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Hair rig tangling on cast....

Adam Francis

Senior Member
On the odd occasion I have found that my hooklength tangles upon the cast & leaves the whole rig in a mess which you only discover when reeling in. It doesn't happen every time but having confidence in the rig & presentation is everything as we all know!

I use PVA mesh & thread the hooklength up through it to connect the rig, the only solution I can think of is to thread the hair separately through the bag & then put the bait on. This way the hair rigged bait could be pushed tight up against the PVA mesh & the hook inserted so that the whole thing is tight.

I cannot imagine it's an easy task though in the dark or cold so anyone have any simpler or alternative suggestions?

Thanks in advance.
 
Hi Adam, tie a loop on the end of your hooklength, get a long baiting needle, push it through the pva sock from one end to the other, grab the loop on your hooklength,and pull it back through. Pull until the hook just enters the mesh, and the hair rigged bait should be ok. :)
 
That's exactly what I'm doing Derek, but the hair rigged bait still hangs below the hook & bag & hangs free, hence the occasional issue with tangling.

What I thought of doing was to then thread the hair through the bag at the end & then add the bait so the hair rig can be pulled up tight to the bag & the hook inserted to hold everything in place.

Does that make sense??
 
Using a shorter hair might help!? - I use the same method for after dark fishing with a braid hook link and don't get tangles. Kiss of death there...
Or maybe use a small piece of rig tube to trap the hair against the hook shank, like a blowback rig used in carp fishing :eek:
 
Adam Just to be clear are you saying that the tangle is with the hooklink length or the fact the hook is reversing sometimes.?

If its your hooklink tangling suprisingly it could simply be your casting action.

Are you fishing deep banks or holding the rod high on the cast and not feathering any line as it drops? I guess pretty much minimal flow on your river at moment?

Graham
 
Adam. probably easier to explain what I suspect is happening.

Think about it. On the cast your lead or feeder is the heaviest item. That is dropping pretty much straight down in the low flow levels on most rivers.

Your hooklink/bait/mesh is following it down pretty much directly. If you are releasing mainline at this time it will be caught by the hooklink, even more so if you are using a long one.

If you just finger the spool for a second to stop mainline following down as your rig hits the water, keeping it tight on the moment of impact, this should solve your problem. As a standard I always lightly feather my line down to the point it hits bottom.

It helps with depth analysis and guides to how much line to take up to establish contact with the tip.
 
Hi all.

Thanks for the comments.

It was happening on a small tributary that I was fishing, it was just an underhand lob but in the dark so I wasn't able to feather the line down particularly well so it sounds like this was the issue.

Thanks god for that, I thought I'd be attempting a 'knit one, purl one' every time I cast out!! :D
 
i use a swivel with a ring to my mainline, i put a clip onto the ring, then a hooklink to the ring end of swivel, clip a webtube bundle onto the clip, then put your hook into one strand of the web . you wont ever have your hooklink tangling up your main line again;)
 
Have you tried an anti tangle sleeve on the mainline? Acts like a mini boom, if you don't want to secure the lead or feeder to the narrow end, just place a bead above for a free running rig.
 
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