hair rigs (gasp!)

[St.John]

Sooooooo traditionists...... Who does and who doesn't? I often do, as there is no doubting they work, and didn't st. Izaak describe one in the complete angler? Although I have caught plenty of fish on sidehooked boilies as well. I always sidehook sweetcorn.....

[The Sweetcorn Kid]

I'm afraid I'm sold on the Hair Rig, there's no doubt that, if set up correctly it is a devistating method, but it's not just a case of having a hair dangling beneath the hook....no.......the mechanics need to be right in order for it to be deadly effective.

[Gary Bills]

i've used it and caught on it - but as I am increasingly a traditionalist in method, if not always in tackle - my usual rod of choice these days is the 26-braid carbon AKN 116 - I feel it is important to actually"strike" the fish, so my bait is usually on the hook and my rod is either in my hand, or on the bank before me, but seldom on rod-rests....

[GloucesterOldSpot]

I'm afraid I'm sold on the Hair Rig, there's no doubt that, if set up correctly it is a devistating method, but it's not just a case of having a hair dangling beneath the hook....no.......the mechanics need to be right in order for it to be deadly effective.

Likewise. And 'mechanics' doesn't necessarily infer complexity; the mechanics of a fly tied to a leader is just as important for correct presentation, but as it boils down to selecting the correct tippet diameter (not necessarily breaking strain) for fly size and weight, it's not often expressed thus.

I've witnessed anglers who are stridently anti hair-rig argue the toss over whether the line should leave the hook at the back or the front of the spade. It's the same thing, but because hair rigs are so inescapably thought of as carp rigs, there's an ostritch-like attitude towards them, as if by using one you shall immediately become Satan's favourite fag. It's the same with bolt rigs; the ardent puritans condemn anyone caught using such things with bell, book and candle, yet they cheerfully leger downstream for barbel and rejoice in the thumping, unmissable bites they experience.

[GloucesterOldSpot]

i've used it and caught on it - but as I am increasingly a traditionalist in method, if not always in tackle - my usual rod of choice these days is the 26-braid carbon AKN 116 - I feel it is important to actually"strike" the fish, so my bait is usually on the hook and my rod is either in my hand, or on the bank before me, but seldom on rod-rests....

Sorry to say that's a classic case in point; confusion between the hair rig in isloation and the use of rested rods and self-hooking apparatus. If you hair rig a bait you can still float fish or touch leger it.

[St.John]

One of the best ways of chubbing on the wye is a hair-rigged pellet trotted on the float. I occasionally use it to good effect. Prefer maggot tho!!!

[St.John]

Has anyone got st walton's section an hair rigs to hand? I can't remember how he described it, and a friend has my copy.

[Gary Bills]

i've used it and caught on it - but as I am increasingly a traditionalist in method, if not always in tackle - my usual rod of choice these days is the 26-braid carbon AKN 116 - I feel it is important to actually"strike" the fish, so my bait is usually on the hook and my rod is either in my hand, or on the bank before me, but seldom on rod-rests....

Sorry to say that's a classic case in point; confusion between the hair rig in isloation and the use of rested rods and self-hooking apparatus. If you hair rig a bait you can still float fish or touch leger it.

I agree, Gloucester Old Spot, - but fishing as I do, I usually see little point in using it - and traditionally(!) the hair is associated with bolt-rigs etc, going back to the Maddocks era. I would agree, strongly, that it's great for hard baits, such as tigers etc, whether or not one ledgers or float-fishes - but generally speaking, I've taken a personal decision not to use the hair, if at all possible; although I would defend any angler's right to employ it. Fishing has enough problems, without division.
I will say this though, when I have float-fished with the hair, often the fish have given furious bites and have seemed unusually furious throughout the fight, whereas a struck fish seems confused at first, quite often, and can be gently pressured away from any snags, before the real fireworks begin. Strange, but true, in my experience.

[GloucesterOldSpot]

i've used it and caught on it - but as I am increasingly a traditionalist in method, if not always in tackle - my usual rod of choice these days is the 26-braid carbon AKN 116 - I feel it is important to actually"strike" the fish, so my bait is usually on the hook and my rod is either in my hand, or on the bank before me, but seldom on rod-rests....

Sorry to say that's a classic case in point; confusion between the hair rig in isloation and the use of rested rods and self-hooking apparatus. If you hair rig a bait you can still float fish or touch leger it.

I agree, Gloucester Old Spot, - but fishing as I do, I usually see little point in using it - and traditionally(!) the hair is associated with bolt-rigs etc, going back to the Maddocks era. I would agree, strongly, that it's great for hard baits, such as tigers etc, whether or not one ledgers or float-fishes - but generally speaking, I've taken a personal decision not to use the hair, if at all possible; although I would defend any angler's right to employ it. Fishing has enough problems, without division.
I will say this though, when I have float-fished with the hair, often the fish have given furious bites and have seemed unusually furious throughout the fight, whereas a struck fish seems confused at first, quite often, and can be gently pressured away from any snags, before the real fireworks begin. Strange, but true, in my experience.

Fair enough. No-one should question another's choices, as long as the gesture is reciprocated. I'd be quite happy if no-one but me used them, as long as everyone else recognised that by doing so I was making an informed personal decision and didn't resort to tar and feathers.

[The Sweetcorn Kid]

Martin James showed me how to tie a rig with a hair of mono but with no loop, and then to superglue two pellets to this hair. :hat: