Ali Hamidi’s carp fishing masterclass. Balanced tackle

The primary tester of Korda and just one of the country’s best carp fishermen, Ali Hamidi reveals the details of the ideal balancing of the rig with boilies of neutral buoyancy for carp fishing.

But now I’m not talking about ordinary things, but about a specially balanced nozzle, which requires much more time and attention to the smallest details. Such meticulousness will help any carp to get more bites in any conditions.

After you have done a difficult job finding a suitable place, soon you need to choose a nozzle. If the carp are not interested in what is adjacent to your hook, then all previous works will go wrong. Even if the vent is pleasant to the underwater inhabitants, but your last tackle will not be properly balanced, then you can not wait for a positive result. I have a very tight work schedule, so I can not allow “small” shortcomings to spoil a short, because of this staying on the shore is even more valuable. I pay particular attention to my nozzle as well as other critical elements (sharp hook, strong fishing line).

It often happens that my enthusiasm leads to the creation of “own” attachments. For example, I like to mix different smells of Polaris pop-ups with Cell cork. As a result, obtained something unusual and new. A balanced nozzle is the most challenging piece of tackle since you do not have the right to make a mistake. Each fluid or dip has a different weight and has different effects on the behaviour of the boil in water.

There are dozens of producers and hundreds of flavours. Each product is different from each other. In this case, we must not forget about the time of the dip and the composition of the boil itself, because all the boilies absorb the liquid in different ways. It is difficult to take into account all the nuances, but there is a simple way out – to use boilies of neutral buoyancy.

They are often neglected but in vain! It is best to begin by defining boilies of neutral buoyancy (neutrals). As you can guess by the name, neutralists are something in between drowning and floating boilies. At the same time they have a little buoyancy, so as not to lie on the bottom, but stay in a layer of water at a hair’s distance. Hook in this case is a counterweight.

It’s a perfect quality that helps the attachment to behave like free food. No carp will suspect that something is wrong since the behaviour of your final gear in the water is natural. You can see for yourself by dipping neutrals into the water on the shore of the reservoir. You will immediately understand what I mean. The boilies will begin to rise slowly. You can shake the water a little – the boilies will react to the fluctuations as well as the natural food of the carp.

When the nozzle behaves in this way, you have an advantage over the cautious inhabitants of the underwater world. It is especially noticeable when the reservoir is under intense pressure from carp fishers. It is worth because almost all manufacturers began to produce boilies of neutral buoyancy with the smells of their leading brands. It will not be difficult for you to find your favourite boilies, suitable for our purpose.

Simultaneously, when swallowing the nozzle with carp, it quickly “flies” into its mouth. In many situations, it is these criteria that are necessary for the perfect work of the rig.

The natural response of the nozzle to the water fluctuations caused by the approach of the fish is ideal for the use of PVA bags. But this aspect I will discuss in detail in the second part. We must not forget that choosing neutral as a nozzle; we adhere to the battle tactics, which in most cases brings the biggest trophies. But it must be developed, decently spreading boilies along the water area. For this purpose, the slingshot or cobra is the best. This way you will make the carp continuously look for a power source while giving it confidence in round “sweets”.

During catching on a soft day, that is, when there is a chance of bogging in mud or bottom debris, a long leash and a perfectly balanced nozzle will best cope with the problem surface. The hook will slowly sink into the water, straightening a long rope. As a result, your last tackle will look great even over a collection of algae. With the continuous feeding of carp from the bottom, he is more likely to miss your pop-up boil, while the usual sinking rigging, as I have already mentioned, can get bogged down in bottom rubbish or grass. As you guessed, the neutral option is the best choice.

The fact that the located boil above the crochet helps to close off the scaring part of the rigging. When watching underwater videos, you can quickly notice how the carp, approaching the nozzle, sharply scare at the last moment. Perhaps the hook is to blame.

Another positive feature of using neutrals is the simplicity of the rigging. You do not need to use a bunch of materials and knit dodgy knots. All that is required is a regular node. For the knitting of the rigging, I use the lead material in the N-Trap Semi-stiff shell. Its rigidity is sufficient to repel the leash from the sinker, and softness – to accept the contour of the bottom as a hook serves a series of Krank by Korda.

When I create my balanced nozzle, I rely on these materials and take into account the diameter and properties of the boilies that I am accustomed. You can use the products of your favourite manufacturers. But before that, you need to check the system and find the size of the hook for the size of the nozzle. For example, I have 12mm, 15mm and 18mm boilies fit under 8, 6 and four size hooks respectively. The hook should touch the bottom, and the nozzle should hang over it on the extended hair. The hook can lie entirely on the surface, or can use with a sting. Both variants correctly distinguish the carp. It is best to test a few blanks at home and then check their performance on the beach already directly in the pond.

How to knit a balanced tackle? Balanced tackle.

1.  All the components that Ali uses.
   
2.  Remove the 10cm shell, create a simple loop.
   
3.  Wear a neutral buoyancy boil and secure it with a stopper.
   
4.  Fix the length of the hair, keeping the nozzle along the forearm.
   
5. Begin knitting the gang knot until the winding is at the same level as the hook stitch.
   
6. Set the angle to the hair and make two more turns.
   
7. Thread the leash back into the eyelet, securing the nodule assembly.
   
8. Add a small pellet to the rope.
   
9. At the beginning of the strap, put on a long cone to protect against entanglement.
   
10. Everything is effortless. The rig is ready!
    

It often happens that the neutral has a slightly excessive buoyancy. In this case, do not change the hook and knit snap again. Only add a piece of ice-cream wire to your hair and recheck the nozzle presentation. I’m sure that such an easy manipulation will correct the defect.

