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Colouring-in hooklengths.

D

Daniel Vallis

Member
Hello

I've got most of my rigs tied up on 12lb Kryston Merlin which is a fairly bright white and green colour and this looks fairly blatant when in the water.

I had the idea of colouring in the material with some darker colours eg black, dark brown, dark green just to try and camouflage the material a bit.

Am I looking too far in to making the link less visible in the water or is it worth doing, also thinking about any negative chemical smell the marker might give off?

Regards

Daniel
 
I rub mud or similar on braid for a little extra confidence but the brand I use isn't massively blatant anyway.

I wouldn't worry about the chemical side of things, I suspect superglue is worse and I have every faith in using that.

:)
 
Personally, I wouldn't be overly concerned and certainly wouldn't bother colouring anything in (using a different brand would be easier if you were very concerned about it). In terms of rigs, I think barbel spook more when they encounter something they touch but can't see easily. Especially if what they touch feels taught or in some other way very unnatural. When using braided hook lengths I favour very soft and supple material.
 
Use marker pens for colouring hook lengths material and braid. Think the solvents involved have changed over the years to more innocuous ones. e.g. from xylene, toluene, and chlorinated hydrocarbons etc to ethyl acetate, isopropyl alcohol etc.
Always 'do' mine and the first yards of mainline when it gets faded.
Does it make a difference? On coloured rivers possibly not, on clear ones not sure but it gives me more confidence.
Cheers
Bob
 
Daniel Ive caught well when super glueing pellets back to back, the initial smell of it is fairly acrid, its never let think otherwise that its putting the fish off.
 
Very good point about the superglue, that must have some pretty nasty stuff in it.

I have got some of the Pallatrax braid to which is more of a natural colour but I was just using a spool of Merlin up first. What I have done though is rub a little tungsten putty through it as it makes it sink a bit better.

I may get a couple of pens and see what happens.

Thanks for your replies.

Daniel.
 
In clear water in daylight it definitely makes a difference. I think a change of brand would be easier though, 12lb Merlin is a bit obvious. Funnily enough it was the first braid I ever used about 12 years ago. Haven't used it since though !

Nick C
 
Same here, Nick. I think the name coerced me - thinking it possibly had some magical properties so the fish wouldn't see it.

I agree with Howard, however, when it comes to spooking fish.
 
I have coloured Pantone markers ( cheaper in an art shop rather than a tackle shop ) but even a usual black perminant marker will work. I use it to ' fleck ' the hook length usually on coated braids that have been stripped back and look too stark. Also fleck down rig components, sleeves and tubing etc.

Gotta play the percentages and any advantage helps.

Duncan.
 
Howard Cooke said:
Personally, I wouldn't be overly concerned and certainly wouldn't bother colouring anything in (using a different brand would be easier if you were very concerned about it). In terms of rigs, I think barbel spook more when they encounter something they touch but can't see easily. Especially if what they touch feels taught or in some other way very unnatural. When using braided hook lengths I favour very soft and supple material.
Click to expand...

I certainly found this when using flurocarbon. I was getting plenty of taps and wondering why I wasnt getting the take, certain they were barbel. Something was up when I was blanking and people I was with were getting into them. Changed my hooklink over and had an 11.9 as soon as I changed over!
 
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