How To Stop Getting 'Done' By Carp

Carp can be a frustrating species of fish to try and catch at times. Fishing for them requires, at first, a mission to find them, then a wait for them to feed and then finally, a hope that they are not too intelligent to outsmart and 'do' your rig. In this article, we take a closer look at how to stop getting 'done' by carp...

big carp underwater

A few beeps on the alarm, followed by nothing - was it a liner or did you just get turned over by a carp that's much smarter than you are? Without an underwater camera, a lot of the time, anglers are blissfully unaware that the rig they think is golden is actually getting rejected, spat out and laughed at by the fish over and over again. Of course, sometimes it just goes in the mouth of a carp so many times, that eventually it just grabs them. In this instance, we are actually catching fish in spite of what we are doing, not because of it. But what if there were ways we could limit the carp's ability to blow out our rigs? Let's explore some of the best rig adjustment options below...

roo abbott returning big carp

LENGTH IS KEY

You may have heard anglers say "giving them rope". This term is usually in reference to using a longer rig, so the fish can take in a bait correctly and more naturally. This tactic of using longer hooklinks usually works best for bigger fish or over a wider spread of bait, typically boilies, where the fish are moving with purpose to pick up each bait, instead of just sucking along the bottom. The downsides of a long rig in general are it takes longer for the carp to connect with your lead system, which is usually the part of your rig that drives the hook home. A great example of this is Zig Rigs, where the hooked to landed ratio is often quite poor, as are the takes themselves. This is simply because the fish has so much wiggle room to shake a lightly nicked hook out.

On more tightly baited areas, like those created by Spombing or boat drops, shortening your rig can certainly increase your chances of converting a pick-up. The fish when feeding on these spots are moving slowly, sucking and blowing, looking to filter out anything unnatural that may enter their mouth. There is far less purpose and focus on your hookbait here from the fish, so a shorter hooklink will cause them to hit the lead faster and set that hook. The downsides of this are a hooklink that is too short might not allow enough natural movement of the bait, so it can't fly into the mouth correctly.

As you can see, hooklink length is a balancing act and something that should be adjusted to suit your specific situation. It is impacted by both the bottom substrate and the feeding behaviour of the fish. If the bites aren't coming, have a play around with that length!

carp fishing rigs on rod

USE THE RIGHT HOOKS

The choice of hook you use for your carp fishing will make a big difference to how many carp you go on to catch. There's plenty of debate around hooks in the fishing world too. Should they be barbed or barbless? Straight pointed or beaked? Long shanked or curved? In-turned eyed or out-turned eyed? The point (excuse the pun) here is you need to understand the benefits and drawbacks of your particular pattern and be using it at the right time. Out-turned eye hooks, like our Redesmere for example, work best with really stiff materials like our Memory. The two work together to create the perfect hooking angle.

omc memory hooklink and redesmere carp hook

What about hook sharpness? That is perhaps one of the biggest deciding factors on whether you will get 'done' or not. That hook simply has to be sharp enough to prick the fish and hold in place. This is why fine point hooks like our phenomenal Lock and Colne-V Needle Points have become so popular, the only drawback with both being they won't last you as many fish on the same hook as our Surrender Range might.

It is in this area where the Tweakers Touch Me Up has totally changed the game, there is now absolutely no excuse for casting out a blunt hook thanks to the speed and efficiency of this nifty little device.

omc hook sharpener touch me up

The final consideration with hooks is size, and many anglers have now started to buck the traditional trend of 'fining down' with the seasons and simply go with, the bigger, the better. This makes sense in many instances, as the more metal there is, the more chance it has of taking a firm hold. This is also why you'll find our size 6-2 Locks very difficult to get hold of at times.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HOW THE LOCK HOOK TOOK OVER CARP FISHING IN 2024 IN THIS RECENT ARTICLE.

This isn't to say there's no place for smaller-sized hooks, certainly when Zig and surface fishing, the last thing you want is a huge lump of metal standing out like a sore thumb and weighing down the rig. And certainly, there are times when you might want to balance a small bait on the bottom with a size 10 or 8 so it behaves more naturally to the fish. But if you aren't too worried about finesse, stick with a bigger option for general carp fishing.

carp fishing hook

LEAD SIZES, SYSTEMS AND SHAPES 

Your lead is just for getting your rig in the pond, right? Well, actually your lead plays a big part in hooking the fish in modern carp fishing. Generally, the heavier the lead, the greater the 'bolt' effect, the better hookholds you will get and the more fish you will land. But obviously, heavy leads come with their downsides too, mainly because they are tricky to cast, plug into the bottom, and can make it harder to land the fish if they remain on the line throughout the fight. 

carp fishing lead

Lead shape and type are important too when trying to construct a rig that won't get 'done' easily. Whilst fantastic for presentation and ejection from the lead clip, swivel type leads have one major downside; the carp can use the play between the swivel and the lead to eject the rig.

For more effective hooking, inline leads, where the fish hits the heaviest part of the lead first, are the best. The downsides of these, however, are they can plug into the bottom, taking your hookbait with it and ruining your presentation.

Finally, we have 'heli' leads and systems, and for presenting baits over pretty much anything, these are unbeatable. Again, however, the limitation with them is you are allowing the carp more free movement without tension, therefore risking the chance of it being able to eject the hook.

All this might seem confusing for a beginner, but you'll soon find that everything in carp fishing has a place. It is just knowing when to use it to your advantage.

carp fishing leads

WORKING THE ANGLES

Returning to the sharp end of our rigs, and you might have noticed anglers adding various things to their hooks. These items aren't for just visual appeal, they provide important mechanical benefits, almost changing the shape of the hook itself.

