Well its time for our monthly chat about the business end of our tackle. I have decided to chat to you about lead systems because this a question often asked when I am the water.
This can be difficult so please bear with me.
Weights, yes a load of different sizes shapes and weights, why???..... No easy answer here, so I will take them one at a time and over to the next issue.
I am going to start with the bolt rig set up, this seems to cause a lot of confusion.
The lead clip, first off has a job to do, it must loose the weight, yes in a nut shell, but it needs some help from the angler, because it does much more than that.
When a carp is pricked by the hook it obviously does not like it so shakes its head, takes off for the nearest snag, now the bigger the carp the more violent this will be. So with most good quality lead clips the weight will fall off as this happens, this will give you as the angler a chance to exert some pressure on the carp, bringing it up to the surface water and over any snags. Just by keeping a good constant pressure, you should be able to keep the carp away from snags.
So where does the weight come in you ask, well first off it must be heavy enough to be shed by the clip, if too light it will not shed in the take. Yes it will pull out if the fish is snagged but then its too late, more than likely you will loose the fish.
So I will say use a minimum of a 85g (3 oz) lead, not only will it shed as desired, is heavy enough to help the hook turn, and more than likely bed the hook nicely for you.
Now shapes - The shape will also determine how well the weight is going to help you hook the fish, its no good using a long shaped lead for the bolt rig, some of the leads will move more than an 25mm (1in) before it has any effect, take a P4 or P5 weight, lay it on the floor, on a rig, now using your finger on the point of the hook, pull the rig, see how far you pull before you feel the hook break the skin on you finger, now do the same test with a flat pear or a square weight.
There was a big difference, the flat weights pulled the hook very quickly. It is the center of gravity that actually did this. Ok, ok now I am getting technical but fellow anglers this is how technical our sport really is.
So to recap what did we learn, that the shape and weight make a difference to the way the actual setup works, then most probably one of the most important things in the bolt rig set up, is the little plastic, t-bar or pin. This little piece of plastic makes or breaks your bolt rig, with out it more then likely the swivel will pull out rendering the weight just about useless, both in the shedding and if snagged up, so please remember this little piece of the rig. It keeps the swivel in the clip, so that the lead comes into play and will pull free. This pin is designed that should the weight pull free and the clip itself gets snagged it will break and the carp is left pulling a hook link at the most and maybe a piece of line to the break, but the rig tubing and clip will be clear.
We will continue this discussion in the next issue, have a look at the pictures and hopefully you will now look at them in a new light.
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