‘Tripwire’; just the word conjures up all sorts of sneaky traps and tricks, so is it really as good as it sounds? I recently received some of this and tried it out on my local carp water.
Gardner’s ‘Tripwire’ is a dedicated stiff mono hook link designed for the construction of chod rigs and stiff rigs when after wary carp. It is stiff, but in spite of this, it is easy to tie effective knots with and can be steamed (or pulled under finger pressure) into the exact curve which makes the chod so effective. When tying the hair, I found that each coil sat perfectly along the shank of the hook and didn’t suffer from slippage or coiling. Because it is so inflexible (and has a fairly large diameter), it’s important to choose a hook pattern with a large eye to prevent rig making problems. The rigidity does make it easy to manage; burning back the hair to provide a ‘D’ loop was easy and I didn’t damage the remainder of the rig. (Or fingers!)
I had a couple of fish using this product and I’m happy to report no problems. If you are a fan of Gardner tackle, or the chod rig, then you won’t go far wrong with some of this in your tackle box.
‘Tripwire’ is supplied on a 20m spool and comes in three breaking strains; 15, 20 and 25lbs, and retails for about £3.99.
Gardner’s website www.gardnertackle.co.uk contains further details and features some fantastic ‘how to’ videos to show you how to get the best from your ‘Tripwire’.
Clint Walker, October 2010
