One of the best ways to improve the effectiveness of your carp fishing hooklinks is to weight them down so that when cast out into the middle of the lake, they will always drop to the bottom and lie flat.
Many anglers don’t really pay that much attention to the hooklinks they are using and take it as read that if it says “fast sinking” on the marketing blurb, that that’s exactly what they’ll do on the lake bed. In reality, it’s often the case that nothing could be further from the truth!
No matter what the link is made of, you only need the hookbait to fall closer to the lead then the length of the hooklink and it will, more than likely, want to loop up in the water, and unless you are using the very heaviest of hooklinks, there’s a good chance part of it will lift off the bottom, which will really compromise your presentation.
Therefore, when fishing any type of coated or braided hooklink, I’ll always add some extra weight to ensure that no matter how the hooklink lands on the lake bed, it’s always going to drop to the bottom, ensuring perfect presentation each time out.
If I’m using a coated hooklink, I’ll usually add a Korda Sinker. I’ve been using these in the medium size for quite a while now and have been very happy with them. They’re perfect in terms of size and weight for my rigs and make sure they drop every time. You simply place your hooklink (with untied end) into the metal loop on the pack and slide down a sinker onto your hooklink. They stay firmly in place no matter what, and are extremely durable – just the job.
If I’m using a braid hooklink, I’ll either use a sinker as above, or I’ll use some Tungsten Putty. Whilst some people like to use a blob moulded onto the hooklink, I find this a bit hit and miss. It will often get misshaped during use and will sometimes drop off with a fish. Therefore, I prefer to use it rubbed.
Basically, what you’re looking to do is rub a piece of putty up and down the hooklink so that putty rubs off and embeds itself into the link itself. The best way to do this is to break off a little piece, squash it between your fingers a bit to warm it up (which makes it more malleable). Then, fold it over the link, apply heavy pressure and start running it up and down the link. The more you do it, the more putty will be transferred to the link.
This is a great way of ensuring your fine braided links drop to the bottom, and can also be used to stiffen them up a little bit which will help prevent tangles when using finite hooklink materials.
Julian Grattidge
March 2013
