Delta Mendota Canal Fishing

Hooklengths Tip

Tying a selection of spare hooklengths is an excellent idea and by keeping a few in identical lengths, you can be back in business quickly after a break, without altering the depth of your float rigs. For newcomers, or those pressedfor time, ready-tied hooklengths are another convenient solution.

Rig Lines and Hooklengths

For much canal fishing, sensitive presentation is important and a hooklength (a final, short section of finer line) is important. This not only presents your bait in a subtle manner but prevents tackle loss or, worse still, a tethered fish, should you suffer a break.

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Modern low diameter lines are perfect for this role. Pre-stretched and electronically tested, these high tech lines are incredibly fine for their high strength. They can be brittle so are unsuitable as reel lines in really fine diameters. Pole rigs are another matter, however, since the elastic provides the stretch to cushion the fight of a larger fish.

The rule of balanced tackle comes into play once again when selecting a hooklength material. A loop-to-loop connection is a strong, simple way to connect hooklengths and the breaking strain of the finer line should be lower, but not vastly different to your main line (for example a 3lb hooklength would be perfect for 4lb reel line).

How long should your hooklength be? This also varies. Some match anglers employ tiny hooklengths of 6in or less. But these can be fiddly and somewhere in the region of 10in is more common for float methods, or anything up to 3ft for feeder fishing.

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