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Tim Wagner Q&A
7th March 2010
Mr George Merritt asked:
Time and time again i talk to anglers on the bank about rigs, and everyone seems to show me 3 or 4 different types of pop up rigs but only 1 type of bottom bait rigs! Shouldn't these bottom bait rigs be just important as pop ups! what type of bottom bait rigs do you use and recommend?
Tim Wagner answered:
Thanks for your question regarding rigs. I know exactly what you mean about how anglers and magazines alike talk about their preference towards certain rigs. Almost nearly all of the rigs that you see talked about or recommended show the hook bait fished off the bottom. However not all is lost and I can recommend a couple of different presentations to present your hook bait on the bottom because lets face it all of the free bait that you introduce will be sitting on the bottom or in the weed but basically it will be sitting “on” something, so surely that is the best place to have your hook bait isn’t it, on the bottom with your freebies.
I have been lucky enough to fish with and along side some of the best anglers in the country and on some of the best waters in the country and I can honestly say that you wouldn’t believe the amount of them who very rarely fish with bottom baits because they don’t feel confident in presenting a bottom bait amongst weed and chod, hence they nearly always use pop ups. So it’s not just the rigs that you have to look at but also your own confidence in using something. Presenting bottom baits in weed or silt can take an awful lot to get your head around. The best season I had when I landed 10 x 40’s and another 20 over 35 as well as numerous other 30’s, I would say 99% of those fish fell to bottom baits either fished hard on the bottom or in the weed and the water in question is very weedy. So far this season I have landed 27 different 30lb commons whilst field testing Mistrals new i40 boilies and all of them have come to baits fished on the deck.
The first thing to look at is the hook length material and what it is made of. Personally I try to stay clear of the subtle braids and mono’s and tend to favour the very stiff coated braids. The reason being that the soft hook lengths will collapse under the weight of the boilie and will sit in a mess on the lakebed. My favourite is sold under the Wychwood label and is called Hidden Deception which I am happy to use in either brown or green in the 15lb version. The hook length is a dyneema braid and is very fine with the coating being of a matt finish, which doesn’t shine and stand out on the lakebed.
To tie the actual rig is very straight forward, and I simply cut a piece of approx 18in and strip 6in of the coating off one end. With the braid now uncovered I use a simple knotless knot tied to a Korda wide gape hook. Hook size is dependent on bait size and for baits of 24mm and larger I use a size 4, for baits of 20mm and 18mm I use a size 6 and any baits smaller I use a size 8. You want to leave about 12mm of uncoated braid between the eye of the hook and the start of the coating. Anymore and the rig doesn’t work as it should.
Once I have tied the knotless knot I then slide on two pieces of shrink tube, one is positioned on the bend of the hook and is approx 2mm in length and will trap the hair and cause the hook to become point heavy therefore helping it to drop down into the bottom of the carps mouth. The second piece, which is approx 10-12mm in length is positioned over the eye and will basically turn the hook into a long shank bent hook and will help the hook turn in the carps mouth. I then measure from the hooks eye 10in back up the hook length and then strip off the excess coating after leaving on 10in of coating. A third piece of shrink tube of about 3in is then slid on the hook length before I then use a size 8 swivel and secure the hook length to the swivel with a simple over hand loop knot making sure that the knot is formed in the uncoated braid. Any knot formed over the coating will only strangulate itself once under tension and will probably snap. The third piece of shrink tube is then slid up over the eye of the swivel. The whole rig is then steamed over the kettle making sure that the shrink tube is all in the correct place before hand. The coating is also steamed to make sure that it straightens, I then place 3 or 4 small pieces of rig putty on the hook length to help pin it down.
The reason for using the shrink tube on the swivel instead of the purpose made rig sleeves, which are available is that it is stiffer and longer and will help kick the bait away from the lead easier and will improve presentation.
If I am using a single bottom bait then I also use some dissolvable rig foam on the hook. This is to hold the rig up off the bottom and once it has dissolved the stiff coating of the braid combined with the shrink tube on the swivel will push the bait and rig away from the lead so that it sits perfectly away from the lead between 11 and 1 o’clock on an imaginary clock. If you want to use a snowman of a popup and a bottom bait then you can do away with the rig foam as the popup will hold up the bottom bait sufficient enough before it sinks and sits perfectly on the deck.
For the snowman version I would use 24mm b/b and a 20mm p/up, a 20mm b/b and a 18mm p/up, an 18mm b/b and a 15mm p/up and finally a 15mm b/b and a 10mm p/up. Personally I believe this rig to be the most successful I have ever used or seen being used if fished correctly. I have just started a new series in Carpology, which is just about to go on sale and we will cover these rigs in detail at some stage.
I hope that has helped a little and not made the water even muddier for you!
All the best for 2010.
Mr George Merritt asked:
Time and time again i talk to anglers on the bank about rigs, and everyone seems to show me 3 or 4 different types of pop up rigs but only 1 type of bottom bait rigs! Shouldn't these bottom bait rigs be just important as pop ups! what type of bottom bait rigs do you use and recommend?
Tim Wagner answered:
Thanks for your question regarding rigs. I know exactly what you mean about how anglers and magazines alike talk about their preference towards certain rigs. Almost nearly all of the rigs that you see talked about or recommended show the hook bait fished off the bottom. However not all is lost and I can recommend a couple of different presentations to present your hook bait on the bottom because lets face it all of the free bait that you introduce will be sitting on the bottom or in the weed but basically it will be sitting “on” something, so surely that is the best place to have your hook bait isn’t it, on the bottom with your freebies.
