Pop Up's

I'm just in the process of tying some pop up rigs at work...

I am planning to use a weighted rig, but put the putty inside the shrink tube which extends from the hook shank.

My question is....

Presumably the pops up's take on water, so if i tank test them, the pops should sit proud, with the hook pointing up but still just on bottom.

After a while, will my set up "fall over", and how long is this likely to take with a single pop up (activ-8)

I nkow i could test it and see, but i'm at work carrying out my experiments, so i only have 8 hours!..

;-)

some pop-ups will stay buoyant for 48 hours with little or no difference, some will start to ingest water after only 2 hours.

Activ-8, it depends if your pops are the green or the brown ones, but about 10 to 12 if not glugged. (as I remember)

I just hope your not a flight controller at Heathrow !

Cheers Rik... That answers my question completely, as i rarely leave baits out for more than 8hrs (short session angler for most of the time)


Incidently.... my experiments were confusing....

I weighted the set up, got my hook,boilie,and weight sitting just sub surface, then added a bit to make it sink.

BUT...Every time i made the rig up properly by adding my rig tube, the rigs floated again....
I think this was because...

1. The tubing floats, and my rigs were VERY CRITICALLY!!! balanced....

2. I got air trapped inside the rig tubing...

All is ok now, and i have a "pattern" to work from for tonights "rig making" session.

Cheer!

oh, Cakey...

It's ok, they fly themselves nowadays, us AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS spend most of the night in the bar!

and you're assuming that all pop-ups in the pot are identical.......

no i'm not.
i can see from the size for starters RIK....

I even measured a few with a micrometer.(for size)

Surely i can get a rough idea of the weight required to get them on the bottom.

if you don't mind them overweighted, then enough weight to sink the most buoyant (not necessarily the biggest) will suffice, but if you want critically balanced, then you'll have to fine tune each one individually.

ye, i see Rik. Thanks.

It's amazing the "experiments" you can carry out with eight hours on your hands!.. ;-)

I do find, that with Heavy Metal, once you rip off a piece and stick it on to the line, it's dfficult to ADD a tiny bit....

I was experimenting with lead wire, but my concience has got the better of me!..

"critical balanced"... i wonder how much of a difference the fish can feel between an exactly critically balanced bait, and one that is slightly over?.....(bearing in mind my first experiment utilised a piece of lead weighing 0.975g) ... which produced a bit of a wafter....

Critical balanced baits have their own mechanics, the idea is to fool the fish into believing it is the same as a free offering and get it to apply the same amount of suction to it. Because it is so light it shoots straight into the back of the Carp's throat, as this is something the fish is not expecting it spooks and bolts. Hopefully your rigs semi fixed lead pulls the hook back as the fish moves off and the hook flips over and gets a hold.

In my opinion the best way to critically balance a bait is to tie a stop knot on the hook link just below the hook and apply a small lump of heavy putty like Gardners "Critical mass" then dunk it in the margins and keep sniping bits off untill it takes a long while to settle on the bottom. Once it's on the bottom waft it with your hand and it will flutter straight up and you can see just how it works.

You can experiment in your kitchen sink and get it right before you do it on the bank. Its a blinding method and one that's caught me lots of good fish. It also works well over small particals as when the Carp fans the bottom the bait along with everything else is lifted off the bottom and straight into the Carp's gob.

Best regards,

Jonathan.