We have refreshed our stock of these popular pellet coloured 8mm wafters ready for this season and they are now in stock. See leading stockists or online here for details.
GO2 wafters are the perfect for use on methods, hybrids and bombs. With an element of buoyancy they negate the weight of the hook meaning the bait is the first thing to fly back into the fishes mouth. Not only are they great for carp and F1s but are a great ‘alternative’ hookbait when targeting big bream!
The Catalyst:
Based around the same ingredients as our famous boilie range, packed with active enzymes and carp attractors. The colour matches perfectly with most carp pellets so the ideal choice when fishing pellet waggler in the warmer weather. A sweet creamy smell which carp love!
After 7 days of looking after my eldest daughter, she caught covid 19 (no doubt from school). I knew at some point, it would grace our house again. She was pretty lucky with the symptoms and only had a high temperature one day with not much coughing. It was the lack of taste that really got her, everything tasted of cardboard or very salty. But we are all free of it, she has tested negative for a couple of days and can go to school tomorrow. This gives me the opportunity to get down the lake in daylight hours on Thursday evening, not sure if I would have had the motivation to set up in the dark, the lake fishing particularly hard this January.
I arrived about 1230 in the afternoon and was a bit surprised to only find one other day angler fishing. I popped in for a chat, and he hadn’t seen anything. I took a drive around the lake and a walkabout, looking for signs of anything and not a glimpse of a carp.
Hidden away
I settled for a swim which is close to the area where the carp had been seen, but a different swim this time and with a slightly different approach. I’d made up a bucket of ground bait balls and frozen them, I like them not to break upon impact, and I also tend to stick them in my spomb, I can’t use a catapult as it hurts my elbow these days!
Looking out the doorway
I only baited one spot and was going to use the other rod with a single 12mm pop-up on. I would change it around during my session. I’d brought my zig kit and was going to set up a rod during the day tomorrow, I really think this is the way forward. Once I get to grips with how best to set it up.
Summit Distance Sticks
I love my new Summit tackle distance sticks.
Over the next 48 hours, the pressure is due to rise and then drop again, tonight is going to be cold, but Friday night is going to be 7 degrees and with sunshine tomorrow as well. I’m hoping this will wake this carp up.
Cold night
The stars are out again and the mist is forming over the lake again, it’s definitely going to be a cold one.
Cold night
As the morning progressed, the sun came out, and Ian arrived for a few hours fishing, he brought me a pasty and a sausage roll. We sat chatting about things and it was soon his pack-up time. The rods were on the floor, he suddenly grabbed the right-hand rod and was into a good lump that was kitting right. The carp was clearly going to end up beyond the bush. Ian had his tip under the water, but it needed to be much deeper, so I quickly grabbed my waders and got into the water, the line had gone through the bush sticking out into the lake.
Dam tree!
Ian passed me the rod, and I stuck the tip way down as much as possible. The line was over the twiggy bits at the end, I was still gaining line on the fish. At this point, I was pulling pretty hard, this was only going to end one of two ways – lost carp or in the net. I was hoping that as the fish got closer and pulled on the line, it would come free of the bush. By now, I was waist-deep and the rod underwater nearly up to the reel! I needed the line to pull free and finally, after what felt like a lifetime, it was out. I quickly handed the rod back to Ian and made my way back and sat on the edge of the swim. I was watching this lump of a carp trying its hardest to get back under there again. After another few minutes, it was wallowing on the surface, just as worn out as Ian! I slipped the Nsr50 under it.
33lb 5oz
He was over the moon and extremely keen to get back again soon, he nearly went Pike fishing on a different lake today.
I hadn’t got around to the zigs at all today and was planning on leaving my rods out until tomorrow when I packed up. The weather conditions were improving by the minute and thanks to Ian’s capture, my confidence levels were high.
Morning
Morning arrived and the wind had certainly picked up over the dark hours. The wind is forecast for the coming week and with that, the warmer weather. Next week’s trip could certainly have better conditions for catching carp.
Until next time
Richard
Use my code for 10% discount
The discount code applies to the entire order when purchasing the Deeper Sonars PRO, PRO+, PRO+ 2, CHIRP, CHIRP+, CHIRP 2, CHIRP+ 2. The code is valid in all countries.CODE = DEEPER-H-9OCSF
Do you keep your feet firmly on the bank and cast?
Or do you take to the water and jump in the boat?
Use my code for 5% discount
The discount code applies to the entire order when purchasing the Deeper Sonars PRO, PRO+, PRO+ 2, CHIRP, CHIRP+, CHIRP 2, CHIRP+ 2. The code is valid in all countries.CODE = DEEPER-H-9OCSF
Just one rig for me is a strange title and it opens myself up for a lot of criticism from other anglers. But my aim is to be open about my fishing, make things simplistic for the everyday angler, make things less confusing and show you don’t need a tackle box full of made-up rigs for every situation you come across. My life needs to be as straight forward as most, as those of you who read my blogs will know I’ve written about my depression and I’ve found that over the year, the best way to combat this is by making everything I do straight forward. Cutting out the complicated things and simplifying my set up is part of that. I have utter confidence in this rig in all situations and with all types for hook baits. It has certainly helped me catch a lot of carp over the years.
You need to break down the rig into its component parts to understand with a few small adjustments, the rig is changeable, capable of being fished in many different situations and with all types of hook baits.
