Dear Team Mainline

Hi, I have been carp fishing for the last three years with mixed success, but one of the things that still confuses me is Hair length. I watch a number of shows and read the magazines quite a bit, but everyone seems to use different Hair lengths. Some like to have the bait close to the hook, whereas others like a long Hair. Is there a certain length that should match certain baits, or when you are fishing on the bottom or popped up?

Many thanks,
David Kimberley

Hi David

There are no real hard-set rules as to how long the Hair should be; it’s more a case of following some basic principles to work out what best suits the angling situation.

As a rule of thumb, the shorter the Hair, the sooner the hook enters the carp’s mouth, with hookholds generally being at the front of the mouth. When hookholds are a little too deep, locating in the softer, fleshy areas at the back of the carp’s mouth, shortening the Hair will bring hookholds nearer to the front of the mouth and to the ideal position, around half an inch (10mm) back from the lower lip. This can also be a good option if you’re receiving lots of single bleeps not generating into full-blown takes, when it’s likely that carp are mouthing the hookbait and ejecting it very quickly. With a very short Hair or by tying the hookbait to a rig ring tight to the hookshank, any enquiry from a mouthing carp will almost certainly see the carp being pricked by the hookpoint straightaway, hopefully inducing a panicking bolt effect just as quickly. A short Hair also lends itself very well to pop-up rigs where the buoyant hookbait is already lifting and setting the hookpoint at a downward, aggressively angled position, meaning less movement of the hookbait is needed.

In contrast to short Hair Rigs, the longer the Hair, the further back into the carp’s mouth the hookbait will get before the carp feels anything untoward. Lengthening the Hair can therefore help prevent weak hookholds if hookpulls are a problem. This is often caused by the carp not taking the hookbait far enough into the mouth to allow the hook time to turn and locate a solid position prior to being ejected. Longer Hairs most notably work well with bottom and balanced baits when you’re looking for the hookbait to act and feel the same as free offerings. Hookbaits with maximum freedom of movement are key to this kind of feeding situation, which is exactly what a longer Hair provides, enabling the overall rig to be confidently accepted into the carp’s mouth.

Because the way carp feed can differ from venue to venue, due to things like the presence of weed, a hard or soft lakebed, angling pressure, as well as the general size, stock and strain of the carp, the ideal length of Hair can also vary. A fairly neutral length of Hair, leaving a gap of around a quarter of an inch (5-8mm) between hook and hookbait, is always the best place to start, and to be honest will effectively cover the majority of angling situations. Nevertheless, monitor your results, always paying attention to hookholds of any landed fish, whether carp or non-targeted species, and make adjustments to the Hair length where needed. If not to begin with, you’ll soon be presenting the ideal setup, and perhaps more importantly, will also understand why.

Tight lines,