Sharp hooks
These are critical in my opinion; you absolutely must have sharp hooks. If you haven’t got sharp hooks at the lakeside, you may as well be sitting there will a spoon on the end on your line. Again there are loads of different types, loads of sizes…. Argh they go on for ever….
These are the hooks I suggest
Fox Arma Fishing Hooks
Korda Fishing Hooks
Korum Fishing Hooks
I started with pre-made hookinks from eBay, but as soon as one snapped on me, they all went in the bin. It is well worth tying your own hooklinks – this will allow you to adjust your hooklinks to suit the lakebed your fishing on at the drop of a hat and it’ll give you confidence when fighting your first fish – it may seem a little advanced at the moment, but I’ll show you how to tie them later, it’s really straight forward and pretty satisfying to see them all lined up in your hooklink book.
After the hooklink snapped on me, I spent a few hours learning how to tie my own. I started with the ‘Korda Curv Shank B’ in a size 8 and a size 10, along with ‘Korda Longshank X’ in a size 8 and a size 10. These allowed me to tie most rigs but certainly all the ones I needed. Since then, I’ve moved on to the equivalent Fox Arma Point Hooks – these seem to turn better than the Korda ones when testing my hooklinks (I’ll show you how to do this later too).
At this moment in time, people are debating on which hooks do less damage to the fish, barbed or barbless. Barbed supposed cause less damage when fighting the fish because it stays in place, barbed supposedly cause less damage when taking out the hook.
I use barbless hooks as barbed are banned at most lakes around my way. It also saves a lot of tugging around trying to get the hook out of a fish’s lip. I have lost a couple of fish when using barbless, but it’s worth it in my opinion. It’s also not worth the bollocking when the bailiff comes to see the 30 pounder you just pulled out of his lake an notices the banned barbed hook in the fish’s mouth.
Again, check the local website’s to find out which ones your allowed and not allowed to use in your area.
I have made a lot of mistakes during my fishing sessions and don’t want you to make the same mistakes. I’ve learned the hard way over 20 years of fishing most weekends, testing, tweaking, and testing again and now want to help you excel with your carp fishing.
If you need any help, you can reach me at Fishing Again’s Facebook page
Last Updated on February 2, 2024 by Shane
