kevtaylor

Mine come fresh ready for freezing, but I have no issue with freezing and re-freezing

Unfortunately not - PM sent lol

First trip out with the Gripz beak points: Unfortunately no weed to contend with on this trip so the interesting part wasn't tried, however six takes six landed, no slippage or damage caused, 3 fish on a single hook, before changed. The successful rig was the KD with a wafter hookbait taking 5 of the fish, the relevance of this I'm not sure of because those 5 came from the left side of the baited spot for whatever reason. All good so far, the trail continues...

I think you've hit on the answer to this IMO How many anglers stick to leads in the 2 - 3.5 oz range, prob 95% plus. Therefore leads outside of the standard range can be harder for them to deal with.

ESP Semi Stiff is the best I have used so far, no complaints whatsoever, very impressed as are my mates who have swapped to it since. I have no use for the soft, semi stiff is bang on 👍

Hopefully these pics will turn out - Gripz size 4 - smaller than others, but very curved in the point.

Yeah sure, hopefully I'll have some feedback pretty soon 👍

I've got some Cryogen's mate but not in the barbless, will have a look at the range again. Made my first rigs with the Pallatrax Grips last night, very happy with them, the beak is very beaked lol and sharp. What I would say is that my size 4's are more like a 6 from other brands, if I'm happy with them I will buy the 2's next time. Buzzing to get started!

Yeah those pre bought things look too long for what I'm doing, so I'd cut them down to suit.

With a hard bottom and small item feeding I'd go with a short rig, whereas if in weed or soft silt I'd go with a lot longer. I guess I'm reminding you to let the spot and baiting decide the rig approach not what everyone else is using. You have to think they are slowly hoovering up small bits of food passing over your spot so a standard 8 - 12 inch rig will get spat nearly every time, whereas a 3 inch will nail them much more often. A spread of boilies would point towards a longer rig. Mix it up on your rods, experiment and learn what works for you. 👍

Line aligner not necessary for a curve shank, but not a bad idea, try it. With any aligner watch you're not closing up the gape too much. Before you decide on rig length or too much - what are you fishing over and what's the baiting application?

Don't be too quick to dismiss your short rig idea, I witnessed a proper haul from a tricky water with the guy using 2 inch rigs - un-coated braid. 2 x 40's, several 30's and a few 20's later there was no doubt that they were not too short to catch fish - maybe it was the edge over everyone else doing very similar things. Keep thinking outside the box fella- if you do the same as everyone expect to catch the same. We have a habit of copying what the others are doing even if they are doing badly or just ticking over with the odd fish. 👍

Thanks everyone - lots of food for thought - appreciated 👍