Now here’s a product I really like! Stiff Ultra Skin from Gardner Tackle is the latest edition to the popular Ultra Skin series.
Wherever possible I like to fish with a really stiff hooklink, as it virtually eliminates the chance of the rig tangling on the cast. Okay, you have to give a lot more thought to the type of lakebed you are fishing over and the presentation you use to prevent your hooklink sticking straight up off the lakebed, but for me this new ‘Stiff’ material offers more than enough resistance to tangling, yet is just about supple enough to bend over and allow your bait to rest on the lakebed.
Stiff Ultra Skin is great for making combilinks; simply strip away some of the coating to reveal the supple inner braid. Rolling the inner braid between your fingers really opens up the fibres, allowing them to move freely. The coated section knots really well and a multitude of different knots bed down well without splitting the coating or bunching up. Once you have tied your hooklink it is best to steam the coating straight – holding it taut over a boiling kettle will give you best results.
Lewis Read of Garner Tackle told Carp-Talk: “A key technical advantage of a stiff hooklink is the fact that it enhances the all-important rig reaction speed as the pivot point is set rigidly at the nearest supple point to the hook end of the hooklink.”
Gardner Stiff Ultra Skin is available in 25lb breaking strain only and comes in a choice of Brown, Silt and Green colours, each 20m spool retailing at £14.99.
