Considering modern carp snap (in the broad sense of the word, that is, including everything that is on the fishing line), you need to be aware that everything above the sinker is not intended to put the bait in front of the carp in the best light, but other goals.
In particular, to combat the tangling of equipment during casting and lowering to the bottom, for “self-notching”; to give the equipment the status of “safe” (if the carp tear off the line, he should be able to free himself from the sinker), etc.
Having understood this, you will immediately understand which equipment is better to choose and what elements we can do without in any given situation. My approach is minimalistic: use only what is absolutely necessary and useful.
New carp rigs imported to Russia along with the “hair” principle, modern baits, tackles and accessories are difficult not only in the sense that they are difficult to make or some complicated calculations (not always correct!) Are behind them, but also in that they include numerous components. In addition to traditional monofilament fishing lines, sinkers and hooks, we find here beads of various shapes, colors and sizes, from different materials.
Swivels and rings, various tubes made of plastic, rubber, silicone, leashes of multi-fiber materials, woven and non-woven, coated with a hard shell or with a hard core. Special multi-fiber material for the “hair”, cork and foam balls to give buoyancy to one or another part of the equipment, a soft load in the form of a paste, for example, with a tungsten filler.
At present, one can observe the expansion of the already quite impressive range of materials for leashes, the variety of which can confuse not only the beginner. Against the background of all this, one should not be surprised that more and more companies offer ready-made snap-ins of high quality.
Helicopter rigging
There are not so many types of “modern” equipment, first of all, this is the notorious “helicopter” equipment. The lead rotates during casting, like a helicopter rotor, or not (if not, the range only increases), but the location of the sinker at the end of the main fishing line increases the casting range and does not contribute to confusing equipment. There are special “rotor units” with special beads, but in principle, the basic version of “helicopter equipment” can be made from improvised materials.
For the equipment shown in the figure, I needed, in addition to a sinker and fishing line, two pieces of rubber tubes, a long elastic plastic tube, a swivel and three rubber beads.
- A monolesk of 70 – 80 cm length is tied on one side with a loop into which a swivel with a carbine is mounted.
- A tubule is installed on the fishing line.
- On the other hand, a bead stopper is placed on the fishing line.
- A leash with a hook equipped with a swivel is mounted on the tube so that the entire structure rotates freely around the main fishing line.
- A sinker is mounted to the carabiner, which is fixed at the bottom of the fishing line.
Separately, you should stay on plastic tubes. I once noted that the name “tube-anti-twist” comes from where they didn’t match their purpose: the tubes are designed to prevent not twisting the line or leash, but tangling the leash for the line. These tubes are different. At first, rigid variants of a rather large diameter prevailed. Then they were replaced by soft and narrow.
There is one point that theoreticians overlooked, who had never seen equipment at the bottom, except in their implausible pictures: there is air in the tube that lifts its free end above the bottom from the sinker. In thin tubes, this effect is not so pronounced, but to completely eliminate it, you can stick a piece of soft cargo or at least plasticine to the end of the tube. The most modern pipes are made heavier, but the weight is equal to any purchased pipe should be checked in the bath or in the water near the shore.
Side sinker accessories
In addition to “helicopter” equipment, as an example of a classic paternoster, almost all the others are built according to the same scheme: the main fishing line (often monofilament, less often woven) is connected to a leash (more often woven, less often from monofilament) by means of a swivel. This swivel is at the same time a stopper for a sinker and a plastic tube located on the main fishing line. The tube is needed to reduce the likelihood of tangling equipment and should be longer than the leash with hair and bait combined.
Side sinker with “safe” clasp
If you use a sinker with a swivel embedded in it, the same as in a helicopter rig, it should be on the side of the fishing line, but should not slide or should only on a short length of fishing line (tube), so as not to weaken the effect of “self-cutting”: the swivel loaded often put on the tube itself or an elastic band, which is closed with another swivel connecting the main fishing line and the leash. You can also provide for the possibility of replacing the sinkers by including a clasp in the snap. By the way, now it has become fashionable to fasten the sinker to a special “safe” clasp, from which it can jump out when catching so that the carp that tear off the fishing line do not drag it along with them.
In principle, when loading from the side, the equipment is more likely to get confused, but in practice this does not happen so often with “licked” modern equipment. Nevertheless, for ultra-long casts, rigging with a side sinker can hardly be called optimal.
In-line
In snap-ins of another type weights are used, in which the line passes inside (in-line leads). Such a sinker also, as a rule, sits on a tube and (or) swivel or is connected to them with rubber (silicone) adapters. Various “security systems” are designed to ensure the release of the carp from the sinker in case of breakage of the line, and some sinkers with a slot can be replaced without violating the integrity of the equipment.
Many people think that these snap-ins are less prone to tangling, but they lose somewhat to snap-in rigs with a lateral sinker in aerodynamic qualities. But not all of us (and not always) truckers!
The equipment we are talking about today should, in my opinion, be used for fishing with relatively long casts. When it’s close to the carps, as they say, you can find more interesting and effective ways to catch them than to throw a heavy “bomb” at them fixed on the fishing line.
If you have a desire and the opportunity to purchase and use special “branded” elements of modern equipment, then it makes sense to give preference to products of companies founded by carpathians or who have a solid reputation among carpathians. As a rule, these are English companies.
As an example, these brands are:
- Fox
- “Nash”;
- ESP (Peter Drennan);
- “Carp’r’Us”;
- Korda
- Solar and others
But keep in mind that the cost of a complete set of elements of modern equipment is expressed in the sum of green with many zeros.
General-wide firms also offer these products, but these are often low-grade imitations that are only slightly cheaper than the originals. I would recommend either buying the “real”, or, drastically reducing costs, to look for a replacement for this “real” in non-fishing trade, where it will be several times cheaper. Sometimes, in general, it will be possible to dispense with improvised materials.
