Fishing Time
Fishing Guide

Colin the Carp

Common Carp · Cyprinus carpio

The classroom for this fish. Use the Trip Planner when you want a mark for today.

Line

Mainline you can trust in snags, a hooklink he doesn’t notice. No lure clip. No 15 lb bass mono as a “that’ll do”.

Mainline

12–18 lb mono or sinking copolymer. Braid only for snags, and only if the fishery allows it. Fill to about 2 mm below the lip.

Animation: respooling a spinning reel. Bail open, thread the rings, tie on with an arbor knot shown close up, close the bail, filler spool in a bucket of water, reel on under light tension to just under the lip, then bed it in.

Hooklink

Coated braid or fluoro, 4–8 inches for a bottom bait, longer for a zig. Knotless knot to the hook, or buy ready-tied. Check it every cast if you’ve been in weed.

Lead and swivel

Animation: tying a uni knot. Through the eye, make a loop, five wraps round both lines through the loop, wet it, slide it down and trim.

Mainline to the lead clip or helicopter swivel with a uni knot, 5 wraps. Use a safe rig that drops the lead on a snag — not optional on weedy pits.

Grok

Ask about Colin

Line and knots. Ask how it works, what to buy, or what people get wrong.

Ask anything about this. A few places to start:

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