Chris Belcher
Senior Member & Supporter
It's been an interesting return to river fishing this season and luckily most of my previously 'discarded box' carp terminal tackle has been re-used to good effect.
That being said the rig I've had most success with by far (for barbel and chub) is ye olde Mag aligner, and the hooks I've been using (don't think they are available anymore) are ESP Big-T's (in size 6 & 4) . . .which I've now run out of. To fair whilst they are strong they're not ideal (still quite a heavy gauge for hooking maggots directly) and the straight point can blunt easily in a snaggy river so looking for a better pattern . . .needs to be
1 - Strong / Sharp
2 - Thin gauge (to alleviate bursting maggots)
3 - Pref beaked point
4 - Medium shank
5 - In larger sizes (to counterbalance buoyant aligner maggot)
Any thoughts?
That being said the rig I've had most success with by far (for barbel and chub) is ye olde Mag aligner, and the hooks I've been using (don't think they are available anymore) are ESP Big-T's (in size 6 & 4) . . .which I've now run out of. To fair whilst they are strong they're not ideal (still quite a heavy gauge for hooking maggots directly) and the straight point can blunt easily in a snaggy river so looking for a better pattern . . .needs to be
1 - Strong / Sharp
2 - Thin gauge (to alleviate bursting maggots)
3 - Pref beaked point
4 - Medium shank
5 - In larger sizes (to counterbalance buoyant aligner maggot)
Any thoughts?