Inline Leads for Carp Fishing: Complete Guide to Rigs, Safety, Best Setups & When to Use Them

What Are Inline Leads?

Inline leads are one of the most effective set-ups for hooking carp, yet are often overlooked these days in favour of more popular systems.

An inline lead is basically just any sort of lead where your line runs through a hole in the middle of it, and which normally has some sort of plastic or rubber insert to prevent potential damage to your line from being caused by the lead itself and any sharp edges.

The majority of modern carp anglers will have some type of lead clip set-up or helicopter system attached to their line, and whilst both are incredibly good in certain situations, the effectiveness of inline leads should never just be dismissed and seen as ‘old fashioned’.

Inline vs Lead Clip vs Helicopter Set-up

Why Are Inline Leads So Effective?

The biggest advantage of an inline lead is the way that it is connected on your line and the way the fish feels the weight of it when the hook link tightens.

With a lead clip, and especially if the lead is attached via a swivel, there is a lot of pivot movement around the lead itself, meaning that the fish doesn’t immediately feel the weight of it, and can potentially use that movement to get rid of the hook if it doesn’t panic and bolt.

A helicopter set-up is even worse in terms of the amount of movement that it gives a carp before it feels the true bolt effect of the lead, and that worsens the further up the line that you have your top bead.

By contrast, a semi-fixed inline lead - where your hook link swivel is pushed into the nose of it to fix it in place but can come free if it needs to – means that the fish starts to at least feel some of the weight of the lead as soon as the hook link tightens, and it only takes a small amount of movement after that for the whole lead to be lifted clear of the bottom and the weight of it fully felt. How quickly that happens will be determined the shape of the lead, as the longer it is, the less effective the bolt effect will be when it gets picked up. 

For a full run down of all the different types of lead systems available, and when to use each, you can find more information in this article.

Choosing the Right Inline Lead Shape and Weight

There is less choice in terms of shape when it comes to standard inline leads in the Korda range, but the ones that are available cover pretty much any angling situation.

There are Skyliner shaped inlines, which have a streamlined shape, much like the tournament swivel leads, and have been designed for situations where you need to cast further.

You also have traditional flat pear leads, which are great when fishing on any sort of slope as they won’t roll down it, and they are also quite a low profile to the lake bed, so are less obtrusive to the fish.

The most efficient in terms of weight distribution is the inline square pear, which is basically a cube shape with rounded edges, and a significant amount of the weight is felt by the fish as soon as the lead starts to move after the hook link has tightened.

These leads range in size from 1.1oz up to 5oz, so are suitable for pretty much any angling situation where you might want to use an inline lead, whether fishing under your feet or even dropping rigs by boat at longer ranges.

There are also a couple of specialist inline leads within the Korda range, with the Inline Safety Kit having been purposely designed so that the lead can come free when it needs to, but won’t fall off all the time when it doesn’t need to, like a drop-off inline will do.

There is also the Solidz inline leads which have been designed specifically for PVA bag fishing, and can either be fished as a conventional inline, or set up as a drop-off inline – they have a special groove around the outside for your leader to locate into – and the shape has been chosen to maximise the bolt effect, even to the extent of having a special recess for your hook link swivel to sit in and which move that pivot point closer to the centre of gravity of the lead.

What Lake Beds Are Best for Inline Leads?

Because of the way that they are set up, and how the hook link exits from the lead system, an inline lead is generally best on a harder, clearer lakebed.

If you were to use an inline lead with any sort of stiffer hook link material, such as a boom for a spinner rig, and cast it into silt, then the chances are that your hook link would be sticking up out of the lakebed, due to the nose of the lead plugging into the silt, and that also being the point at which the hook link exits.

Gravel is ideal for fishing inline leads on, and it can be very effective when using them in conjunction with very short rigs – even a braided hook link when margin fishing and lowering rigs in, so you know they aren’t tangled – and provide a fairly instant bolt effect.