So, let’s break it down and give you an overview.
1) Hooks, a little unknown fact is that in most people believe that the Jrc 360 hooks was the best patten of hook for this type of rig and it has gone. However, you may be wrong there, Spotted Fin have the pattern right and still today produce this very same hook.
2) Hook Beads, I personally like the translustane rubber one that has a very tight fit, but you must be able to move them up and down the hook. This is to be able to adjust how your hook sits in the water. Beware if the top one become too loose, it can move up and cover the micro bead on long range casting with big hook baits.
3) Gap between the beads, I personally like to be able to open and close the gap up and down the shank of the hook. This is why I use two beads and not one. It also, in my opinion, makes the rig look nicer. If I’m using a small pop up you can have the bead at the top of the bend or if you fancy further down, it gives you more of a chod rig look to you rig – instead of the more traditional pop-up look. You can play around with the beads to adjust your set up to suit the lake and how the carp feed, more than it would be possible with just one hook bead on the hook.
4) Shrink Tubing, I like to use 2mm black and very stiff tubing, as this keeps the whole set up in place. I’ve found that some brands are too soft. So, these days I get it via eBay in packs of 10, only use enough to cover the ring swivel and a few milometers up the hook shank. You need to go a good bit up the shank otherwise when you catch a carp it will come away and make the rig unusable.
I actually make these up in packs of four in my tackle box, as I don’t carry a rig board. I prefer to make up the hooking material part of my set up when I’m on the lake, depending on which swim I’m in and the type of hook bait that I’m using each time. This saves on wastage and costs less in the long run. I’m sure most people have made up rigs they just don’t use and still have on a rig board, I did for many years.
5) Hook baits, this rig is well suited for bottom, wafters, pop ups and in conjunction with changing the beads and hook link materials would work as well as any other rig out there. This is in my opinion before a get loads of messages contradicting my thoughts and findings.
6) Hook Link Materials, there are so many combinations as the market is full of great hook link materials these days. Firstly, bear in mind that if you use soft material, there is a chance of it tangling and you will need to combat that issue, but really soft materials do certainly work well and not spoken about much. Going back to the point about different lakes and carp behave differently, if I use a hinge type Ronnie rig set up on the Airfield Lake (that I write about fishing in my weekly blogs on my website), I will bet you any money, I will get a very high amount of hook pulls. Whereas I only use a stiff boom, which is very infrequently these days, it only took me a few years to work that out, but in the beginning when we were on there the hinged rig and D-rig, it worked perfect ok.
I’ve even played around with a loop at each end allowing the hook to rotate a lot more. I’m simply experimenting to get the hook point to prick the carp’s mouth and cause a take rather than a carp shaking its head to eject the hook without any indication.
7) Tangles, so far this rig is 99.99% tangle free. For me, I don’t believe there is a completely tangle free rig. You always reel in at one point in your fishing to find a tangle, caused by something, but this can be reduced with this set up – I believe.
8) Bird Life, the other great bonus with this rig and the previous one – the 360 rig, if a bird or even a carp picks up the bait and the drops it, it will automatic reset itself and you can sit there knowing that it’s still perfect and there’s no need to recast, spooking anything out there.
9) Confidence, once you have confidence in this rig, your fishing will improve along with your success rate. Anglers go on about keeping it simple and the less component parts the better. I look at the Ronnie Rig as two parts really – the hook section and the ring swivel with shrink tube which is really an extension of the hook. It creates a long shank style hook, like the original pattens which were band many years ago. Then just add a bead, micro swivel, quite simple really. I make these all at home and carry in single packets to protect the hook point and the hook link material.
I’m not going to tell you which situation and what type of hook bait to fish with or even where and when, simply because I believe each carp lakes fish completely differently and the carp completely behave in their own way. This is something you will have to find out for yourself but remember the most important part is to keep adjusting the component part of your rig to get a better understanding of each capture, where the carp has the hook in its mouth, how good the hook hold is (each time) and take a note how you set up the component parts of your Ronnie Rig.
I hope this helps
Richard
Use my code for 5% discount
The discount code applies to the entire order when purchasing the Deeper Sonars PRO, PRO+, PRO+ 2, CHIRP, CHIRP+, CHIRP 2, CHIRP+ 2. The code is valid in all countries.CODE DEEPER-H-SNL5Q
This hydrolysed soluble tuna extract, full of proteins, is easily digested and has been made by the same company to replace the discontinued famous L030 liquid. Called Tuna L030 or L030T, Pure Tuna Liquid by some brands our Liquid Tuna is the same thick salty paste in an easy to use squeeze bottle.. http://ow.ly/cCvY30dFu1V
Description
This hydrolysed soluble tuna extract, full of proteins, is easily digested and has been made by the same company to replace the discontinued famous L030 liquid. Called Tuna L030 or L030T by some brands our Liquid Tuna is the same thick salty paste.
This thick, rich salty liquid is one of the best carp foods available on the market today. Our Liquid Tuna is not cut with any other product and has no additives. It is a pure extraction and due its low viscosity it has a binding effect if used on boilie mixes. It can be watered down (Which we do not do for you!) to make it easier to pour over pellets and include in groundbaits and is a highly desirable food source for carp and other fish.
There is no limit to its inclusion but 30ml per kg of mix is a good guide to start with.
UK Carp & Coarse Fishing 