Useful Carp Rigs

Standard Hair Rig

Above is the standard version of the basic hair rig. It can be fished with open bail arm & a bobbin, or tight to a baitrunner reel. The hooks must be the sharpest you can get, I have had success with all the mentioned brand names. The easiest hook-tie is the No- Knot , which makes it easy to obtain the required hair lenght. This knot is detailed in the "business end" section. Use a mono line for clear waters, braids will give better presentation in a turbid water. At 12 ft or more I dont think it is as important, since light does not allow detailed vision from the carp. I generally watch my rod tip, to see if there are carp at my bait, because if I'm not hooking them I want to try something that will ! & make appropriate adjustments, This may include changing the hooklink &/or lenght, hook pattern, bait, lead or tightly clipping the line.

Whirlpool Rig

There are as many rigs for carp as there are breakfast cereals. In England ,where every edge is needed to fool the fish, almost everything has been explored. However in N.A. I believe a more practical approach is in order . There are times when the standard hair rig with egg sinker is not the best option in the conditions you may be fishing in. For example in the Whirlpool at Niagara I used the below modified hair rig to stop the lead from being dragged by the current & falling into the large stones & becoming trapped. The 3" lenght of plastic tube prevents the lead from falling into the cracks so easily. If you cant make this rig then simply use 2 large split shot, to just hold bottom ,even if the bait drifts around, this is fine for the carp which seem to nail the bait as it moves ,so it wont escape! If you go to the whirlpool take plenty of fairly tight groundbait with you, I use ground trout pellets , cracked soaked maize & breadcrumb. This I mix at the pool, adding 5mls of scopex to the water in the groundbait as I mix it. I use hard maize or half a boilie on the hook, & squeeze a palmful of groundbait around the lead & tubeing. If adjustments are needed, try varying lead size & leader lenght, Good luck !

Weedbed rig

In the St Lawrence , a different set up was needed. Here the fish were in still water. The small Kamasan hook above would be no good amongst the weed beds of the St Lawrence. They would be straightened or torn out of the carps mouth in short order ! What we needed was a more powerful hooking & holding arrangment. Finally the setup below proved to be almost 100% correct for the situation. At first I was rather worried about the coil feeder becoming snagged in the weeds but infact this did not happen or if it did it was not a problem. Let me explain; what happened on the first screaming run, the carp would invariably take 30 or more yards of line , the feeder remained in the nearby weedbed, untill the fish had travelled far enough away from the feeder . Stout pressure on the fish from it's new position altered the angle on the line such that the feeder was drawn up through the weed & the fish was free ! This would have not happened with a heavy lead I am sure the lightweight nature of the feeder allowed this. Also notice the plastic tubeing inside the feeder, this was animportant part of the rig to stop the line from being damaged on the initial run as the line is being fed through this at high speed. I am sure the line would be cut without  it. The rig is very similar to the method rig used with pack/groundbaits & meile bomb type of mix's. Very soon I will be adding a section on groundbaits & bait additive examples that you will be able to buy from the supermarkets. Keep checking for it!

Drop off set-up

Here is a basic diagram of what you can use to help out in the mussel abrasion situation. It is not essential to use Power Pro, 20 -30 lbs mono would work too. You are not relying on the line to combat the mussels as the float is acting as a bouyancy aid to prevent the line from actually touching the mussels in the first place ! The 3oz lead is fixed by rubber tubing to the swivel, this will release if the fish manages to cut your line. The bobber has a through hole so it is rigged to slide on the main line. The stop knot will prevent the float from causing an excessive bow in the line if you are fishing in an area with some current.  A size 2 hook with double 12 mm baits is about right. Some foam or cork added to the hair will help the carp suck in the bait. Dont be in a hurry to pick up the rod since the fish will usually run away from you which is actually an advantage in avoiding the mussels on the top of the ledge. If you try this or an improvement of this , let me know & I will add the info to this page so everyone can be wiser of it. Good luck & BFC's, Carpsava

Basic Bolt Rig    This rig is basically a self hooking hair rig.  When fish are giving "rod bouncers" this is the rig to put on the line. It needs a MINIMUM ---2 oz lead to be effective. There are times when 4 oz is needed, but not often. It also works better with hard bait ,like tiger nuts, boilies, or boilied maize. Also it is more effective over a heavily baited area, where you would expect shoal carp to come & feed. These fish are in a group competition scenario for feeding & they will often fall to this rig in this circumstance. You can fish tight or slack line but I generally fish it with the line as tight as I can get without moving the lead. The rod tip is bent downwards the way I tighten up to the lead. If you watch the tip you will get a good idea of how many fish are in your swim. If you get a knock every minute; there are likely many fish out there, & believe me this much action can be common in some waters. If it is not working with a semi fixed lead of 3 oz as shown above, try shortening the rig from 6 down to 4 inches. If this does not work try another hook pattern. In USA & Canada I have used VMC, Eagle claw, Owner, Kamasan , Diachi,& Mustad hooks. Give me a call for pattern #'s. In a prolific feeding situation , give it a go ! Never fall into the 1 rig, 1 bait, 1 method, carp fishing trap ! Remember carp are adaptive & a carpfisher needs to be also!

Freeline Method     This method was very popular in Britain years ago. It still works today, although situations to use it are somewhat limited. However it can be fun to use, & is definately not to be forgotten. It is good in a very slow moving river or stillwater. Line resistance is critical with this method so close in fishing is favourite. Open bail arm with a very light line clip or ultra light bobbin seem to work best. Bread paste & doughball baits are very usefull with this method. Also better suited to a shorter session where you dont have hours to wait for the fish to get onto your groundbait pitch. A cup sized ball can last all day with this style of fishing, generally putting 1/2 dozen freebies out every 20-30 mins will suffice. The ideal situation is where a fish or two come through your area every 10-20 minutes & no shoal carp are likely to put in an appearance.. Since you will not hold a shoal with this method for more than a few minutes.

Antieject Rig

Sometimes, it is very difficult hooking carp. You may get lots of "twitch bites" the carp might not run properly or they may be hooked but dropping off halfway in. The above rig was designed with the anti eject principle in mind. It was used quite succesfully on the St Lawrence in the above situation. Definately a gun in the armoury. Minds think alike, Terry Fishlock built the first version in the feild, we had both envisioned the same exact rig !