How To Make A Tungsten Putty Carp Rig

ANGLER’S MAIL is No.1 for fishing tips and tricks! Here’s one from contributor Andy Browne on making a tungsten putty rig for a critically balanced hook bait.

I prefer to use a fairly stiff hook link material, in this case 25 lb ESP Two Tone in silt colour.

This material comes in three different colours to match the terrain that you’re fishing over – Silt, Weed and Gravel – and consists of tightly woven Dyneema core with a translucent polymer coating, ensuring that it sinks well.The outer coating is stiffer than most braids, allowing the hook length to be kicked off the lead, so when a fish picks up the bait there is always a fast contact with the lead.

In recent months a new company called Taska has appeared on the market with quite a few innovative rig components. They make a number of products in their Baseline range which are impregnated with tungsten.

Taska’s Tungsten Aligners, which are pre-formed and hold their shape well, make critically balancing baits a lot easier to achieve, and the aligner does the normal job of making the hook turn over quicker in the fish’s mouth.

The aligners can be trimmed with a pair of scissors so that you can adjust the weight to critically balance the hook bait so that it will look identical to the bottom baits, but will react in a different way when picked up. The aligners come in two sizes to suit different sizes of hooks.

I terminate my rigs using a link loop using a five-turn grinner knot, eased up slowly with a bit of moisture, which will give you a knot strength over the stated breaking strain of the Two Tone material. Using a link loop like this makes changing your hook length simple and quick and allows you to use a PVA stick if you later decide to.

Using some Baseline putty, tear off a blob and divide equally into two – wrap around the hook length and roll between finger and thumb so that you produce what almost looks like a small olivette.

Here’s how the completed rig should look.