Different hook length materials for carp rigs

Carp rigs have changed a lot over the years and these days there is far more choice when it comes to hook link materials than there has ever been before, but this can also make it confusing when selecting the one you want to use.

It wasn’t that many years ago that your choices were fairly limited to a small range of different Dacron type materials, which were the early braided hook lengths, or even just using monofilament designed primarily as a main line, and there were very few other options – if you wanted to use any sort of stiff rig you just used heavier breaking strain nylon lines such as leader materials which tended to be stiffer than standard nylon.

These days you are spoilt for choice and will find all sorts of different braids, coated braids, fluorocarbons, and stiff rig materials in your local tackle shop, which have all been designed purposely to tie your carp rigs with.

They will each have different properties which make them ideal for certain rigs, and which ones you choose will be governed by the type of set-up you’re intending to use – if you’re planning on fishing with hinged stiff rigs your choice will be very different to those who want to fish with solid PVA bags.

Here we take a look at all the different types of hook link materials and the different types of carp rigs that they are used for, to help you choose the one that is best for the presentation that you are trying to achieve.

Monofilament nylon materials still account for some huge fish

Whilst its use has become far less common for standard rigs on the bottom, standard nylon line is still used by some anglers for certain rigs.

A monofilament hook link can simply be a piece of your main line which is used to tie your rig, and is still used by some anglers, such as with long hook links, to create the presentation they are looking for.

Some also favour the use of heavy nylon lines, such as the XT Snag Leader in 50lb, for their stiffness but offering something slightly different to fluorocarbon and which knots more easily for its equivalent breaking strain and diameter – such as when using some sort of hinged stiff rig.

If you are fishing with zig rigs then you are going to be using some sort of monofilament line, and mostly likely one that is a thin diameter for its breaking strain such as the Korda Zig Line, or even one of the pre-stretched lines from our Guru match brand. You want your hook link to be as unobtrusive as possible so that the fish are less likely to see it.

The same is true when you are floater fishing, and the same types of lines are perfect for this as well.

Fluorocarbon hook links

These days for fishing on the lakebed many anglers prefer to use some sort of fluorocarbon hook link rather than a standard nylon, as it is much less visible and also has a little more stiffness to it.

Hook link materials such as Korda IQ2 are ideal for this as it comes in a wide range of different breaking strains – everything from 10lb for very subtle presentations up to 20lb where you require something that is stiffer, but not as stiff as many purpose designed boom materials are.

This fluorocarbon is more supple than many others, including the original IQ, and means that it sits better on an uneven lake bed and more closely follows the contours, whilst still retaining enough stiffness to prevent tangles and allow the rig to sit away from the lead and reset, plus it is virtually invisible in water due to its refractive index.

One of the most popular and successful rigs over many years, and still used by many anglers todays, is Danny Fairbrass’ IQ D-rig, which incorporates a fluorocarbon hook link, with a D (made from the same piece of fluorocarbon) on the hook, to which a bait – wafter or bottom bait – is attached via some sort of ring, micro rig swivel, or bait screw.

Carp braids should be part of the contents of your rig boxes

Braided hook length materials are nothing new and have been around in carp fishing for a long time, but they have evolved and there are all sorts of different braids now available, and each with their own properties and uses.

A braid for carp rigs is basically a supple material that id designed to give complete freedom of movement to your hook, hookbait, and your hook link as a whole, making it very easy for a carp to suck in your bait.

It will also be abrasion resistant enough that it is able to cope with the angling situation that you are in and anything that it might come into contact with during a fight, such as weed, gravel, submerged branches, reeds, lily pads, and whatever else is present in your swim.

These braided materials will often come in different breaking strains so that you can choose the one that is most suitable the angling situation you’re in. Whilst you want the braided material to be strong and abrasion resistant, you don’t want it to be thicker than necessary to the extent that it looks obvious on the lake bed and could spell danger to a fish – older anglers will probably remember the horrible thick black Dacron braid from the 1980s that looked really obvious on the lake bed!

Colour is also a factor as you want your carp rig to blend in with the bottom as much as possible so that it is doesn’t stand out.

This also means that the braid needs to sink, otherwise it will loop up between your lead and hookbait, meaning that it is very obvious to a carp and also increases the chances of the fish feeling it if it comes into contact with a pectoral fin or head as it is feeding.

The type of fibres used for modern day braids are more advanced and can provide all of the properties that you ideally want from this type of material, and you can pick the one most suited to your rig.

