For the last few years I have totally neglected stillwater carping and purely focused on the rivers and drains around the East Anglian Fens. Targeting these powerful, nomadic, often uncaught river carp can be a real challenge, and even once you locate them the fun and games are far from over. As many people will agree, the sheer power of some of these big river carp will really test the angler’s tackle to its limits.
Even on a very tightly-set clutch these fish can really pull back, causing many issues if the swims that are being fished are incredibly weedy – like most river swims are!
In these situations, fancy rigs and fineness have absolutely no place, and rigs really need to be on the heavier side. You need to bear in mind that these carp would rarely, if ever, have seen a hook before, so they are unlikely to be rig shy. The fact that river carp are not used to being hooked is one reason they fight so hard, and I have often had them go airborne on the initial runs!
When you hook one of these fish, you need to be in the situation where you can turn them and take control as soon as possible. Where vast weedbeds are present, ejecting the lead is essential part of the plan, as this helps massively when playing the fish away from danger.
I have played around with a number of rigs, and the following is one that I have full faith in, for both solid hook holds and abrasion resistance.
The finished rig is simple, but highly effective. Hook holds are more often than not right in the bottom lip and don’t look as if they are going anywhere fast. More to the point, the strong size 5 wide gape hook –such as an ACE Boilie Beak Point – really helps to extract more pressure on the fish during the fight, which gives you a much greater level of control over any hooked fish.
The end of the rig should be attached to an appropriate length of leadcore via an ACE Lead clip and size 8 swivel. I then use attach a heavy 3-4oz lead very lightly so that it can drive the hook home, but then eject as soon as the fish takes off.
With many big fish turning up in rivers all around the country, it may well be worth you getting the walking boots and polarized glasses on and checking out your local – when you’re looking down at your first immaculate prize on the mat, you’ll be glad you did!
To tie the river rig I use for my carp fishing, follow the simple and easy-to-follow steps and images clickable above. And good luck!