Welcome to the second instalment of the Adam Penning Hot Seat series. Always one for speaking his mind, this month sees Adam delve into the all-too-common practice of carp anglers fishing slack lines without actually thinking about what impact it may (or may not) be having at the other end … over to you Adam.
There are an awful lot of myths thrown about in our sport – some are ‘urban legends’ and some are simply peddled by the misinformed in order to make themselves sound knowledgeable. Most are spurious to say the least, and bizarrely, many have been accepted into modern carping culture as ‘fact’. Some of the big companies on TV and in other popular media have effectively brainwashed anglers by force feeding them opinionated ideas which are often based on little substance.
TIGHT LINES: ‘If you fish tight lines, the carp will be spooked out of your swim!’
All of the really successful angers that I know, fish a tight line, directly to the lead. This fashion of having lines draping limply through the rings and sagging straight down off the tip is having a serious negative impact on anglers results. There is simply no need to do it unless you are either fishing a chod, or fishing really close in. In fact I know an angler who fishes really tight lines when fishing very close and he catches more than anybody on the lakes he angles on. It is my view that super slack lines have largely been forced upon us in order to sell products; namely fluorocarbon lines and lightweight indicators.
Tom Maker – likes it ‘bow string’ tight
Anglers like Terry Hearn, Ian Russell and Tom Maker all prefer to fish a line direct to the lead, with the latter two preferring to fish ‘bow string’ tight. These are some of the most successful catchers of carp around and trust me – they catch a lot more than most of the ‘TV stars’! A tight line gives you far better bite indication, especially when it is tight and direct, rather than over taut and stretched. It also provides a far better self hooking mechanism which is perfectly logical – after all, you wouldn’t set a bear trap without it being sprung would you?!
When I am out and around the venues on my angling guiding service, I often come across people who find that carp have kited long distances at night without giving a single bleep on the alarm. Usually the bobbins are too light to show any kind of drop back and the fish is long gone. Another common one is the ‘single bleep’ and when the angler winds in, he finds the lead half off the clip arm. Another classic case of the carp getting away with it – something we all know they do and something that we are making so easy for them to do by offering the rig on a lifeless, impotent line.
Furthermore, on waters that have a barbless hook ruling, fishing a super slack line is the kiss of death – believe me; the fish will turn you over time and time again. My advice is get your tips as low as possible and fish a line direct to the lead with the bobbin at the top, on a small drop of 
just an inch or so. It also helps massively to use a bobbin that actually has some weight to it and not some featherlight plastic version.
Recently I met a guy who didn’t read any angling media or watch any of the fishing programs on TV. He fished tight lines and when I asked him why, he explained that it was by far the most logical thing to do and believe me, he catches LOADS on his little syndicate where everyone fishes slack lines!
I will look at a few other myths over the coming months and in the meantime, whatever you are doing in your angling, think about why you are doing it and ask yourself if it makes sense.
Tight lines!
