Starting Carping Part 3 – Rigs

Click to read about Dave Rothery

Carp Rigs

I’M GOING TO show a couple of rigs that’ll suit most situations, and the lead arrangements that I use to get them there. All of these have caught fish so it’s one less thing to worry about. Most rigs are a variation on these themes.

Braid Blow-Out Rig
Simply adding a tiny piece of tubing by threading it onto the hair allows you to have the hair coming off the shank or bend of the hook wherever you like, and it also adds a bit of “anti-eject” as it’ll slide along if a fish tries to blow it out.

The Braid Blow-out Rig

Mono Spring Rig
Again a simple “knotless knot” but make sure you wrap the line a couple of times behind the hair to make it stick out at an acute angle – should give a better chance of pricking the fish.

The Mono Spring Rig

Combi Rig
Combines the best of both worlds – the suppleness of braid near the hook to help to make the bait move naturally, but with the anti-eject properties of mono.

The Combi Rig

Pop-Up Rig
I prefer using a ring on the shank to the “D-Rig” as I think it looks neater, its easier to tie as well. The curved shrink tube adds to the hooking properties.

The Pop-up Rig – 1

The Pop-up Rig – 2

The Pop-up Rig – 3, finished rig

Consider the makeup of the bottom, etc

When choosing which rig to use you need to consider the makeup of the bottom you are fishing over, the size of fish, and the baiting situation you are using; there is no one rig that’ll suit every situation. I probably use the Combi and Mono rigs the most at around 12″ in length, though I often add a “blow-back” to the combi, and tie the mono rig with a supple hair. They are a good starting point if fishing over a firm bottom, but if fishing over heavy weed/silkweed I would use a short braid rig as I feel it will sit better. Another example would be fishing with big PVA bags over gravel where I feel it better to use a shorter, stiffer hooklength – just have a little think before casting out!

I’ve then got four main lead arrangements

Clean Bottom Rig
Simply slide on a lead, followed by a tail rubber. Tie on the swivel, pull the tail rubber over the swivel, and the lead onto the tail rubber. This will give you a semi-fixed rig that will fall apart if you need it to. If you want a more freely running rig, use a wide bore run ring (as in the rig below) but remember to make sure the ring is a bit smaller than the tail rubber!

Margins/Slopes Of Bars
Very similar to the rig above, but using a “grippa” style lead to hold the slope of the margin or bar. I tend to use really slack lines as you don’t want the line coming straight off the lead if you are fishing the front of the bar, though this isn’t a worry if you’re fishing the back of the bar. Because the line is really slack, a running rig will probably give you better indication.

The Sloping Bottom Rig

Distance
The “helicopter” or “silt” rig is perfect for distance casting. First pierce a soft rubber bead sideways and thread onto the leadcore – this will give enough bite not to move on the cast, but will slide off if needed. Then slide a ring swivel the wrong way, this will allow for free movement, and again will slide off easily. Then another bead, a length of shrink tube and tie on the lead. Pull the shrink tube over the lead’s swivel and shrink to protect the knot. You can then adjust the distance you want the bait from the lead by moving the top bead. This will also give you a rig that’s good for fishing over silt, or dare I say it…..Chod!

The Distance Rig

Weed
Simply a “safety” clip with the lug cut right down and no tail rubber. If you’re casting a fair way out, either tie the small tag of the lug, or the swivel of the lead to the clip with PVA to stop the lead coming off on the cast.

The Weed Rig

Fixed or running?

We refer to rigs as fixed or running – realistically I don’t think that we can have a really freely running rig unless fishing at short range with a clean bottom as the line pulling through weed for instance will add a fair amount drag if you want free running so the fish doesn’t know its been hooked. You also need a heavy lead to stop the lead moving, or again there will be more drag. I like running rigs as I feel the fish can’t use the weight of the lead to shake the hook out.

Leadcore

You’ll notice that most of the rigs shown are with leadcore. I prefer leadcore when I can use it, normally with as long a length as I can cast, as I feel it hugs the bottom better than tubing. You do need to make sure you can attach the leadcore to the mainline safely, and that all the rig components can easily slide off to prevent fish from becoming snagged.

Where I can’t use leadcore, I use ESP’s anchor rig tube as its incredibly heavy – heavier than most leadcores! The weed rig is shown without any tubing or leadcore, I want as little chance of anything snagging the weed, and I don’t think fish are particularly aware of slack lines in weed anyway. Some people worry about mono damaging the fish during the fight, but then we never use tubing when floater fishing do we? Tubing or leadcore to me is just something to disguise the line.

NEXT IN PART 4 – How to make your rigs and the line look less visible, and how to set your lines and indicators

Points of reference:

The Knotless Knot

The Keith Moors Knot – For joining leadcore to the mainline

The Rigs Page – For some other rigs, and other views on rigs.