hair rigging casters,why?

Could the anglers out there explain the advantages of hair rigged casters,there are some good barbel anglers out there doing it,the reason i ask is that ive caught plenty of barbel on caster and have found 3-5 casters on a size 8 stops knocks from chub(they just wont touch it)but the barbel however arent so fussy,is it confidence thing or is there a theory.Cheers Alan

How on earth can a caster be hair rigged without bursting it?

I can't say that I can see the point of it if it is possible.

Unless it's a bunch of casters on a Korda Klip thingy, I suppose that'd work.

They glue the casters on the hair paul

Or use Enterprise rubber ones 3-4 on the hairon a size 8s or 10s decent hook should see them balanced nicely, plus no problem with small fish taking them off

Ah, I see.

The same can be said for corn, meat, paste, maggots etc etc. its down to the individual. Hair rigging can give you a superior bait presentation as well as improving the chances of a successful hook hold. Added to that, as Alan said, some fish react differently to different presentations and chub can be spooked off your bait by putting bait onto the hook or by using a longer hair.

Its all just little bits of the big picture. If you have any doubts about the benifits and mechanics of hair rigging I suggest you read some carp magazines or have a look at one of the freebie Korda dvd's available in your tackle shop, it will open your eyes! Fortunately barbel feed like a vacuum cleaner with a very underslung mouth which makes them a lot easier to fool than the average carp which is why a hook loaded with casters will still work.

If I want to hair rig casters or maggots I put a blob of superglue onto my bucket lit, lay the hook and hair out on the lid and for maggots, I just dip their tales (the fat end) into the glu then press them onto the hair, after a second or two they will stick. Do this to as many as you want and you will have a writhing mass of grubs, irrisistable to barbel and just about every other fish.

For casters you can glue three along a hair like a little triangle or just randomly stick them along the hair so that they look very natural a presentaion that also works well for small pellets.

put "mag aligner" into the search forum at top of page ..................................

this page that is....................................lots of info

Dave,im interested by the longer hair idea which obviously helps when we use our pellet,pastes,boilies etc but surely it doesnt stop chub picking the bait up(i have watched theBob Roberts and StuWalkers dvd and seen the chub moving rigs without hooking and barbel come to that),with a decent size hook as mentioned earlier chub dont seem to second glance the casters,do we hair baits out of nessesity,i mean some baits i.e. maggots can mask the hook point but that normally would not be possible with caster.

Alan

The idea of a slightly longer hair putting the chub off is all down to them being a tad brighter than barbel. They realise that something isn't right and drop the bait leaving it in the swim for a barbel to pick up later. It stops the swim from being disturbed by a hooked chub.

Yes,sorry Dave i understand that,but wouldnt it be better they didnt pick the bait up at all,i.e. casters on hook,as i say other baits seem to be a must hair and others probably so but casters and maggots are a lot easier to put on a hook than glue and the results seem similar to me,and chub seem more tackle conscious than barbel but there again their head shape is totally different and their approach to a baited swim definetely so.

On another tack Dave i remember reading an article in CAT by your friend Len Arbery several months ago and in it he mentioned maggots and casters and how he was going to give them a go now that he could tiesmaller hooksto a braid hooklink,which links to this thread as i havnt foundthe need to scale down for barbel,chub definetely but not barbel.How is Len,i hope he is ok after his health problem.