Braided materials also have disadvantages though, and the biggest of those is that they can be prone to tangles both through the air and also when sinking down to the lake bed. If you are using a solid or mesh PVA bag, stringer, or a foam nugget, then these all greatly reduce the chances, to varying degrees, that you are fishing with a tangled mess that no carp is going to eat. You can also further reduce the chances of a tangle by using a length of rig tubing, or a Dark Matter or leadcore leader, as long as it is longer than your hook length.

Whilst it is hard to completely eliminate tangles you can certainly greatly reduce them, and the occasional one could be worth the advantage that you think it might give you in terms of how effective your rig is the rest of the time and whether you get more pick ups and hook more carp as a result of the braided set-up you’re using.

One other possible disadvantage is that with a braided hook link, when your lead lands there is nothing to push the rig out straight, like you get with any sort of stiff rig, and your hookbait could land on top of your leader/tubing, or even right next to your lead. However it lands, it will have slack in it, making it easier for a fish to pick up your bait unimpeded. 

Braid is a popular choice for solid PVA bag presentations where you are fishing your hookbait in amongst a small pile of food, and which usually involves the use of a short hook link, often around three inches or so, with an inline lead.

Once the bag melts your hookbait is left sat on top of the pile, and with the rest of your rig buried out of sight amongst the small food items in your mix. When a carp tries to suck in your bait, the supple hook link, which has also been folded up inside the PVA bag, gives enough movement for the bait to go in easily.

From the Korda range, Supernatural is a very popular choice is it is a very supple braid and feels really smooth. The Dark Matter Braid is also a good option, as although less supple than Supernatural, it still offers plenty of movement, plus sinks incredibly well.

There are also other popular presentations that are tied using braided material all the way through, and where both Supernatural and Dark Matter Braid, or some sort of coated braid, are a great choice, and these include the KD Rig, Flipper Rig, or even just a standard knotless knot hair rig, with or without some sort of kicker or line aligner.

Braid has also become very popular for creating combi rig presentations, which give you all the benefits of the suppleness of the braid at the hook end – or even the lead end with some set-ups - but in conjunction with a boom which helps the rig to reset and to sit on the bottom in a more predictable way, as it kicks out from the lead as it settles onto the lake bed.

Darrell Peck’s Combi Multi Rig has become very popular recently and he has accounted for numerous big fish on it over the years from all sorts of venues, and it is what he fishes with a lot of the time.

His rig incorporates the Korda Slip-D Braid, which has been purpose designed for the slip-D presentation that he uses to mount his baits, and works perfectly with a Multi Rig style system where the hook can easily be changed. It is also a fine braid, so isn’t overly obtrusive, even when doubled up to form the braided part of this rig.

If you aren’t confident in tying the Albright knot which Darrell uses for his rig, or just prefer to use some other sort of way of mounting the bait, such as a sliding rig ring and hook bead, but still want the convenience of being able to just change the hook section and keep using the same boom, then the ‘loops and booms’ is popular, where you tie your hook on using a doubled up length of braid, leaving your hook attached to a short loop, typically of 2-3in. long.

This can then simply be attached to a loop in the end of your boom, via the loop-to-loop method, and also means it is easy to remove and change. The Korda Loop braid is ideal for this as it is a fine diameter for its strength and although supple does have a little bit of stiffness to it.

There may also be occasions where you only want your hair to be supple, whilst the rest of the rig is made from a stiffer material – IQ2 fluorocarbon is a popular choice. This type of set-up is easily achieved by simply whipping a braided hair to the shank of your hook – usually so the hair exits roughly opposite the barb – and then attaching your hook to the hook link material (a knotless knot or whipping knot is still a good idea, as opposed to tying the hook on via the eye, as the way it exits from the front of the eye helps the hook to flip over in the mouth of a carp).

The use of braid in combi rigs isn’t solely for the hook end though, and there are occasions where you might want to use a stiff hook link all the way through to the hook but with a couple of inches of braid at the swivel end to provide plenty of movement – more so than a loop in the stiff material directly onto the swivel would provide – and this is known as a reverse combi rig.

The reason for using a reverse combi rig might not even be for the extra movement, and can be due to the way you want the rig to sit, such as with Tom Stokes when he is using the Korda COG leads, where the hook link exits from the top of the lead, and with a stiff hook link this can make it stick out. Tom uses just enough braid at the swivel end that it is long enough to hang over the front of the lead and down to the lake bed, at which point it is attached to his stiff boom, and means that lays perfectly flat on the bottom.

So, as you can see from all this, braid is an incredibly versatile carp rig material and offers plenty of different options when it comes to the presentation of your hookbait.

Coated braids work with all sorts of bottom bait, wafter and pop-up presentations

A coated braid is literally just a normal braid that has some sort of plastic outer coating around it.

