The Stu Dennis Weighted Rig

The Stu Dennis Weighted Rig

The Stu Dennis Weighted Rig

So what exactly do I mean by this? Not a lot really, just that there are those out in the world of carp fishing who believe ‘keep it simple’ is best and those who believe ‘technical’ is the way forward. I for one believe in both, so feel free to challenge the rig and ask as many questions as you want along the way to help develop it further or at least help your own thinking towards rig mechanics, etc, but let’s keep any debate concerned with ‘simple versus complicated’ to a separate thread.

This rig has not been published before, although I believe variations may appear. This is genuine ‘thinking angler’ stuff, derived via a process which you’ll either love, or hate or won’t understand whatsoever; you may not even want to understand it. The thinking behind the rig has been complex and the rig itself has since evolved after much testing with the help of both ‘Big Rik’ and ‘Frothey’. This wasn’t the finished edition, but will certainly (or should certainly) get you up and thinking about the end result and the different variations for yourself.

The Thinking!

At the time I wanted to move away from obvious looking line-lay traps and wanted to focus back on the basic materials such as braided hooklengths, supple materials that just naturally flowed in the lakebeds surroundings as opposed to sticking out like a sore thumb or spooking fish via their fin trailing over unnatural materials. The reason for this was that I was certain I’d receive more hits with a more natural presentation than what I was currently getting.

Unfortunately with every ‘YING there is a YANG’, with every ‘positive there’s a negative’ and so on and so on – nothing new there then! By opting to use a very supple braid I found that I’d gain advantage in a flowing presentation, but would lose the advantage of a suitable hook turn. Of course this argument could be counter balanced by the Great Jim Gibbinson’s line aligner, but for me I wanted to push through this barrier even further. I didn’t just want the hook to turn, I wanted the hook to turn and take hold more aggressively and, more importantly, further back in the mouth to ensure less ejections.

The Action

If the hook is weighted across the main body of the hook rather than a ‘splitshot’ positioned an inch or so below, the hook will be sucked into the carp’s mouth on food intake and on expel will naturally drop, thus giving a potential hook hold sooner.

If sooner, then the hook will engage further back in the mouth, hopefully cutting down on ejected/blown out rigs. The weight on the hook also aids the speed of the turn (line aligner) and again aids the hooking arrangement to confirm a fast turn in the mouth further back.

The first fish caught on this rig showed an unusual hook hold, further back in the mouth, perhaps a fluke, a few more of the same started to demonstrate encouraging results. I then became paranoid about the rig thinking it must be the fish in the lake I was fishing so decided to engage ‘Big Rik’ and ‘Frothey’ in my thinking and they played around with it and helped improve the rig but also confirmed on their own waters that the hook was giving hook holds further back in the mouth as opposed to lip caught. More experiments and tests were carried out and I was happy to say that the results in general were showing a fast turning hook, giving exceptional hook holds in solid mouth flesh at the very least.

The making of the ‘Weighted Rig’

Although fiddly to construct the pictures show a staged walk through.

Figure 1 – Shows a standard knotless knot with a length of peeled back lead core whipped up the shank under the braid leaving two ends of leadcore standing proud.

Figure 2 – Shows the lead core bent backwards and softly twisted to make ready to tuck inside the awaiting shrink tube.

Figure 3 – Shows the leadcore inside the shrink tube and the shrink tube pushed quite far up the shank and opposite the point of the hook. The leadcore tail ‘left-overs’ are snipped back and pushed back inside the shrink tube to leave a blunt exit.

Figure 4 – Shows the finished article

Additional observations

You’ll see the hair has a bait band attached to a standard small tiny ring, this is just a preference for when I want to quickly move from a single bottom bait to a snowman without having to lengthen the hair. You’ll also notice a small piece of tubing up the hair between the bait band and the hair exit, this is to minimise wrap around tangles on the cast.

The rig continues to evolve

Working with Big Rik and Frothey we found that swapping the leadcore with the innards of the ties you get within kids toys. The ties that tie the toys to the cardboard/packaging gave us further rigidity and allowed the rig to be used time and time again and when straightened could be put back into its original position.

My Verdict

The Weighted Rig has been tried and tested, and has, in my opinion, increased the number of takes out of normal ‘mouthed’ pick-ups which I believe is due to faster turning and the hook taking hold further back in the mouth.

If nothing else, I am sure it’ll be challenged, debated, loved or loathed but more importantly help us all think a little more about the actual mechanics of our rigs as opposed to just sitting there wondering!

Thanks to Big Rik and Frothey for their help, Gary Knowles for his encouraging emails and to Jim Gibbinson for his vision and inspiration!

**Harrison’s Owner Hooks Competition Contender**