Meat shallow on the pole hair rig or not ?

[TF_AnthonywatersParticipant]

That is the question when fishing Meat shallow on the pole do you hair rig or not ? I cant decide, Ive caught fish both ways but I seem to foulhook more with a hair rig whats everyone else reckon ?

[TF_NathanWatson]

I prefer to hair rig as it stays on better and I think I hit more bites but if you do better without, stick with it! Must be drawing flyers if ya foulhooking em! :p

[TF_shanieboy]

gotta agree with nath, meat stays on much better on a hair so you spend more time with a bait in the water which has gotta be better….. The question should be long or short hair ?? 😎

[TF_NathanWatson]

I like a gap of about 6mm.

[TF_baitchefParticipant]

i think it depends what your fishing for really, I used to fish a small lake that was solid with little carp and hair rigging was a waste of time.

[TF_craigo]

I reckon hair rigging produces more hit bites and it stays on better but over the last summer, I really noticed the fish wising up to hair rigged meat fished shallow and using it directly on the hook worked better so I would say largely depends on the venue and how much pressure it gets

[TF_AnthonywatersParticipant]

Thanks for responses, im fishing for carp to 3lb & decent silvers, I dont have an issue with either method, just wanted a topical discussion on what works, personally I fish a 6mm piece of plumrose on an 18 911 spade end ( barbless of course) and I catch like this, when i do hair rig i experience my foul hooked fish is that down to more hook being exposed on the presentation ?

[TF_shanieboy]

if its not predominately carp but also decent roach and skimmers then, straight on the hook would be my first choice on a 16 B911, if it was all carp then the hair….. 5mm gap size16 PR36

[TF_AnthonywatersParticipant]

Thanks for the replies, alot of the replies mirrored what I was thinking and doing already, I do tend to fish meat more on the hook when fishing shallow but I was speaking to a lad at WA last March, id just won my section and he reckoned Id have had alot more fish hair rigging, when your looking at 70lb of skimmers shallow would hair rigging have given me that edge ? would it have speeded things up that much more for me ?

[TF_paulD]

I tried hair rigging paste and meat at full depth last summer as you would think it must be better. Was a foulhooking nightmare! I hooked loads of fish but not many in the mouth. Maybe its because theres no bolt effect.

[TF_AnthonywatersParticipant]

Paul im starting to think hair rigging is not always the way especially pole fishing, I messed about 3 years ago, I tried fishing every bloody thing in a hair, meat / pellet on the deck in a hair, long pole and corn fishing in a hair, my fishing went downhill as a result. Im not saying it doest work because bomb and pellet/meat/corn theres no better way and for fishing hard pellet up in the air, but hair rig on the deck I dont fully subscribe to.

[TF_shanieboy]

Agreed, on the bomb there’s no better way, but in my experience on the pole or on the wag fishing the hard pellet i have found that banding the pellet then hooking the band the best way by far for hitting more bites. Im not really sure why tho, as the presentation on the hair looks and hangs so much better :confused: Iv tried different length hairs and hook size/ patterns etc but still end up connecting to more fish using a small hook, hooking the band directly??

Any thoughts why?? Or have others found it to be the opposite??

[TF_NathanWatson]

@shanieboy wrote:

Agreed, on the bomb there’s no better way, but in my experience on the pole or on the wag fishing the hard pellet i have found that banding the pellet then hooking the band the best way by far for hitting more bites. Im not really sure why tho, as the presentation on the hair looks and hangs so much better :confused: Iv tried different length hairs and hook size/ patterns etc but still end up connecting to more fish using a small hook, hooking the band directly??

Any thoughts why?? Or have others found it to be the opposite??

I’ve found the opposite! Definetely loose a lot more fish putting a band on the hook. I have no problems with hairs on the pole shallow and waggler.

[TF_shanieboy]

Re reading my last post it prob came acrosss wrong, im talking about hooking the band only when fishing the hard pellet on the deck, on either the pole or the wag. When fishing shallow on both id use the hair obviously…..

Nath, when fishing on the deck on the wag, would you use a hair? If yes what would be your normal setup if you dont mind me picking your brains?? I have tried both PR36 and B911 hooks in 18 and 16 with a hair/micro band either just touching the hook or 4//5mm off and still end up missing bites. Im fishing with the pellet just touching bottom acting as the last dropper.

[TF_NathanWatson]

I don’t often fish the waggler on the deck but use the same hooks and hairs as for fishing shallow, 20 Fox series 2 and an 8mm hair, no shot down the line.

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