The big question: Hair length

Question: What are your views on Hair length? Are we missing a trick by all fishing similar length Hairs and not opting for super long, super supple Hairs like it was originally created?

Joe Morgan

"I don't use Hairs anymore"

“Funny you should ask me that question at the moment as for the last few months I haven’t even used a Hair rig. Since playing around with the Thinking Anglers Micro Hook Ring Swivels and Hook Beads I am a complete convert. The presentation I use lends itself perfectly for snowmen, critically-balanced baits and pop-ups. I also use it with a size 4 Wide Gape even for very small baits; I think the large, super sharpened hook combined with the balanced bait and a small soft braided section on a combi creates a dangerous little set-up that seems to react instantly no matter which way it’s approached from.

“Because the swivel moves so freely the hook is able to drop far more efficiently than with a Hair or a Hair/ring combo. I also like to set the bead right up by the eye, this makes the point of the hook heavier and enables it to really drop down and find its place.

“I have only been using this presentation in this manner for a few months but the hook holds I have been getting have been perfect and I truly believe it’s one of the most effective set-ups I have ever used.”

Craig Mortimer

"Not too long"

“I don’t normally use a long Hair to mount my hookbait, I tend to use anything from 5mm to 20mm long from the bottom of the hook. This is all depending on feeding situations, what size fish I’m fishing for, and how pressured they are. I always lengthen or shorten the Hair to try and find the winning combination and I use a supple Hair to allow the hook freedom of movement and unhindered rotation. I wouldn’t tend to fish a Hair any longer than an inch as I worry that the further away that hook is away from the bait, the less chance there is that it could even get close to the fish’s lips if they feed tentatively and then decide to blow the bait back out. 

“I’m also a strong believer in a presentation that can constantly reset itself; so again, in my mind, with the longer Hair there’s more chance that something could go wrong when it’s been picked up by nuisance fish. It needs to be perfect when a carp comes onto the spot to feed. I want that hook to follow the hookbait into the fish’s mouth immediately when it is sampled – to prick the lip as soon as possible.”

Martin Locke

"It's a short Hair for me..."

“Long Hair, short Hair. We all know that the common ‘umbrella’ that we call Hair rigs these days started off as being much longer than most of us use now. In the early days, hooklinks were often 18-inches or more, so lots more ‘give’ in length for the carp to suck in and move off. It was nothing short of revolutionary and probably the reason that the sport/industry is as big as it is today.

“Without doing a ‘war and peace’ chapter on the subject, I was privileged enough to be amongst the first to use the ‘Hair’, which came soon after what we called ‘side-hooking’. Side-hooking had the bait sitting on the eye of the hook, but importantly, it was the first rig that left the hook out of the bait; prior to that the hook was completely hidden inside the bait so the carp couldn’t see it, leaving us to ‘strike through the bait’ when the carp swam off!

“As just about all of us use shorter hooklinks these days, it makes sense to use a shorter Hair or ‘D’ set-up and it just ‘looks right’, so it’s more about tying the hook correctly in order for it to prick the fish by setting the angle with shrink tube, stiff material, etc. to get it to prick them rather than Hair length.

“We also use a lot more two and three bait rigs these days, so that in itself gives the carp more problems to eject, so more chance of the hook taking hold.

‘D’ rig/short Hair rig also has less/no chance of tangling. That said, and logic being applied, it’s short Hairs and multi bait rigs for me.”