute garbage written by certain individuals (the blowback rig ) claiming they know when they've " been done" because the silicone rubber has moved up the shank......do me a favour....Don't just take my word for it, look at it for yourself.. the only way that the rubber could move up the shank would be if the fish was so well hooked that the carp's flesh actually forced it back, there is no way whatsoever it could happen when the fish is blowing the bait out because as i've said earlier the hook follows the bait from the point where it is attatched. Try it out for yourself and make up your own minds.....also try not to follow trends or believe all you read in the mags!
tight lines Mr. F
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