Dave Springall Article - Total Carp

BALANCING ACT DAVE SPRINGALL
Pics: Pat MacInnes
Critically balancing your hook baits
can seriously increase your catch rate.
DAVE SPRINGALL reveals why and
shows you how to make it happen.
Whether fishing over bait,
or used as a ‘single’, a
balanced hook bait is the
way forward, according to
Dave Springall.
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TACTICS RIG BEADS
BALANCING ACT DAVE SPRINGALL
F
or as long as I can remember,
virtually all of my fishing has relied
largely on the use of one variation
of balanced hook-bait presentation or
another. On reading the many articles
available these days, I think it is fair to
say that there is hardly a top angler out
there who doesn’t incorporate this type
of hook-bait arrangement into at least
some of their angling. If done correctly,
the results can be second to none.
So why bother to take the time to
critically balance your hook bait? Why
not just thread a boilie straight from
the bag onto the hair and cast it out?
Surely this would be the easier option
and, yes, in some cases it would. But
effort equals reward and taking the
time to get your presentation just
right could be the difference between
catching and not.
There are two main advantages to
using critically balanced hook baits, the
first being from purely a presentation
perspective. A light, slow-sinking bait is
always going to settle much better on a
silty, weedy or choddy lake bed. This is
of great importance because these types
of areas are the ones most anglers shy
away from but, more often than not,
where the carp are to be found.
It’s these areas that usually boast
natural food in abundance, so not only
will the carp be found there they will
also be feeding there. Even though
gravel and clean areas are much easier
to present a bait on, they are for the
most part devoid of food and will quite
often be clear because the carp have
ravaged their way through this area at
1
If fishing over a relatively clean lake bed,
place the top bead close to the lead...
2
... but if the bottom is more choddy then
move the bead further up the leader, like so.
Keep whittling your
bait down until it
sinks to the bottom
really slowly.
ANGLER FILE DAVE SPRINGALL
AGE: 34
OCCUPATION: Personal
trainer
UK PB: 45lb 10oz
SPONSORS: Dynamite Baits,
Diem, Atomic Tackle, Greys
and Chub
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BALANCING ACT DAVE SPRINGALL
STEP-BY-STEP DAVE’S BALANCED SNOWMAN
1
Start by trimming the edges of
your bottom bait and pop-up.
This helps them sit together.
3
2
Place the flat sides of the baits
together so that they sit as
pictured.
some point. A rig on these clear spots
can also be very obvious to wary carp
and make life a lot harder when it
comes to concealing your end tackle.
When the hook bait is made as light
as possible it will sink slowly and
settle gently over most bottom debris,
thus preventing the bait from sinking
into the bottom and the hook point
becoming masked.
The second advantage is in relation
to the actual hooking of the fish. When
I started to use the chod rig some
years ago I was astounded by the
quality of the hook-holds. Nailed is an
understatement! Yes the mechanics of
the rig played a large part in this but
so too did the hook bait.
The extreme buoyancy of the pop-up
hook bait was causing it to fly so far
into the carp’s mouth that by the time
it had tried to eject it, it was too late.
This is also a huge advantage when
fishing for wary or pressured carp, or
when the carp aren’t feeding quite so
hard. Your hook bait may appear the
4
Carefully push a fine baiting
needle through the two baits,
pop-up first.
same as your free offerings but will
behave very differently once the carp
sucks it in.
The idea is to make the bait as light
as possible, which in turn will make
the hook as heavy as possible. This will
aid the ‘turn and grab’ effect of the rig
and improve hook-holds.
On numerous occasions I have heard
anglers claim that they are getting
lots of ‘liners’ or line bites, where the
bobbin pulls up tight and then drops
back down to its original position.
While this does happen, what can
often be occurring is that the angler
is getting ‘done’. This is when a carp
picks up the bait and manages to eject
the hook before it gets a chance to set
properly. This happens a lot more than
you may think.
Aborted takes can be due to a
number of factors, such as blunt hooks
or poor rig mechanics, but can also be
down to the simple fact that the carp
never really sucked the hook bait all
the way in in the first place.
Slide them onto your hair and add
a stop. Trim slivers off the bottom
bait for a slower descent.
Dave checks
every rig
before casting
it out. He’s
after a superslow sink rate.
STEP-BY-STEP USING PLASTIC CORN TO BALANCE A BOTTOM BAIT
1
Dave begins by whittling his
bottom bait down to the shape of
a small barrel.
2
He adds this and a small grain
of imitation corn to his baiting
needle. The corn goes on first.
3
He ties a simple combi rig with a
size 8 hook and coated braid, and
leaves a fairly long hair.
4
The addition of the corn not only
balances the bait slightly, it adds a
splash of colour too.
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BALANCING ACT DAVE SPRINGALL
Whether you like to use a stiff chodtype pop-up rig or something balanced
directly onto the lake bed with a
braided rig, the idea remains exactly
the same. Light hook bait plus heavy
hook equals nailed!
When using a braided rig I like to
keep things very simple and I use the
same rig for virtually all of my fishing.
The most effective is a blow-back rig,
using a sliding rig ring on the shank of
the hook. This seems to make things
even trickier for the carp to deal with
due to the anti-eject properties that
the rig possesses. The sliding rig ring
gives the bait excellent movement and
also helps to prevent the hair from
wrapping around the hook shank on
the cast. It’s very easy to tie, requires
few components and suits most types
of hook-bait presentation. This rig has
rarely let me down.
