I had seen the Nash Triggalink advertised for some time and as soon as I saw it I thought I must get some of that. However, as is usually the case, I never got round to it. That is until a few weeks ago, all I can say is that I wish I had got some sooner!
Marketing hype aside, I was already won over on the merits of incorporating some sort of elasticity into my rigs. In the past I went to great lengths to try and reduce the effect of sudden lunges when targeting fish off the top and it certainly worked, reducing the amount of hook-pulls and thus increasing my catch rate. I was using some high-tech (and extremely expensive!) pole elastics at the time but the problem was that the rigs could be messy to tie and durability was not the best. I tried to adapt the approach to bottom bait rigs to try and counter the effect of fish shedding hooks but the elastic was simply not up to the job and poor abrasion resistance meant you were tying new rigs almost non-stop.
Trust Kevin Nash to sort it out! Triggalink is effectively a stretchable hooklink material with an elasticated core and braid coating. The result is a perfect stretchable hooklink with excellent abrasion resistance. How does it work? Well, once immersed in water the core shrinks by up to 30%, effectively ‘loading’ it. Then when pulled taught by a fish, the whole thing acts like a shock-absorber, reducing the ability of the fish to shed the hook. When dry it’s just like any other braid – easy to tie with no stretch, but as soon as you drop it in water it shrinks down ready for action – a coiled spring lying in wait!
When soaked it’s a bit like bungee elastic and will mirror the carp’s movements; stretching or contracting perfectly. I’ve been tying various combi-rigs with Triggalink and I have to say that it has really impressed me. The only thing I found was that when using a tension meter to test breaking strains on the 15lb breaking strain option, I was not getting breaking strains I was entirely happy with (on my combi-knots). As such, I moved up to the 20lb option and I’ve not had any trouble since.
Triggalink is available in 12lb, 15lb, 20lb and 25lb breaking strains and is supplied on a 20 Metre spool. Priced at £14.99 it’s certainly not the cheapest hooklink on the market, but then again, many will say you get what you pay for!
For more information and to find your nearest stockist visit: http://www.NashTackle.com
