I thought that i would put up a quick post with a link to PDF versions of my most popular howto articles. In the migration some of the images didn’t come over so whilst i fix it here are the articles with the images in easy to print format.
Photography for fishing part 1
Photography for fishing part 2
Thats it for now – if there are any other instructional articles you would like to see here let me know via the contact me button at the top
I have written a lot about rigs and how to construct various types for various fishing situations, I even “invented” my own rig the Big Pig line aligner. However recently I find myself slipping back to simpler times and discarding complicated rigs and moving back to a simpler time, a time where we used standard simple rigs that caught fish rather than the angler.
With this in mind I present to you the blow back rig, one of the simplest and easiest rigs to tie and it catches fish too,
1st you need to assemble the components
Every time I pick up a magazine it seems that screaming from the front cover are normally the words “NEW RIG” or “TIE THE WONDER RIG – We show you how” and yet fish still continue to get caught on simple easy to tie rigs. In a previous article I pondered some simple “beginners rigs” and I think that perhaps I misnamed them as beginners carp rigs. They are nothing of the sort. They are simple rigs granted, and good for the beginner but a hell of a lot of fish also get caught on them by more advanced anglers.
Take the rig above for example, it is a simple SSC curved shank hook tied to a small length of coated braid. This rig has accounted for huge numbers of fish both for myself and for many other anglers yet you very rarely see it in the magazines. Why you might ask ? well the cynic in me would argue that it does not seem “sexy” enough and certainly will not sell much in the way of advanced end componentry. The other reason ( and I suspect the real reason) is that you can only show rigs like the one above so many times before they stop being “new”.
Continue reading “Carp Rigs, How complex do you need to go ?”
A lot of thought goes into modern carp rig, some have little rings in them, some have slidey bits. All are intended to do one thing – catch carp. I have noticed in my years carp fishing ( for I have been doing this for a fair number of years) that rigs on the whole have become far more complex and I am not sure if it helps. I am certain that one of the greatest discoveries after the hair rig was the knotless knot and it is certain that it has put a lot more fish on the bank. However I am not certain if all of the other rig components that we buy really make a difference. ie
The above rig is just a simple SSBP pattern hook on 15lbs flurocarbon with a loop at the other end to attach to a quick link. Simple and effective.
I am sure that the really complex rig patterns that we see so have a use but to anyone considering ” what rig shall I use” you can’t go wrong with the above.
The Masterblanker 