The mechanics of your rig is something that is extremely important to understand if you want to make the necessary tweaks and changes to further more make them more efficient, says Jake Lund. It’s no big secret that carp regularly get away with it; so the more we can do to convert pickups into fish on the bank the better. Here’s a few little things I think about when tying up my rigs –
1 – A small piece of silicone tubing at the end of the hooks curve can seriously increase the chances of your hook turning and taking hold in the bottom lip. Not only this, but it will also help to identify times when you have received an aborted pick, as the silicone will have slided up the shank. A small 3mm length is all that is needed.
2 – Line Aligners help to create a really aggressive angle that enables the hook to turn into the carp’s bottom lip once the rig has tightened to the lead. ACE Kickers make creating a line aligner simple. These pre-formed moulded pieces of rigid silicone mean that you do not need to mess around with shrink tube and steaming, something that can be hassle on the bank.
3 – A small blob of putty about an inch from the hook helps to further more increase the chances of the hook point taking hold in the bottom lip. The weight of this makes sure that the hook point is facing down once the hookbait has been sucked into the fish’s mouth.
4 – Any rig is rendered useless if it is tangled, so making precautions to prevent this from happening is seriously important when it comes to tying your rigs. Anti-tangle sleeves help prevent the rig from tangling on the cast and will make sure that you can be confident that your rig is fishing effectively. Another neat little trick is to tie a large loop at the end of your rig, as this will double up as a quick and easy way of connecting your rig as well as creating an anti-tangle boom – especially when fishing with a coated braid.
5 – It is all very well and good fishing a standard bottom bait, but by adding a bit of buoyancy to it you can massively increase the chances of your hookbait being sucked further back into the fish’s mouth, further more increasing the chances of a good hook hold. This can be easily achieved by tipping your hookbait with an artificial buoyant hook bait like fake corn or cut down pop-up. Try lowering your baited rig into the margins to test it.
6 – As well as a lump of tungsten putty an inch from the hook, it can also pay to have a further blob half way between that and the lead. This is not only to help the rig lay discreetly on the bottom, but it also further enhances the point penetration of the hook when a fish lifts the rig off the bottom, which in turn makes it a lot more difficult for the fish to eject the hook.
7 – Your decision to choose between swivel and inline lead should be dictated by the bottom you are fishing over. The whole idea is that when a fish picks up your bait, you want the rig to straighten and hit resistance of the lead as soon as possible. If you are fishing a hard bottom, an inline lead will have a much better effect as the resistance is direct, unlike a swivel lead where there is unnecessary movement. In silty fishing situations however, an inline lead can easily nose dive and take a lot of the rig with it. This could still nick you the odd bite, but a swivel lead will be far more effective.
8 – There are many different hooklink materials on the market, all of which have many applications. For nearly 90% of my bottom bait fishing I much prefer to employ a stiffer coated braid, as this really helps to kick the bait out from the lead. This means that when a carp picks up your hook bait, there is very little movement before the fish feels the direct weight of the lead.
9 – Without doubt one of the most important parts of any rig is the hook being used. Hooks nowadays not only need to be really strong, but they also need to be extremely sharp! Many anglers are absolutely fixated about sharpening their own hooks and to be honest, I was just the same. That was until I got my hands on the new ACE Razor Points – without doubt the sharpest hooks I’ve ever used straight out the pack!
10 – The length of your rig is very important and often depends on a number of factors, from chosen hookbait to the type of bottom you are fishing over. For instance, if you are fishing particles over a much tighter area, then a short rig will be much more efficient at hooking ‘grazing’ fish. If however, you are scattering boilies over a wider area, then the fish will be travelling greater distances between mouthfuls, meaning that a longer rig will be just as effective.