Danny Fairbrass - Pronged Marker Lead

Danny Fairbrass explains how thanks to Korda’s new Pronged Marker Lead he’s able to fine tune his approach leading to better, more consistent catch rates.

“The concept of the pronged marker lead came from a weed clearing lead that I used to use but the issue was that it wasn’t aerodynamic enough to cast a really long way, but a lead with moulded prongs gave us a strong casting product that allows you to feel the minuet differences on the bottom of the lake bed.

I found them ultra-effective when fishing Gigantica, a lake with very soft clay on the bottom with patches of fine weed that a standard marker lead such as our probe leads would simply pull through, leaving you unaware of its existence.

That’s when the pronged lead made a big difference, if you cast to the same spot you’ll immediately lock up, the thing

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I really like is that the lead will bring in some of the weed allowing you to see exactly what you’re fishing over.

The sensitivity of the feedback from the pronged lead allows you to identify clear areas in sparse weed to the point where you can pinpoint exactly where the clear spots begin and end.

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“In some cases, I may start with just the lead on the line without the float, the float slows the descent of the lead through the water so by removing it you can feel more and limit how caught up it initially becomes. Once again you can simply loo-to-loop the lead on for ease and a quick transition between leads”.

The original probe lead remains an integral part of our range and my marker setup as it’s ideal for skipping the marker lead through the weed whereas the pronged lead would snarl up quite quickly. The pronged lead is for finding small differences to fine tune how you approach your spot.

It’s not just about fishing weed effectively, the tremors produced by the pronged marker lead are far greater than a standard probe lead helped again by the fact that we purposely make them without a coating which cushions the lead and dampens feedback. Such sensitivity allows an angler to identify the finer differences and smaller details in gravel and silt too! You can now highlight the spots which transition from rough gravel to tiny pea shingle gravel or even from gravel to sand you’ll instantly feel the difference down the rod. From thin

weed, changes in gravel or finding small hard spots in silt which can be otherwise tough to find, this is the lead for you.

The weights available are 2,3 & 4oz. I tend to use the lightest one combined with a smaller marker float when fishing close in for example, in a small bay to avoid disturbing the swim too much. The 4oz lead is great for fishing big waters especially if you’re fishing into the wind or combating crosswinds. The 3oz is my most used option for the ‘normal’ fishing conditions I’m often faced with.

Often my approach will be to firstly find out what’s on the bottom, not necessarily taking too much notice of the depth to start, using the probe lead I can work out where I’m not going to get caught up in the weed and then if I really want to interrogate the swim I’ll move to a pronged lead which will tell me exactly what I’m fishing over and where there’s weed I can identify not only what it is by pulling it in, but where it starts and finishes in the swim. By using this combo, I have now highlighted a great spot to concentrate my efforts on, which if fished well can give me the best chance possible.

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