This scale-perfect
common fell for the
balanced snowman
presentation.
More often than not, the rig is fished
using a basic helicopter setup using
either leadcore or, in the event of a
leader or leadcore ban, straight through
off my standard 20lb fluorocarbon
main line.
I like the helicopter for two main
reasons. The first is that I can adjust
the position of the top bead to
accommodate the nature of the lake
bed. Moving the bead further up the
leader for a choddy bottom helps
prevent the lead from dragging the
hook link down and it becoming
buried.
The second reason is simply down to
the high level of safety that the setup
offers. I think it’s still the only rig that,
when set up properly, will leave the
fish only trailing the hook link in the
event of a crack-off or line breakage.
As long as the top bead is set up
ving
A piece of dissol
e
th
ws
slo
rig foam
initial descent.
correctly and comes off as it should,
the fish will be left trailing minimal end
tackle, greatly reducing the chances of
the carp getting into any problems.
I never cast this rig out without at
least one nugget of dissolving foam
attached to the hook or the hair. This
makes the business end of the rig
even more buoyant and the rig won’t
sink until the foam is fully dissolved.
This enables everything to sink very
slowly and sit perfectly over most lake
beds and keeps the hook point clear
of debris so that it is free to do its job
when the time comes.
For this rig I like to use one of three
hook-bait arrangements. The first is
the faithful snowman. This is a rig that
has caught a huge number of carp over
the years and, even though it’s used
on a widespread basis, it still seems to
deliver the goods time after time. That
STEP-BY-STEP HOW TO BALANCE YOUR SHOP-BOUGHT BAITS
1
This tactic works with most baits,
but especially with the firmer
shelf-life versions.
2
You’ll need a bait drill and cork
sticks of the same diameter. These
from ESP are Dave’s choice.
3
Use the drill to carefully create a
cavity in the boilie. Don’t go right
through the bait.
4
Fill the cavity with the end of a
cork stick and make sure that it is a
nice tight fit.
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STEP-BY-STEP TURN YOUR POP-UPS INTO CRITICALLY BALANCED HOOK BAITS
Take your pop-up and whittle it
slightly around the edges. This
helps the flavour burst out...
... and reduces the buoyancy
slightly. Thread the pop-up onto
your rig and add a hair stop.
said, I do like to make mine slightly
different from the norm. When using a
15mm bottom bait I trim the hook bait
down to reduce the overall weight of
the boilie. Once this is complete the
bait is tipped off with a fluoro 10mm
pop-up, which is also slightly trimmed.
This gives the bait a sort of 50/50 effect
and makes it very visual, as well as
emitting strong food signals. The small
pop-up causes the bait to sit up nicely
and adds buoyancy, ensuring that it is
very easy for the carp to suck in and
extremely difficult to eject. My favourite
colours are pink, yellow and white,
each of which have produced countless
fish for me.
A variation of this is a similar idea
but a scaled-down version of the first
option. For this I like to use a smaller
hook and trim the 15mm bottom bait
down even more into a small barrel
shape. I then tip it off with a piece of
buoyant plastic corn. This obviously
reduces the overall size and weight
5
Trim the cork stick flush with the
bait to create a neat plug inside
the bait.
3
2
6
Thread it onto your hair rig so that
the cork side is nearest to the
boilie, as shown here.
4
For a bait of this size, a non-lead
shot of about a No4 should be
right, but experiment.
of the hook bait even further, while
increasing the hooking potential
further.
Next up is the shot-on-the-hair rig.
Many people like to use curved hooks
and KD-style setups for this but I prefer
to keep it all the same. I have found the
hook-holds to be better for the majority
of the time. This time I like to mount a
15mm fluoro pop-up onto the hair and
then pinch a small No6 shot just below
the hook bait. Then, through trial and
error, I begin to trim the pop-up down
into an irregular shape until it’s just
heavy enough to sink to the bottom, as
slowly as possible.
Carp see hundreds, sometimes
thousands of round boilies on a regular
basis so don’t be afraid to experiment
with different-shaped baits. It’s often
enough to catch them out. This setup is
also great when used with a small PVA
bag of crushed boilie dust.
Last but not least is a bottom bait,
straight out of the bag but drilled out
BALANCING ACT DAVE SPRINGALL
1
Pinch the shot tight to the bait and
test it in the edge. Trim the popup slightly if it is too buoyant.
with a piece of cork inside. Again, I
like to use a 15mm bottom bait. I then
carefully drill three-quarters of the way
through using a 6mm drill bit. Next, I
insert a length of 6mm cork stick into
the hole and trim it off. This is then
carefully threaded onto the hair, taking
care not to split the bait. The beauty
of this method is that although much
lighter in weight the hook bait will
look and smell exactly the same as all
your free offerings, a great tactic for
outwitting pressured or wary fish.
With all these balanced options it
is essential to check them thoroughly
in the margins before you even think
about casting them out. Pop-up baits
vary in buoyancy so it is vital to get
them sinking slowly and sitting just
right. I like the bait to be as buoyant
as possible, with the weight of the
hook just keeping everything sinking
slowly. This ensures that the bait can be
sucked in with the absolute minimum
of effort on the carp’s part.
7
A small roll of putty along the
hook link helps to keep the rig
pinned down.
8
The finished rig is perfect for
fishing over a spread of boilies
and will get you more bites.
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