I have been lucky enough to fish with and along side some of the best anglers in the country and on some of the best waters in the country and I can honestly say that you wouldn’t believe the amount of them who very rarely fish with bottom baits because they don’t feel confident in presenting a bottom bait amongst weed and chod, hence they nearly always use pop ups. So it’s not just the rigs that you have to look at but also your own confidence in using something. Presenting bottom baits in weed or silt can take an awful lot to get your head around. The best season I had when I landed 10 x 40’s and another 20 over 35 as well as numerous other 30’s, I would say 99% of those fish fell to bottom baits either fished hard on the bottom or in the weed and the water in question is very weedy. So far this season I have landed 27 different 30lb commons whilst field testing Mistrals new i40 boilies and all of them have come to baits fished on the deck.
The first thing to look at is the hook length material and what it is made of. Personally I try to stay clear of the subtle braids and mono’s and tend to favour the very stiff coated braids. The reason being that the soft hook lengths will collapse under the weight of the boilie and will sit in a mess on the lakebed. My favourite is sold under the Wychwood label and is called Hidden Deception which I am happy to use in either brown or green in the 15lb version. The hook length is a dyneema braid and is very fine with the coating being of a matt finish, which doesn’t shine and stand out on the lakebed.
To tie the actual rig is very straight forward, and I simply cut a piece of approx 18in and strip 6in of the coating off one end. With the braid now uncovered I use a simple knotless knot tied to a Korda wide gape hook. Hook size is dependent on bait size and for baits of 24mm and larger I use a size 4, for baits of 20mm and 18mm I use a size 6 and any baits smaller I use a size 8. You want to leave about 12mm of uncoated braid between the eye of the hook and the start of the coating. Anymore and the rig doesn’t work as it should.
Once I have tied the knotless knot I then slide on two pieces of shrink tube, one is positioned on the bend of the hook and is approx 2mm in length and will trap the hair and cause the hook to become point heavy therefore helping it to drop down into the bottom of the carps mouth. The second piece, which is approx 10-12mm in length is positioned over the eye and will basically turn the hook into a long shank bent hook and will help the hook turn in the carps mouth. I then measure from the hooks eye 10in back up the hook length and then strip off the excess coating after leaving on 10in of coating. A third piece of shrink tube of about 3in is then slid on the hook length before I then use a size 8 swivel and secure the hook length to the swivel with a simple over hand loop knot making sure that the knot is formed in the uncoated braid. Any knot formed over the coating will only strangulate itself once under tension and will probably snap. The third piece of shrink tube is then slid up over the eye of the swivel. The whole rig is then steamed over the kettle making sure that the shrink tube is all in the correct place before hand. The coating is also steamed to make sure that it straightens, I then place 3 or 4 small pieces of rig putty on the hook length to help pin it down.
The reason for using the shrink tube on the swivel instead of the purpose made rig sleeves, which are available is that it is stiffer and longer and will help kick the bait away from the lead easier and will improve presentation.
If I am using a single bottom bait then I also use some dissolvable rig foam on the hook. This is to hold the rig up off the bottom and once it has dissolved the stiff coating of the braid combined with the shrink tube on the swivel will push the bait and rig away from the lead so that it sits perfectly away from the lead between 11 and 1 o’clock on an imaginary clock. If you want to use a snowman of a popup and a bottom bait then you can do away with the rig foam as the popup will hold up the bottom bait sufficient enough before it sinks and sits perfectly on the deck.
For the snowman version I would use 24mm b/b and a 20mm p/up, a 20mm b/b and a 18mm p/up, an 18mm b/b and a 15mm p/up and finally a 15mm b/b and a 10mm p/up. Personally I believe this rig to be the most successful I have ever used or seen being used if fished correctly. I have just started a new series in Carpology, which is just about to go on sale and we will cover these rigs in detail at some stage.
I hope that has helped a little and not made the water even muddier for you!
All the best for 2010.
15th February 2010
Mr Andy Wooding asked:
I was just wondering whether you can rehydrate tiger nuts? I recently bought a tub from dynamite baits. I took them out of the tub and put them into an air tight bucket with some sugar so they could ferment and slime up. I did take some of the preservative out but I did save some. I did notice they just started to wrinkle slightly and just started to rehydrate. I added some of the preservative back in along with some water but will they rehydrate and be okay to use?
Tim Wagner answered:
You should have no problem in rehydrating Tiger Nuts but I am unsure why you put sugar on dry nuts. The best way would have been just to add sugar to the tigers whilst in solution. If you don't like the solution the tigers came in just throw it away and mix your sugar with some water and add to the nuts. These will keep for several weeks and go nice and gooey within a few days.
Mr Andy Wooding asked:
I was just wondering whether you can rehydrate tiger nuts? I recently bought a tub from dynamite baits. I took them out of the tub and put them into an air tight bucket with some sugar so they could ferment and slime up. I did take some of the preservative out but I did save some. I did notice they just started to wrinkle slightly and just started to rehydrate. I added some of the preservative back in along with some water but will they rehydrate and be okay to use?
Tim Wagner answered:
You should have no problem in rehydrating Tiger Nuts but I am unsure why you put sugar on dry nuts. The best way would have been just to add sugar to the tigers whilst in solution. If you don't like the solution the tigers came in just throw it away and mix your sugar with some water and add to the nuts. These will keep for several weeks and go nice and gooey within a few days.