The 7 inch (18cm) Malisse blow-back rig…by John Llewellyn
When an angler catches as many big carp as Dennis does, you have to take note of his methods. For most of his fishing Dennis puts his faith in our universal Combi-Link rig which I described in my last article but when the fish are particularly wary the blow-back rig is his preferred choice. This year I have been fishing a particularly difficult lake near to my home here inEngland with a lot of success thanks in no small part to this blow-back rig combined with an exceptionally good bait. I will tell you about this in detail in a separate article.
Dennis continues the story:
The 7 inch rig is the result of more years of carp fishing for difficult fish than I care to remember. Over the years I have messed about with all sorts of rig arrangements but bit by bit I have come to the conclusion that a rig measuring 7 inches (18cm) is the most effective when the carp are feeding warily. I may vary the hook arrangement slightly for different baits and in thick weed but I am totally confident in the blow-back rig as shown and I rarely make any changes to it. Basically, it consists of 7 inches of Big Carp Combi-Link River in either 25lb or 35lb, a large long shank Malisse hook with a piece of shrink tubing bent over the eye and the bait mounted on a blow-back type of ring. I don’t believe that carp are very clever: they are just fish that have little to do except swim, eat and have sex once a year – twice if they are lucky! So, if they aren’t that clever, why would I need a complicated rig set-up?!
