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The new Gardner Ultra Skin is a super soft, supple and ‘skinned’ braided hooklink material.
ULTRA SKIN SILT VERSION IS NOW AVAILABLE!
Ultra Skin is available in three matt colours – Green, Brown and Silt and in three breaking strains – 15lb, 25lb and 35lb. These are perfectly suited a wide range of carp and specialist angling situations.
The 15lb strain has a very low diameter (only 0.50mm) and has been used with huge success by both carp and specimen anglers looking for a hooklink that offers finesse without compromising reliability.
The 25lb version is the all rounder for the carp specialist. It retains a low profile whilst the extra strength doesn’t mean a significant jump up in finished diameter, and at 0.55mm it is still amazingly thin for a 25lb skinned hooklink!
In 35lb Ultra Skin is simply formidable! It is capable of coping with the most arduous big carp fishing situations, despite only being a fraction thicker than the 25lb versions. If you’re fishing for big carp on a big water, near snags or pads, you’ll need a hooklink to rely on and this is it.
- Skinned hooklinks have been widely available for many years now, Ultra Skin now offers significant improvements in terms of feel, colour, finish and ease of use.
- It is really the softest and supplest material of its type; with the colours carefully specified and tweaked until we were 100% satisfied they were the best hue and 100% correct.
- The matt finish isn’t only for show; it really helps the material blend into the aquatic environment and the soft feel means that if a fish bumps into it, whilst feeding on a baited spot, it feels ‘natural’ and is less likely to alarm a fish that may be a bit ‘edgy’. Of course this is also helped by the fact that the material sinks well, and is more likely to settle flush to the lake bed.
- As anglers we realise that most soft hooklinks need pinning down (because the hook bait tends to drop nearer the lead than the length of the hooklink) and a blob of Critical Mass tungsten putty half way along the hooklink really makes a difference to your final presentation – even with really heavy hooklink materials like Ultra Skin – particularly if you’re fishing on hard spots that are very clean due to feeding fish.
- Ultra Skin is easy to strip and will not rupture whilst tightening down a well tied ‘figure of 8’ loop knot.
- The unique polymer mix used in the skin means that Ultra Skin straightens easily*, even just using your fingertips.
(*Keeping your hooklinks straight is important, as it improves the manner in which the rig settles and helps to alleviate tangles. Sometimes it’s the little things that make a big difference in terms of a rig’s overall performance.)
Is this the best skinned hooklink available? We think so…
| Breaking Strain | Meterage | Colours |
| 15lb (6.8kg) | 20m | Green, Brown and Silt |
| 25lb (11.3kg) | 20m | Green, Brown and Silt |
| 35lb (15.9kg) | 20m | Green, Brown and Silt |
‘Covert Hook Aligner Rig’ step by step guide:
- What you need….
- Step 1 – Take a spool of skinned hooklink and a stripper tool
- Step 2 – using a stripper tool, strip back around 5 inches of coating
- Step 3 – Tie a simple double overhand loop to form a hair
- Step 4 – Tie a simple knotless knot, in this sequence we have used a Covert Incizor which is a great all-round pattern of hook
- Step 5 – Thread a large Covert Hook Aligner down the hook length (this will create a line-aligner effect) encouraging the hook to flip and turn in the fishes mouth
- Step 6 – Push the Covert Hook Aligner onto the hook shank and align as shown
- Step 7 – if everything is aligned correctly the hook will flip and turn as shown
- Step 8 – Tie a double over hand loop in the end of the hooklink for each of quick attachment
- Step 9 – Add your chosen bait and the rig is ready to go
‘Hinged Stiff Rig’ step by step guide:
Boom Section
- Use a soft skinned hooklink like Ukltra Skin to allow the Boom Section to settle down flush to the lake bed
- 1. Start off tying a size 12 Covert Flexi-ring swivel to Ultra Skin boom using a 4 turn Grinner
- 2. Tie a figure of 8 loop knot at the other end to allow attachment to a Kwik Lok style swivel
- 3. Make sure the knot is bedded down, applying even pressure, pulling steadily on both the tag and the hooklink
- 4. Wrap some Critical Mass Putty around the Grinner to counter balance the pop up (make it sink slowly)
- 5. The finished Boom section. Half way there…
Hook Section
- Hinged Stiff Rig hook sections work best with a high memory hooklink material
- 1. There’s nothing simpler or stronger for attaching hooks than the good old ‘Knotless Knot’
- 2. With the Size 4 Incizor 8-9 wraps is perfect.
- 3. Now for the ‘D’, slip a large Covert Rig Ring onto the knotless knot tag end…
- 4. …and then push the end of the tag through the hook eye.
- 5. Trim off the excess material so you have about a cm of Trip Wire.
- 6. Use a lighter to melt the end of the tag, the Blob keeps the ‘D’ in position.
- 7. Attach the hook section to the Size 12 Flexi Ring with a ‘blobbed’ 3 turn Blood Knot.