They are equally as good over clay, sand and firm silt, where even if they did dig in slightly when they land on the bottom, it isn’t enough to ruin your presentation, and can actually add to the bolt effect.

That is of course if you are using some sort of inline set-up on its own, and that all changes if you are fishing it in a solid PVA bag, which can be cast onto any type of lakebed, including sparser weed, as the bag itself will gently settle on the bottom, leaving the lead sat on top, even in silt or on silkweed, once the bag melts. 

How to Fish Inline Leads Safely with Leaders and Tubing

Like with any type of lead system, it needs to be safe for the carp in the event that your main line breaks, and it must never leave the fish towing your lead around behind it.

When using a standard inline lead on a monofilament or fluorocarbon main line straight through to your rig, there aren’t really any concerns. Whilst your hook link swivel locks into the insert in the nose of the lead and creates a bolt rig, that is only semi-fixed and can come free when it needs to – often even during a normal fight the lead will have popped off of the swivel by the time you land the fish.

Where an inline lead potentially becomes dangerous is often when it is used in conjunction with a leader, either some sort of leadcore or fused Dark Matter Tungsten variety, or a longer shock or snag leader, if it isn’t set up correctly. Learn more about fish safety and using lead systems that won't tether carp.

The bulk of your leader knot to the hook link swivel means that it will no longer easily fit inside the inline insert, so could cause anglers to jam it on in a way that prevents it from coming free if it needs to.

Because your line is running through the centre of a lead insert, that must be able to pass over the lead knot, or the lead itself must be able to detach from the insert and have a large enough central bore that it will go over the knot. Find out more about different types of leaders for carp fishing, and when and how to use them safely and effectively.

That often isn’t the case, especially with any bulkier lead knots that incorporate materials such as leadcore, if you just use the standard lead inserts. So, when using a leader you need to switch over to a Safety Inline Sleeve, rather than the one that comes with the lead.

These Safety Inline Sleeves are rubber rather than hard plastic, meaning they can be pulled securely over even bulky leader knots attached to your hook link swivel.

In the event that you main line does break above the leader, the lead itself can easily detach from the sleeve – whether you are fishing naked, with a leader, or even tubing – and the bore of the lead itself is easily wide enough to go over any leader knot.

That brings us on to using rig tubing with inline lead set-ups – which many anglers do unless they are using a leader, otherwise this system can be prone to tangles – and with a standard inline insert, where a tail rubber is used to connect the tubing to that, if your line breaks, there is no way that tubing will pass over the knot and allow the lead to come free.

The Safety Inline Sleeves though have been designed so that rig tubing, such as our low profile Nano Tubing, will neatly fit into the top of the insert, so that the lead can still pull free of it and pass over both the insert and the tubing, without needing either of them to pull clear of the leader knot, and thus creating a very safe inline set-up for situations where you don’t need to lose the lead every time you get a bite.

Drop-Off Inline Leads and the Inline Safety System Explained

In situations where you do want to get rid of the lead, such as when fishing in weed or snags, there are options for inline set-ups which will either jettison it every time you get a bite, or only if the lead actually gets stuck and losing it from your line will help you to land the carp.

With a standard inline lead though that won’t happen, and it makes it unsuitable for some angling situations where you need to dump the lead to have a realistic chance of landing the carp.

Anglers came up with the drop-off inline lead as a solution to this issue, which was a clever tweak to the way in which it is set up and means that your leader, or main line, actually runs around the outside of the lead and is attached to the same eye of your swivel that your hook link is tied to – leaving the other swivel eye completely free and able to be pushed securely into the insert in the nose of the lead.

What holds it in place during the cast is a combination of the swivel in the lead nose, plus the tail rubber, so this does limit casting range – if you try to cast it too hard the lead will just come off.

The idea with this is that once the fish hooks itself against the lead and lifts it off of the lakebed, the swivel pushed into the insert will come free, and that in turn will cause the tail rubber to slide off of the other end of the insert, with the lead completely detaching from your line.

