Although in most UK angling situations, there isn’t any need for extra strong / abrasion resistant setups, other than your general terminal setups, there does from time to time come a situation when you need to step up your game, particularly when on the continent.

On my recent trip to Lac Du St Cassien in the South of France, the realisation suddenly hit me. My ‘everyday situation’ terminal setup wasn’t going to do the job, and on gathering information via old DVD footage, and also the very well written ‘Cassien, and Beyond’ written by Steve Briggs, a plan was formulated.

With submerged forests and huge boulders to contend with, a strong abrasive shock leader material was essential, and with a brilliant track record for overcoming such obstacles, Kryston’s 45lb Quicksilver Braided shock leader along with the even stronger 85lb Ton-Up material (in case of extreme situations) were chosen. With depths in excess of 160 feet in some places, I needed to compromise with the lengths that I was going to use without leaving myself short. I decided that 12 metre lengths on each rod would be sufficient for this time of year as I was going be targeting the shallower water with high air pressures and cold nights. The reason behind needing such long leaders is that should you become snagged within rocks and branches, as long as your leaders are longer than the depth you are fishing at, its just a simple case of boating out to the spot and grabbing the leader to pull by hand from above to retrieve your rig (I didn’t lose a single rig using this format).
 
With the leader sorted, it was time to sort out the mainline choice, again with priority regarding strength, but I also wanted something that little bit special with good sinking properties should I be fishing margins and slacker lines. I once again put my faith in the Kryston Products stable, with their unique Snyde copolymer monofilament, opting for the 16lb breaking strain. The pale watery green shade just looks right (confidence in your mono is paramount) and with superb knot strength to boot, all the boxes were ticked.

Hooklength choice was a little harder to select, as I wanted something strong (obviously), but I didn’t want to lose a delicate balance between strength and camouflage. Due to Cassien being a very bright sandy coloured bottom, I decided that taking Kryston Super Mantis Gold and also the new Jackal in gravel brown should do the trick, allowing me to peel back the last few inches to incorporate combi-style set-ups, perfect for hook flipping properties. The coating of the Mantis especially blended in so well in the lakes margins, something often overlooked when choosing hooklinks.

It was at this point that things didn’t quite go to plan, and my hook choice cost me the one and only chance of the trip! I put my faith in a long curve shank pattern, hoping that it would help find the bottom lip of these wily old carp, which it thankfully did. What I overlooked was the fact that the extra length in the shank gave it a weakness which let me down in the heavy tussle needed to play carp in such a hostile environment. After so much emphasis on strength in my setup, a simple yet important part of the jigsaw cost me dearly, and a hard lesson has been learnt. They may have won the battle this time, but as the big man once said, ‘I’ll be back!’

Carl has provided UKMA with a 9 minute long video of the trip which can be viewed below.

"When the going gets tough" is sponsored by Kryston