Are pop up rigs best?

[saskcarp]

It seems that all the rigs recomended in the major carp magazines are all pop up rigs. Why? It's not even British specific magazines either as it's the same in the International Carper (I know it's a Brit made mag but it's aimed at the international carper). Are the big names of carping trying to make bottom bait hook baits redundant or do they have good reason to only concentrate on pop up rigs due to them being more effective than bottom baits?

[DJMCJERICO]

Because you can buy a kilo of bottom baits for £8, or 15 pop-up's for £6

 

Play on the safe side and use a snowman rig

[RobStubbs]

Some people swear by pop ups, others swear at them. I personally hardly ever fish pop ups and when I do they don't improve my catch rates. I prefer bottom baits because that's where all my freebies are. If I fish pop ups I only fish them on one rod to start with and will change the other rods if that seems to be the way to go.

 

Best advise is don't believe all that you see in the mags

 

Rob.

[JBee123]

Watching the Korda videos, a lot of the carp on there spooked at the popups. I guess it stood out from the rest and appeared un-natural to them.

 

I havent had much joy whenever I have used them, mind you as of late I havent had much luck full stop!!!

[Julian]

My personal view is that you want your hookbait to react in exactly the same manner as the free baits you have put out with it. A bottom bait anchored to a hook and hooklink won’t lift up off the lake bed with the same ease as the freebaits, so I always favour a critically balanced approach whereby your hookbait *just* sinks. To do this I hollow out a core of a standard hookbait and insert a bit of foam in it. That way, when a fish wafts the baits around, the hookbait looks the same as the freebaits.

 

Have watched wary carp feeding over beds of bait at extremely close quarters and have seen them mop up everything there yet steer well clear of a popped-up hookbait, as such I hardly ever use them, unless I need something to sit on top of heavy weed, etc.

 

Julian

[Common 40]

I agree with the above, I also very rarely use pop ups now, If you watch the underwater dvd's forom Korda, it clearly shows carp spooking from popped up baits

[poledark]

Maybe so, but popups have caught umpteen numbers of carp for years, and will continue to do so for many more.

Agree with Jules about critically balanced, but even they do not behave the same as the freebies.

 

One big, big advantage of popups is that they remain visible to the carp, not getting buried in silt or detritus, and is probably the strongest argument in their favor.

 

I do not like snowman rigs, I have had a lot of takes which failed to hook the fish..I think due to the fish picking up just the top bait and not getting the hook.......but I have friends who swear by them (and usually catch more than me), although they do tend to use little 10/12mm boilies, whereas I tend to go for 16/18mm ones.

 

Big big subject this, but perhaps you should find out what sort of bottom you are fishing over, and the "nuisance" fish factor, and then make a decision as to how you present your baits.

Den

[Gaffer]

Are pop-up rigs the best?......yes, when a pop-up is required!

 

I'm sure we'd all agree that bait presentation differs from swim to swim let alone venue to venue. Use what needs to be used.

 

Saying that, all my winter (Oct - Mar) carping is done with a single, 'dipped', Heathrow Bait Services 'Indian Spice' pop-up, only because I have so much confidence in the bait and it's presentation, and feel it can catch anywhere.

 

99% of all the fish I catch are caught by casting to movement of carp. I rarely set traps anymore, but rather sit with my rods in and wait for some movement to cast to. All I want to know is that my hookbait is presented so the carp can see it, and between September and April it's a single HBS 'Indian Spice' pop-up for me.

[peter mccue]

Pop-ups can be deadly when the situation suits them. Unfortunately, where they have been used extensively the very property that works for them ie in your face visibility, works against them in equal measure.

 

In my experience, nothing blows quicker than a pop-up where there is a clean hard bottam. However, as Poledark & Gaffer have said there is a number of silt & weed situations where pop-ups remain effective due to their ability to stay in view.

 

In the long run, bottam baits, critically balanced or otherwise are for me a better bet.

[saskcarp]

How about pop ups on lakes where they get little to no attention like Europe or North Am?