Do you use pre-tied hair rig hook lengths ?

I would be interested to hear if other anglers are having the same issues with these (seemingly any brand). My style of fishing often involves staking out likely looking snags, which means I usually have to hook and hold. Therefore, even for relatively small carp, I need strong end tackle.

I went through a lazy period of using shop bought hair rigs, and after a while realized, whatever the brand, they were quite weak compared to similar rigs I tied myself, and I am not particularly gifted in this department. I even managed to find some 12lb ones, which often got snapped by 6lb carp.

Does anyone else find these products next to useless ?

I've bought them in the past (no need to mention what ones is there really) and the knots have sprung out on the hooks (knotless knots gone slack enough to uncoil somewhat) and some are just totally unbalanced with the line to hook (lowering my own confidence using them) also I found that given the slight differences in baits and the sizes on the hair (even from the same brand/packet/tub) its been worth taking the extra time to tie them on the bank and getting the presentation bang on the way you want it, again its a confidence thing.

My only exceptions are sometimes (not always) I make multiple rigs up fresh before heading off out with the hair or band bait already attached with the intention of quick release clip/swivels for a quick recast, I can appreciate the appeal for buying them in this context, works in your favour when session time is limited just to squeeze the most out of having a bait in the water for longer and you can do a better job sometimes at home in the warmth with good lighting especially if you know your hands are likely to get cold on the bankside, or you have poor eyesight (like me) or you only have fifteen minutes left to pack down making you "call it a day" slightly early than necessary being influenced by having to knock up a rig in extra time etc.

Making your own works out cheaper and is I guess more rewarding but I consider looking at the ones in my local tackle shops purely for there individual parts sometimes, if they're dirt cheap and say the hook is something you could use for a certain situation and is cheaper than buying a full pack that will rarely be used or say the bit of braid used on one is the perfect colour for a certain water or river then its worth considering imo, just not as a long term fixture as the time it takes to correct shoddy workmanship (or machine tying ) could be spent honing the skill of making the best rig to your own knowledge of what spec is required.

I have done previously,but you need to alter the length depending what bottom you're fishing over. Once I realised the importance of this,I started tying my own.
Some are right mickey mouse jobs. Using blood knots with braid for example. I saw some Fluro stiff hinge rigs the other day with a straight eyed book too

Hi there,

Personally, never! I am not snobby, nor do I use complicated rigs. However if you tie your own you can change the rig length, hair length, choose your material and your hooks. Most of all if one fails I only have myself to blame. I did use them in the past.. . . . You guessed it, I had one part on a fish and I vowed to never buy them again. Not to mention the cost! Tying your own works out loads cheaper in the long run.

For what it's worth I use 8 or 6 korda wide gape and usually 20lb esp strip tease coated hooklink about 8" and a fairly long hair with a bottom bait.. . But there's a million others. I have arrived at these two after a LOT of trial and error rather than copying the mags!!

Tight lines (whichever hooklink you choose!)

Alex

Thanks for all the advice. I will continue tying my own, because as you say, I can alter the dimensions to suit the situation. And, yes it is even more annoying when one of these shop bought rig fails, than your own.

I am still quite surprised though that some well known brands can fail so easily.

tiffersno2 said:

I am still quite surprised though that some well known brands can fail so easily.

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To be fair, stuff doesn't generally 'just fail'. There's normally a reason. Wrong knot for example. Where/how did your shop bought ones fail?

I am sure the newer pre tied ones are much better, but I would still choose to tie my own. The one that failed was an old dacron one about 20 years ago, but that was is for me. It brokerage the knot.. . . Which was tied with a bloodknot and the hair made from the tag end. Sounds ridiculous now, but that was before a knotless knot was common practice.

Sure the new rigs are tied better, but if I tie it myself I know it's as good as I can get it. When one breaks I will start a new thread of 'why I never tie my own'! mg:

Alex

law said:

To be fair, stuff doesn't generally 'just fail'. There's normally a reason. Wrong knot for example. Where/how did your shop bought ones fail?

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Well, I understand that if a carp, as they inevitably do, find an underwater branch or such like, to wrap around, then even the strongest rig can be snapped. But I have had several shop bought rigs fail when the fish was in open water with steady pressure. Or when I am walking backwards slowly to drag a fish out of a snag. My own tied rigs seem to handle these situations with a greater degree of reliability.

The failure points seem to be the line, not a knot.

When Carp fishing I still prefer to tie my own hook links unless I'm fishing a water that only holds small Carp when I might use smaller ready tied hooks with Quickstops.

Keith

Definitely tie my own. If I lose a fish of a lifetime because the rig fails, then I only have myself to blame.

I agree with the OP totally. I have recently started fishing again, and I've realised that I just don't have the dexterity or eyesight to tie my own rigs. I have had several well-known branded rigs snap at way below their supposed capacity, again in open water. The problem is usually the hook coming adrift or the knot in the loop breaking, and I think in some cases it's a manufacturing issue.

So now I'm going to experiment with hand-tied ones sold online.

Some enterprising soul could start a custom hook length business, one day I'm going to forget my specs and lose out.

I always tie my own hair rigs , don't trust pre tied ones

Nobby C (ACA) said:

Some enterprising soul could start a custom hook length business

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There are a couple of these bulk hook tying souls in the S.E.
Anything from size 28 to 0.05 link upwards. You supply the hooks and line and they'll tie them and present them in a box..they do however have minimum quantity orders.

I tie all my own because I'm a tight Yorkshireman. My main issue with ready mades is that they're rarely exactly the right length for the situation, although I'll admit that the variety seems to be better than it once was.

Funnily enough, I've left my rig-making kit and rig case at home once or twice this summer, when we've been out on the road, and had to rely on a bulk spool of 12lb Fox camo for hooklink material. The irony being that I've been more successful with the mono hooklinks than I was with the coated and uncoated braids. Rigs have been simpler, too; maybe I over-complicate things a bit, eh?

Like Rob posted here, i've been caught short a couple of times recently and ended up using 10lb Maxima chameleon as a hooklength, and guess what - it still worked!

Also, once you get the hang of it (and assuming you don't try to fish line that's too heavy to go through the eye twice)... tying a knotless knot has to be one of the easiest knots in fishing. I've also started using it on eyed hooks for other forms of fishing, and just trimming off the tag (that would usually be the hair).

It would depend on what i'm fishing for, if i'm targeting barbel I would use flurocarbon tied myself with the hook length around 3ft long... If im silver bashing I would buy pre-tied hook lengths, but would say that the cheaper ones are ****.

I tie my own rigs for all the reasons stated above EXCEPT choddies .

I have slight arthritis in my fingers and for some reason I find it difficult to tie 'em ?

If it's OK to name brands on here I find the ESP and Gardner chod rigs the best .....oh and when I first started Carping I found the Drennan mono method rigs excellent . I still to this day use them when fishing the pellet feeder .

Their triffid and have never failed me

yep, I tie my own, very slowly, eyes not what they were and I find the hair loop particularly awkward, shop ones either come undone or are miles to thick.

I am way too tight to buy something that I can do better myself, besides it gives me something to do when my kindle battery runs out lol