A popular use for drop-off inline leads is in conjunction with Solid PVA bags, and where the fishing conditions dictate that the lead actually needs to be dropped.

The use of a solid bag means that there is no danger of the lead coming off on the cast, so you can cast them as far as you want, whilst having a lead on the end that quickly detaches.

In terms of the types of lakebed that a drop-off inline can be fished on, it is no different to a standard inline lead and will work in the same sort of situations.

A very under-used lead system is the Korda Inline Safety Kit, which was invented by renowned angler Jason Hayward and solves many of the previous issues with using inline leads.

Unlike a drop-off inline lead, which is bodged together, the Inline Safety Kit is purpose designed and ideal for fishing with in weedy or snaggy situations, as the special insert means that it will stay on even with the hardest of casts, yet if the lead gets caught up in weed during the fight, it is easily able to come free.

This system also has the advantage of being safe for carp, even when being used with a leader or tubing, as the lead completely comes free of the line as soon as it comes off of the end of the insert, so you don’t have to worry about it passing over any leader knots or similar. It can still be used naked as well in situations where that is an advantage.

The leads that are designed for use with this system are of the flat pear variety, so offer a combination of decent hooking potential, alongside the ability to be able to be cast a long way as well. It is also great for solid bag fishing as well, although you need to avoid mesh PVA bags or stringers, as they can slow the lead down so suddenly on impact with the water, that it actually causes the lead to detach – in the same way that can happen if using a lead clip with a mesh bag or stringer.

The Inline Safety Kit is best used on firm, fairly clean lakebeds, where it won’t sink into the bottom, or plug in nose first, which could leave your rig badly presented, and especially so with any stiffer hook link material. 

Why Inline Leads Are Perfect for Solid PVA Bag Fishing

The most popular use for inline leads these days is when fishing with solid bags, and they are pretty much the standard lead system for this style of angling.

They lend themselves perfectly to the short braid hook link rigs that tend to be used with PVA bags, and create a very fast bolt effect as soon as the fish moves and tightens the hook link, with the full weight of the lead also coming into play far quicker than with other types of lead system.

Inline leads are also very neat for using in a PVA bag and can be located perfectly inside the solid bag and easily covered with micro pellet or crumb as you fill the bag, as well as making it easy to compact the bag around it without any danger of it piercing or splitting the PVA. Find out more about how to use solid bags, tie them, and rigs that work best in them.

Any type of inline lead will work inside a PVA bag, whether you are fishing open water and can use a traditional one that stays on after every fish. Or you are fishing in weedier or snaggy conditions where a drop-off inline or Inline Safety Kit makes most sense.

Disadvantages of Using Inline Leads

There are reasons why inline leads went out of favour compared to lead clips and helicopter set-ups.

That includes the fish safety – some anglers see the variations which do jettison the lead as being fiddly to use - and different types of suitable lake beds which we have already looked at in depth.

But it certainly isn’t just limited to that, and things such as casting distance also play a part, as an inline lead won’t cast as far. This is due to the way it flies through the air and the stability and drag on it, as your rig and hookbait will always be behind it and creating drag from a certain angle – you don’t get that with a helicopter rig or even a lead clip, as the lead can pivot around to remain stable in flight.

Standard inline leads also make it harder to change the size or shape of the lead if you need to, and especially so when using a leader, and the fact that it can’t just be detached like with a lead clip or Heli-Safe, also means you have to pack your rods away with the lead still on the line, and this increases the chances of damage to the blank during transit as the lead bangs against it.

The most important disadvantage though is still the type of presentation you can end up with if you use an inline set up on the wrong type of lakebed where it digs in nose first, or where you don’t adapt your rig to take account of this issue. As long as the bottom isn’t too soft, then there are actually ways around that which can allow you to still fish a spinner rig style of presentation with a stiff boom, and that involves some sort of reverse combi set-up, with a couple of inches of supple braid between the hook link swivel and your boom, and with no anti-tangle sleeve. As long as the nose of the lead doesn’t sink any further into the lakebed than the length of your braid, your boom is still able to lay flat along the bottom and perfectly presented.

