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hooklink material advise

P

Patrick Dolan

Senior Member
Im looking for some advise on hooklink materials.i generally fish a mono hooklink and have only dabbled briefly with braid. Any recommendations out there appreciated
 
Airflo Sightfree G3 Flourocarbon, for my Mono, really robust
Drennan sinkbraid or gravel braid for my other requirements
 
I'm mainly a braid man and have always found Kryston various braid suitable, I have a couple of others such as Brennan braids but generally use Kryston.

With mono for match and pole fishing I swear by Preston Reflo, excellent for pole work, never used it for Barbel fishing though
 
Drennan Sinkbraid for most of my barbelling

Sometimes use Korda N-Trap soft (coated braid)

Had great success with Korda IQ2 Fluorocarbon hook lengths too which I am going to use more of this season. I think the stiffness of the flouro (I use it straight through to the hair) makes it harder for the fish to deal with.
 
Prologic mimicry for me, with a short 2" combi of soft braid at the hook end. I like the Gardner stuff too, never let me down.
 
Gardner trickster for after dark, flood water fishing and Korda IQ2 for daytime hook links. Used the Drennan supplex fluro on the Wye last season and that seemed generally excellent and good value if fishing snaggy areas.
 
Combi link proper gear for ribble paddy 15lb amnesia clear 20lb esp anchor gravel braid for the supple part 10s korda crank or 12s curved shank. watch for the braid wearing on the eye of the hook not had many problems with anchor braid .sink braid and trickster not up to it but that is my opinion
coated hook link fox camotex soft 15lb if i was using a small pellet 8mm can get it through twice through the eye when stripped back to a guru 10s mwgb .
 
20lb sunline fc sniper fluorocarbon with a 2inch braid combi of gardner trickster in 25lb has landed a ridiculous amount of Trent Barbel for me. It also works rather well on small rivers too. Oh and don't forget 2 inch of tungsten tubing over your Albright knot. Tried coated braid and Imo this is far far better and far far more user friendly and practical.
 
ESP Strip Teaze coated braid, saves making a combi link by only having to strip back a few inches of coating near the hook.
 
Can't find a thread mentioning Drennan Gravel Braid.

Anyone use this? I normally use Drennan Sink braid but just found 2 spools of Drennan Gravel Braid (camo brown shades) that I'd forgotten we got almost by accident 2 years ago (in fact my Mrs ordered one thinking it was sink braid, she was sent an extra one for free by mistake, and we've never used either) ... this stuff is totally different, considering that only one word is different in the name, much stiffer and almost seems slightly shiny..... will it be OK, or maybe better than Drennan Sink braid for clear shallow gravelly waters?

And might tangle less with mainline if it's stiffer? (an occasional issue only)
 
I like the Gardner Ultra Skin, really nice matt colours and very supple. I also have some G Force Blackout braid to try this year
 
Patrick, is this rig for use on the Ribble ? if so, there's not many that know the Ribble better than Gaz Wagstaff. Take his advice. :)


Gary Wagstaff said:
Combi link proper gear for ribble paddy 15lb amnesia clear 20lb esp anchor gravel braid for the supple part 10s korda crank or 12s curved shank. watch for the braid wearing on the eye of the hook not had many problems with anchor braid .sink braid and trickster not up to it but that is my opinion
coated hook link fox camotex soft 15lb if i was using a small pellet 8mm can get it through twice through the eye when stripped back to a guru 10s mwgb .
Click to expand...
 
Graham Shaw said:
Can't find a thread mentioning Drennan Gravel Braid.

Anyone use this? I normally use Drennan Sink braid but just found 2 spools of Drennan Gravel Braid (camo brown shades) that I'd forgotten we got almost by accident 2 years ago (in fact my Mrs ordered one thinking it was sink braid, she was sent an extra one for free by mistake, and we've never used either) ... this stuff is totally different, considering that only one word is different in the name, much stiffer and almost seems slightly shiny..... will it be OK, or maybe better than Drennan Sink braid for clear shallow gravelly waters?

And might tangle less with mainline if it's stiffer? (an occasional issue only)
Click to expand...

Drennan gravel braid is one that I've been using for a number of years Graham and have had no issues with. It's a fast sink and , as you say slightly stiffer (waxier) than some. I don't use it for every situation , sometimes opting for a coated braid or going to the other extreme, a very subtle braid such as Silkworm ( which I find varies enormously depending on breaking strain btw )
I actually need to restock my Drennan,... probably find it's been discontinued like my favourite ESP raptor hooks!:rolleyes:
 
Has anyone mentioned Drennan micro-braid? I use a fair bit of it, without reservation.
 
Dave Taylor said:
Drennan gravel braid is one that I've been using for a number of years Graham and have had no issues with. It's a fast sink and , as you say slightly stiffer (waxier) than some. I don't use it for every situation , sometimes opting for a coated braid or going to the other extreme, a very subtle braid such as Silkworm
Click to expand...

Thanks Dave, much appreciated. I'll give it a go within a few weeks then.

And apologies to those who didn't realise that my post yesterday was reviving a year-old thread.
 
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