I can catch on different water bodies, under different conditions and the unusual amount of time, but in my approach to carp fishing, certain things never change. Routine checking of hook sharpness, precise casting and, of course, confidence in your gear. I never doubted the usage of a balanced nozzle. It is the case when you can get bitten in a variety of stressful situations. I quickly realised that particular attention to the nose leads not only to catching more fish, but also helps get the bite when the others are sitting with dead alarms.

In sports ponds every year it becomes more challenging to outwit carp, so you have to excel and develop your traps. I communicate with the top fishermen of the country; I learned to quickly adapt to the situation, slightly changing my tactics and montages to stay ahead of neighbours on the shore. Of course, there are days when carp are friendly to the
angler and forgive him for many mistakes, but in most cases, things are not so rosy. Most often I experiment with a nozzle, under which I then adjust the snap.

One thing was most visible during the filming of the movie underwater in a sports pond – the carp are extremely careful in choosing food. It, like a real gourmet, carefully examines each object, fearing consequences. Anything that behaves swallowed and instantly discarded. Accordingly, the more natural the nozzle acts in water, the more it looks like free food, the more chance of biting is. As we noted earlier, it is the imitation of free food that is the leading property and advantage of boilies of neutral buoyancy.

Neutrals themselves are slowly emerging, but the weight of the hook helps them to keep 1-2cm from the bottom, resulting in a perfect combination of buoyancy. On water bodies that are under high pressure among carp fishing enthusiasts, it is the natural behaviour of the nozzle in the water that will make the carp believe that it does not harbour a threat. You also will not have problems with salt and light grass at the bottom. Excellent addition to neutrals will be small particles on the bottom (hemp, pellets), which will cause the carp to swallow a portion of food immediately, among which will be our nozzle. For this reason, my favourite tactic is the use of one-piece PVA bags.

If there is a perfect nozzle for PVA packages, then these are boilies of neutral buoyancy. The burden of inviting food will attract not only carp, but also hide all the frightening elements of tackle, and if you swallow neutral, they will not differ from your “free” environment. Do not overdo it with the contents of the package. It is vital that nothing hinders the work of the rigging and the free movement of the boil into the oral cavity of the carp. Neutrals cannot be lost among the food thanks to a little buoyancy, so the contents of the package should consist of small particles, through which the boil easily breaks through.

About mounting, the leash must be short and made of soft material. After selecting the nozzle, a short leash will instantly transmit the signal to the inline sinker, after which the carp will not have time to get rid of the sharp hook. It is ours.

The catch is best to choose with a full profile, for example, the Krank series by Korda. Initially tested them with boilies of neutral buoyancy. It’s worth taking care of the colour combination of the boil and the contents of the PVA package. But there are no strict rules: bright with bright, dark with dark. You can take two rods, wherein one nozzle will merge with the environment and the other way around, where will allocate the vent. Time will show which combination works best. The choice, in fact, is not so excellent, so it’s worth trying all sorts of colours and sizes. In one session it will be possible to understand which combination is best liked by the underwater inhabitants. The most effective combination you have to remember or to write down in a notebook, and it will successfully use in the future.

For example, I use a 12mm bullet with an eight hook size, 15mm with a 6th size and 18mm with a 4th size. However, boilies and hooks from each manufacturer have different weights, so you need to experiment at home. You can take my measurements as a landmark.

Also on the beach, before throwing a snap, lower it into the water and check the balance. If the hook does not touch the bottom and does not have enough weight, then add a tungsten paste to the fore-end. Another way of weighting is the hardcore, which can be wrapped around the hair immediately under the nozzle.

It is perfect when the nozzle slowly sinks to the bottom, and the hook only touches the surface with a sting. Another of the option is when the catch entirely lies at the root, and the attachment with the hair holds over it, but I like the first way of presentation more. Both presentation ways easily achieved by selecting different sizes of the hook or nozzle. Let’s say if I want to maximise the hook size 6; then instead of 15mm boilies, I use 18mm. Or vice versa, to lower the hook of the same size, I put on 12-mm-diameter boilies.

The hook can do the same process. Leave the boil 15mm and change the size of the hook, depending on your goal. If you do not have enough buoyancy, you can add plastic corn or a piece of cork. Corn will help diversify the colour range of the nozzle, making it more visible.

Equipment for PVA-package with a nozzle of neutral buoyancy

1.  Everything we need for knitting the snap.
   
2.  We knit a standard non-knot knot of soft driving material.
   
3. Cut off the hair, as we will use a different method of attachment.
   
4. We put on the hook a small swivel with a ring.
   
5. We put on the stopper opposite the staple.
   
6.  Using a thread, we put on the boil of neutral buoyancy.
   
7. We knit a simple knot and cut off the extra ends.
   
8. Simple, but extremely effective equipment, especially with PVA-package.
   

Previously, many carp fishers had to roll themselves neutrals from their favourite mixtures, since the producers were concentrated only on sinking and floating boilies. As we can see, today the situation has changed a lot, most power bars are now available in neutral buoyancy. Just try!