Fortunately I do a bit of sea fishing so I had a size 1/0 hook and some 10lbd line handy so away we went, lesson one was to be ' The Hair Rig'. " Firstly tie an Overhand Loop Knot " " a what?" I could imagine the patient sigh emanating from Experienced Carp Fishing Friend "right, double your line back on itself and now form a loop with the doubled line and pass the tail through the loop and pull it tight, leaving a small loop at the end" "Duh! " well of course I know that knot, I just didn't know what it was called. "right now trim the tail so the loop is at one end of the line, this is for your hair stop" "ok I have done that " thinking what the hell is a hair stop? "now thread the other end of the line through the back of the eye of the hook, and pull it through until you have a hair of the desired length" "how do I know the desired length?" "well that depends on the size of your boilies" "you mean boilies come in different sizes?" At this point there was a long pause, and eventually my new found Experienced Carp Fishing Friend typed "yes but we will come to that later" "ok " I replied rather sheepishly. " now whip the line down the shank of the hook until you are level with the point" hey I can do that I thought "now turn the line back to top of the hook using fewer turns and pass it back through the eye and pull it tight and that's a hair rig " wey hey I thought, "this is simple" little did I know then of the trials and tribulations I was to go through to get it right with braid and smaller hooks!.

For the next few days I practiced my new found skill, gradually reducing the hook and line size until I felt I could tie a reasonably competent hair rig that wouldn't be a complete embarrassment on the bank. Now for stage two, actually tying the thing using 'proper carp tackle' ie braid, carp hooks, swivels and the mysterious heat shrink tubing. Full of enthusiasm (and a wallet full of cash) I set of for the tackle shop armed with a list of " a few bits you will need " supplied by my Experienced Carp Fishing Friend to acquire the necessary items to complete my first lesson. This is where I had my first setback.

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