Does dirt really work?
I see anglers rubbing dirt on their hooklinks, why? Big fish angler Mark Bryant answers your top rig-related questions
Anglers will rub dirt into their hooklinks for a few different reasons. The first would be to dull down the hooklink material,
which is usually braid. By rubbing dirt into the fibres this can break-up the outline of a straight line, something our carpy friends are well aware of.
Another great reason to rub dirt (especially clay) is to add weight to the hooklink; this helps to pin it down around the hookbait and stops the dreaded loop from sticking up like a sore thumb.
Some of the anglers I know believe that rubbing dirt into the hooklink can help disguise the human smells. Although I don’t subscribe to this theory, I do understand the reasoning behind it. I feel that many of our smells are soon washed away once submerged into the water domain and would even go as far to say our sweat is an attractant and not a repellent! In fact, a little off topic but still very interesting: I did test on the theory of cigarette smell/taste repelling carp in my fish tank. This is where I conduct all manner of fish taste preferences and found that carp loved cigarette butts! I put three in over a 10 minute period and watched as the carp devoured the lot, filter and all! No wonder Terry Hearn catches so many!