Historically, this process has been done with Shrink Tubing, but nowadays, products like our Dazzlers serve this principle with the absolute minimum of fuss. With the Dazzler Range, you can create a greater curve in your rigs for more solid hooking, extend the shank of your hook or just correct the angle of where the line and hook meet.

It might seem like small details, but in the mouth of the carp these changes can make a big difference to how that hook flips and turns, meaning they won't be able to shake you out so easily.

OMC Dazzlers Range

GIVE IT SOME EXTRA WEIGHT

Putty isn't just great for pinning our rigs down to the bottom and balancing our pop-ups. It can serve hooking benefits too. A substantial number of anglers now use a seemingly large dollop of putty an inch or so from their hook, so when it enters the mouth, that extra weight helps pull the hook point down. This overweighting strategy might seem foolish to some, but underwater it also allows your bait to not waft and move all over the place when the carp are near it, increasing the chances of a take.

putty on carp rig

An old-fashioned trend that seems to have resurfaced in recent years is actually weighting the hook itself. The 'Shot on the Hook Rig' involves adding extra weight towards the point of the hook to make it the heaviest part, meaning it falls quicker into the lip of the carp. Stay tuned for a wicked OMC product that will help with this presentation in the coming months.

shot on hook rig

CONSIDER YOUR LINE TENSION 

Often overlooked but vitally important, the slackness of your line can have a big impact on the quality of your hookholds. There's no doubt slack lines are superb for increasing the confidence of the fish in your swim, but anyone who has used this method often enough will tell you, the fish can move a long way before you know you've got one on. This 'kiting' is exactly the time when they will 'do' your rig by shaking their heads, and you might not even know about it. For this exact reason, many anglers now swear by fishing 'bowstring' tight lines straight to heavy leads, with the fish feeling the full weight of the entire setup on the bite.

GET THE BEST MAINLINE FOR THE JOB BY TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT OUR DANCEFLOOR MONOFILAMENT.

line tension on carp rods

In the same way mentioned above, consider the slackness of your clutch too. Sure, you don't want the rod flying into the lake on the take. But equally, you don't want line almost falling off the reel under very little tension. That's the key word, it's that tension that sets and keeps that hook in, particularly on barbless waters.

If you are worried about your rod going anywhere, invest in some strong and solid bankware that won't budge under pressure - exactly what you'll find with our Heist range.

carp fishing reels

INCREASE YOUR RESPONSIVENESS

Moving from mainline to hooklinks, more importantly, the type of material chosen for your rig. As with every other topic we have mentioned, they all have a place, but knowing how to get the most from each is essential.

Fluorocarbons, like our Kickback and Blend, are arguably the most responsive hooklinks you can use. The stiffness in these materials, as also with our Memory Monofilament, makes them super difficult for carp to deal with. They almost hit that lead instantly. The downsides, are that over uneven bottoms or with certain rigs, they can ride up off the floor, causing the bait and hook to sit at a funny angle and become more alarming to the fish should they encounter it.

omc kickback fluorocarbon

Braids like our Ammo and Blend, on the other hand, offer beautifully natural presentation but a lot more movement of the bait, making them less responsive.

omc ammo braid for carp fishing

There are a few things you can do to increase the responsiveness of your rig. Essentially, what you're looking for is your hookbait to be at full extension from your lead on the bottom. This can be aided by adding a Blend or Vitabitz Anti-Tangle Sleeve and stopping the cast, which in turn throws the hook away from the lead system. What you don't want, is a rig sitting in a heap on top of the lead system. This could easily be sucked at and ejected with no tension felt by the fish at all.

anti tangle sleeve on carp rig

GET THAT POINT IN POSITION

Going back to hook angles, and here is a consideration to make on every rig you cast out; what position will the hook point be in when it enters the mouth of the fish? You want that point to be aiming down into the bottom lip, not sideways, upwards or not at all. This is particularly true with pop-up rigs like the Hinge and Chod, where many anglers make the mistake of "over curving" the rig, reducing the chance of pricking the fish in the first place.

chod rig position

ADD SOME FINAL MAGIC

Now, no article about carp fishing hooking mechanics would be complete without a mention of the revolutionary Magic Twig and Wand. Now we have explained all the things that can go wrong with our rigs underwater, why risk not boosting your lead system further?

omc magic wand carp rig

Backed by a mountain of underwater evidence, both the Twig and Wand have been proven to increase the hooking efficiency of any carp rig. They do this in several ways; the first is by pricking the fish once the device has been triggered. This prick effect is far quicker than can be achieved by any lead system we currently have available to us. It is akin to the response of a human strike watching a float. You just can't replicate that with a bottom bait bolt rig at long range, until now! The second way the Wand and Twig work to prevent shakeouts from the carp, is that once pricked, the device then works as a suspension. This keeps constant pressure on the hookpoint, holding it firmly and cleanly in place. This basic principle has been well studied over the years, with the likes of Elasticated Feeders, the Bungee Rig and Steve Renyard's Hermit Rig - all classics.

carp hooked on magic twig
carp hooked on magic wand

Fished 'loaded' or 'unloaded', the Magic Wand and Twig make 'getting done' almost entirely a thing of the past. We can't say 100%, as surely nothing is that good, right? Something to think about adding to your angling this year maybe...

Journalist Chris Haydon joined the OMC Family in the spring of 2024, after six years working for the UK's number 1 fishing publication, the Angling Times. He is a keen Coarse and Carp Fishing All-rounder, fishing in the South West region, including the famous Cotswold Water Park.