This coating adds stiffness – how much depends on the type of coated braid and the properties it has been given - and makes the material more tangle-free as well, but all of the strength/breaking strain is in the braid itself.

It is incredibly versatile as the coating can simply be stripped back as you desire – using a Strippa Tool makes this easy – to expose the inner supple braid, or even just have the outer coating broken to form hinges where you want them.

This makes coated braid a popular choice for combi style rigs, as you can combine stiff and very supple sections to your rigs, simply by stripping off the plastic coating and with no need to join different materials together.

It is also very versatile in terms of all the different types of coated braids available, which have different properties. The outer coating can vary a lot in terms of how supple or stiff it is, as well as things such as its diameter and colour, and the same is also true of the inner braid, and even within the Korda range there are a number of different coated braids available which each behave differently.

Whichever one you choose, the coating is just there to add stiffness and removing it doesn’t affect the overall breaking strain, but one thing that you don’t want is for it to break, as this can add hinges where you don’t want them – all of the coatings used for the Korda coated braid are tough and can be knotted without causing them to crack or split.

The stiffest coated braid in the Korda range is Hybrid Stiff, which can be steamed totally straight and is a popular choice for booms, where anglers want something slightly less stiff than a traditional boom material. The inner braid is very supple, so this material is a good option where you want a real contrast between the stiff and supple sections of your rig, and in a way that is very easy to tie.

There is also the Kamo, which offers an inner braid which is incredibly tough and abrasion resistant for its breaking strain, and encased in a plastic outer which adds some stiffness as well as really blending in with the lake bed.

Our original coated braid, N-Trap, is still just as popular and effective today and is used for all sorts of rigs, including multi rigs. It comes in a choice of Soft of Semi-stiff versions, depending on how supple you want your hook link to be – with the Soft providing enough stiffness to help prevent tangles, but still being supple enough to follow the contours of the lake bed. The Semi-stiff is ideal where you want your rigs to have a bit more rigidity to them to help push them away from your lead system, but whilst still offering the versatility of a coated braid and its very supple Dyneema inner core.

Coated braids don’t always sink as well as some other materials, but that certainly isn’t an issue with the Dark Matter Tungsten Coated Braid, as the outer coating is infused with Tungsten molecules which ensure that it sinks like a stone and lays flat along the lake bed, as it is still supple enough to follow the contours.

For newcomers to the sport, or those on a tighter budget, or who just want to try out some coated braid for the first time and want a smaller spool of it, then the Basix Coated Braid is a great option. It performs well in terms of how it knots and how easy it is to strip, and has a nice supple inner braid, and is perfect for use with a variety of different rigs.

Stiff rig and boom materials

Whilst some standard fluorocarbon, coated braid, or even mono hook link materials have a certain degree of stiffness to them, that tends to be far less so than rig materials that have been created specifically for the purpose of being fished as some sort of boom, or as part of a stiff rig presentation.

The Korda Boom material is a fluorocarbon, but is a very stiff one that is ideal for creating booms for all sorts of rigs, including the popular Ronnie rig set-up.

Boom hook link has been designed for rigs where you want the boom part of the hook link to push away from the lead when it reaches the lakebed, and also to enable your rig to keep on resetting if it does get picked up and ejected. Not only is it very stiff for its breaking strain, which is essential for this type of rig, but being fluorocarbon, and with a green tint to it, makes it pretty much invisible in water.

Another big advantage with this type of boom material and the fact that it has virtually no stretch due to being a fluorocarbon, is that it can be crimped securely – it can also be knotted if you prefer – and this makes it incredibly quick and easy to make your booms, with no need for any fiddly loop knots and the like, with such a stiff material.

If you do need to knot it though, such as with an Albright knot for set-ups like Darrell Peck’s Combi Multi rig, then it does knot very well and provides a strong connection.

This type of material also works well with hinged stiff rigs, certainly for the boom part of the rig anyway. It is also available in a Basix Boom version, which doesn't have the green tinge to it and comes on smaller sized spools, so is useful if you just want to try it, or aren't intending to make up lots of rigs (even with a 10m spool though, that is a lot of Booms that can be made!).

There are other stiff rig materials though that have very different uses, such as Korda Mouth Trap, where unlike a boom which you want to stay completely straight and to be highly resistant to any kinks, these hook links can actually be manipulated into your desired shape.

This is because materials like Mouth Trap, although stiff very stiff, also have a very high memory, meaning that once bent or curved into shape, they tend to then stay like that.

That makes them perfect for chod rigs or for the pop-up section of hinged stiff rigs, where a certain degree of curve is desirable in terms of the hooking potential of the rig, and you can manipulate it into that shape using either your fingers, or by steaming it around something, such as the cone that comes as part of the Chod Safe system.