Tying A Tight Drop Shot Knot

This Swedish thriller has Larsson beat (ALL REVIEW)

The hypnotist

Lars Kepler

It did not take long for the enormous popularity of this thriller in his native Sweden for literature some writers Alexandra and Alexander Ahndoril behind a pseudonym adopted in part as a tribute to Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Stieg author Larsson. (Three weeks, in fact, once the pressure from the media gets carried away when we announced the film version would be helmed by Oscar-nominated director Lasse Hallström.) The nod to Larsson is ironic, given that there are more real fear and sadness, and writing much better in The Hypnotist in the three volumes of the trilogy Millennium Larsson combined. Not only evil begets evil over generations, the sins of the fathers (and mothers) graphically put on child No Good Deed goes unpunished either. It is very Swedish, somehow evoking both the loneliness and claustrophobia at the same time, disturbing to read, and very, very good.

Shortly before Christmas, almost an entire family is slaughtered in a Stockholm suburb, two parents and a two-year-old girl literally sliced to ribbons. A 15-year-old son, Josef, though cut by as many knife wounds as the others, is still alive; so, too, is an older daughter no longer living at home. Detective Joona Linna is certain that the killer is searching for the absent sister, and that he must penetrate Josef’s coma for the information the police need to reach her first. Linna turns to a doctor who gave up hypnotism for good reason 10 years before. Convinced of the emergency, though, Erik Bark acquiesces. That decision, made for the best of motives, sets in motion a new and equally gruesome series of events.

For all the gore, the novel is primarily a psychological tale, full of twists and turns, and profoundly realistic. Even the happy ending betrays subtle hints that this kind of violence to body and soul can never be considered over and done with: everyone in The Hypnotist is changed by what happens, and not always for the better. BRIAN BETHUNE

THE GAP YEAR

Sarah Bird

Cam Livesey wakes up one day to discover that her teenage daughter Aubrey is missing. Or rather, the daughter Cam once knew is missing. In her place is a beautiful yet eye-rolling, lippy, constantly grumpy, deceitful young gal. What happened to the helpful, fun-loving kid who used to snuggle with her and read The Secret Garden? Sarah Bird executes a marvellous rendering of what is surely the Bermuda Triangle of parenting: that cringing stage between a child’s last years of high school and first year of university when a switch goes off in your teen’s head and they transform into cunning, monosyllabic aliens with attitude.

How to Tie a Drop-Shot Rig: Easy Steps for a Drop-Shotting Setup ...

A drop-shot works much like a bobber, in reverse. Whereas a bobber keeps bait at a specific depth by hanging it below a floating object, a drop-shot keeps bait or fly at the proper depth by suspending it on a tight line above a weight.

Drop-shotting is ideal for those times when fish are holding tight to one specific horizontal band of the water column, whether that be inches from bottom or a few feet off bottom. The basic premise is to rig the terminal tackle so that the weight rests on bottom while the hook presents at that depth where the fish are suspended.

There are times when fish will readily follow a bait up or down in the water column, but sometimes they will completely ignore any lure that isn't presented at their preferred depth. With a drop-shot rig the angler can easily keep the weight in contact with bottom, and thereby keep the bait at the exact right depth for for attracting and catching fish.

The palomar knot is perhaps the best knot to use when rigging the drop shot. In fact, the same can be said for many fishing applications, and any angler who doesn't know how to tie a palomar should acquire that beneficial skill. Having said that, other knots such as the improved clinch knot will also work.

Which ever knot is used, keep in mind that the “tag end” which is normally clipped off and discarded after tying on the hook will instead be retained and will become the determining factor in presentation depth.

First, determine the optimal depth for presenting the bait. For example, if the angler is using a fish finder, and it shows the fish holding one foot off bottom, then the hook should be tied on far enough up the main line so that there is at least a foot of line left over on the tag end.

If the holding depth of the fish is unknown, begin with a tag end roughly 18-24 inches long. If this fails to produce strikes, the distance between hook and weight can be reduced or extended incrementally, by clipping off or tying on short segments, until the correct depth is determined.

Once the hook is tied onto the main line, take the tag end and thread it back through the eye of the hook, from the front towards the back. In other words, the tag end should enter the eye on the same side of the hook as the barb, and exit on the opposite side. Doing this will ensure that the hook is presented to fish barbed side up.

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