The length we fish our carp hooklinks should always be determined by the way we are applying our feed and how we think the carp are feeding in front of us, says Gerrard Williams. For instance, when fishing over a hard, gravelly bottom amongst a scattering of large boilies, the fish will move around a lot more, picking up individual baits. In these situations a longer hooklink will be likely to trick them.
However, when fishing over a choddy bottom with a much tighter offering of loose feed, carp can suck in a hookbait on the spot and eject quite easily if the rig is too long. This is where fishing a much shorter hooklink can really make a difference and will – in the right situation – vastly outfish a longer rig.
When fishing over weed and silt the carp will be likely to feed with their lips very tight to the lakebed, meaning that the bait and hook will be inside the fish’s mouth as soon as they come across the hookbait. This is where a short rig stands a much better chance of nailing the fish, as it gives them very little time to eject the bait. Rigs 3” long are preferable for this style of fishing and really do take some beating.
With the rig components being so close to your hookbait in these situations, it really does pay to fish with terminal tackle that blends in with the lakebed you are fishing over. Components such as leaders and leads are obviously a lot closer to the fish you trying to outwit, so making sure these are as inconspicuous as possible really will help to put a few more fish on the bank.
When fishing such short rigs, it pays to fish an inline lead over a swivel lead set up. Inline leads dramatically increase the hooking efficiency of your set up and unlike swivel leads attached to safety clips, will tighten to the lead much quicker when a fish picks up the bait. This is of course what the short rig is trying to achieve, so it makes sense to fish a lead that further increases the chances of a hook up.
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