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Are longer hairs better to use than short hairs?
This can be a hard question
to answer as there are numerous factors that need to be considered. However,
I will give you my take on what is the best length of hair rigs for catching
carp.
 Generally with larger boilies I would use longer hairs. The width of the
bait means the hook requires more space in order for it to fall loosely and
turn into the flesh of the mouth. With smaller baits I would use shorter
hair rigs as there’s less need for space for the hook to turn properly.
I would definitely use short hairs if using a large hook with a small bait.
There are not many situations where I would do this, except if the large
carp in a lake prefer small baits. I could then use small food items in a
PVA bag and hide a bigger hook under the mass of bait. A big hook has more
chance of catching a hold in the flesh of a big carp’s mouth, and this is
the reason why I would use this angling tactic. I have even used a big hook
without a bait and placed the rig inside small PVA bags of pellets and
caught a few carp. This is especially effective if carp are sucking at whole
patches of bait. This way you don’t need to worry about the length of the
hair at all!!
I think short hairs can cause problems for the hook setting properly once in
a carp’s mouth. The
closeness of the bait to the hook may negatively affect
the ability of the hook to turn and penetrate the flesh, especially if
there’s less freedom for the bait to move away or down the shank of the
hook. Insecure hook penetrations caused from having too short a hair rig
with bottom boilies, could result in many more hook pulls and the loss of
numerous hooked fish. The weight of the boilie can flip the hook over the
wrong way where the point penetrates the flesh loosely.
A short hair may cause the hook bait to act abnormal as a strong current or
feeding fish move it about on the bottom. The weight of the hook and the
lack of freedom make it behave unnaturally because the hook weight limits
its movement when lying on the bottom. This abnormal movement may make carp
suspicious of the bait and avoid it altogether.
On the positive side, a short hair rig may be best if the fish in the lake
tend to feed cautiously. As a carp quickly sucks in and blows back food
items, the hook should have a greater chance to catch in the side of the
lips for hooking. With longer hairs the bait may not get chance to enter the
mouth altogether if carp suck and blow quickly!
I also prefer to use short hairs for pop-up boilies. I like the hair to come
off the hook about halfway down the shank. This allows the hook to kink over
in a claw-like position, which I feel produces great hooking potential.
The Need for Longer Hair
Rigs
I find longer hairs produce
more takes, especially with a longer fishing rig and a bigger boilie. I have
known some good anglers using hair rigs of up to 2 inches long!
In the past, some anglers used to tie a long hair rig from the bend of the
hook to the boilie, using lengths of up to 2 inches. These are reported to
be very effective at catching out big carp. There are even some top anglers
that still use this technique.
A similar technique can be done on present day rigs with long hairs. I can
push the small piece of silicone tubing positioned on the shank, around the
bend of the hook further until it causes the hair to leave the hook in the
middle of the bend. This makes the point of the hook heavy, causing it to
turn down into the flesh sooner. However, I would only do this when using a
bottom bait.
How can I use longer hair rigs without the tangles?
The only downside to the long
hair rig is the increased potential for tangles. Once a long hair wraps
around the hook it can render the whole rig useless. However, there are a
few ways to avoid long hair tangles during casting. You can thread a folded
piece of rig foam onto the hair before placing a boilie on. This will trap
and stiffen the section from the bend of the hook to the boilie and stop it
from flying around during the cast. For this to technique to work properly,
it’s best to do it on a hair rig that uses a silicone rubber tube on the
shank of the hook. The silicone tube can be pushed up to help trap the hair
more and make it secure for the cast. It won’t really work as well if you
create a rig using a sliding rig ring on the hook shank.
Another way is to place a rig with long hairs in a PVA bag, or pulled inside
a PVA dynamite stick, so that the whole hook is hidden inside and the hook
bait can swing around outside the mesh where it cannot catch on anything to
tangle up.
You can also just tie the long hair onto the shank using PVA tape, which is
probably the best way to do it if you want to cast long distances. In deep
water, or in weed, I would prefer to use foam threaded on the hair rig as I
want the lead to hit the bottom before the PVA melts. If it loosens the hair
before hitting the bottom, it could still wrap around the hook shank as it
falls through the water.
Applying a New Carp Bait
Fishing for Carp in Rivers
Locating
Big Carp in the Spring
Carp
Location in the Summertime
Finding
Large Carp in the Cold Winter
Location
of Most Carp in Autumn
The
Case for Quality Carp Bait
Fishing Tactics for Snags & Trees
Boilie Placement on the Hair rig
Different types of carp rigs to use
Attempting to Catch Wary Carp
A Carp's Digestive System in Detail
Common
Baiting Tactics When Fishing
The Various Carp Bait
used to Catch Bigger Carp
When to use Pop-ups or Bottom Bait for Carp Fishing
How to
complete a Baiting
Campaign on Lakes & Ponds
The
Basic Carp Fishing
Baits Used to Catch Large Carp
Fishing Tactics when Fishing for Carp during Long-stay Sessions
Advice & Articles on How to Fish for Big Carp
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