How to Prevent Tangles When Fishing Inline Leads

Anglers also seem to associate inline leads with more tangles as well, due to the way they fly through the air, but that can largely be solved.

When fishing an inline naked on your main line and with a more supple hook link, that can get spun up around the back of the lead on the cast.

But these days that isn’t a common set-up for anglers anyway, and is you are using one of the popular modern rigs such as a Ronnie, Combi, or IQ D-rig, then the type of hook link materials used are pretty resistant to tangles anyway.

Even more so with the addition of rig tubing or some sort of leader, which causes the hook link to tangle around it less than your standard main line does, plus an anti-tangle sleeve on your hook link that helps to keep that kicked out on the cast and reduces the chances of it tangling round the back of the lead.

The way that you cast also makes a difference as well, and it is important to hit the clip on the cast, as this throws the hook link out in front of the lead anyway. If your rig lands with a slack line and doesn’t hit the clip, then it tends to enter the water like a bag of spanners and greatly increases the chances of a tangle.

So whilst there are some disadvantages of using inline leads, most can easily be overcome, and in the right fishing situations they are incredibly effective, and often overlooked.

Inline Leads: Quick Questions

What are inline leads?

Inline leads are carp fishing leads with a central hole that allows the main line to pass directly through the middle of the lead. They create a direct connection between the hooklink and the lead, producing a fast bolt effect when a carp tightens the rig. Most modern inline leads use a semi-fixed insert that securely holds the hooklink swivel while allowing it to release safely if required.

Why are inline leads so effective?

Inline leads are highly effective because the fish feels the weight of the lead almost immediately after the hooklink tightens. Unlike lead clip or helicopter systems, there is very little pivot movement before the lead comes into play, resulting in a faster and more positive bolt effect that helps improve hooking efficiency.

What type of lake bed is best for inline leads?

Inline leads perform best over firm lake beds such as gravel, clay, sand and firm silt. They can plug nose-first into very soft silt, which may affect rig presentation when using stiff hooklinks. When fishing over soft bottoms or light weed, using a solid PVA bag helps keep the lead on top of the lake bed and ensures the rig settles correctly.

Are inline leads safe for carp?

Yes. When correctly assembled, inline lead systems are very safe. Standard inline leads allow the hooklink swivel to pull free from the insert if necessary, while anglers using leaders or tubing should use Safety Inline Sleeves to ensure the lead can detach and pass safely over knots if the main line breaks.

Can you use inline leads with leaders or tubing?

Yes, but the setup must be designed correctly. Standard hard inserts are not suitable for bulky leader knots because they may prevent the lead from releasing safely. Safety Inline Sleeves are designed to work with leadcore, fused leaders and rig tubing, allowing the lead to detach properly while maintaining a safe setup.

Are inline leads good for solid PVA bag fishing?

Inline leads are considered one of the best lead systems for solid PVA bag fishing. Their compact design fits neatly inside the bag, creates an excellent bolt effect with short hooklinks, and helps the entire presentation settle neatly on the lake bed once the PVA dissolves.

When should you use a drop-off inline lead?

Drop-off inline leads are best used when fishing in heavy weed, snags or other situations where releasing the lead improves the chances of landing a hooked carp. They are also popular for solid PVA bag fishing when conditions require the lead to eject immediately after the fish is hooked.

Do inline leads cast as far as lead clips or helicopter rigs?

No. Inline leads generally do not cast as far because the rig flies directly behind the lead, creating more drag during flight. Lead clip and helicopter systems are typically more aerodynamic for extreme-range fishing, although inline leads remain more than capable for most carp fishing situations and offer superior hooking mechanics on suitable lake beds.