My Top Carp Rigs
All anglers use varying types of rigs, and many choose a single rig to use in every situation, something which I see all to often. I have various rigs in my rig wallet and generally try to keep a few ready-tied of each of my favoured rigs for those opportune moments.
I’ve seen many anglers spend more attention to the level of their buzzer bars and banksticks than their rigs – something which is a bit ‘reverse’ in my opinion. As long as my rods are in the water, with me being happy with the way I think the rig has landed, I’m happy. Couldn’t care less if my hangers aren’t level, the same goes for reel handles, spools, buzz bar, pod, rod tips. Take a look at Chappers’ “happy shopper” bite alarms as testament to this belief.
My Favourite Carp Rigs
My favoured rigs are fairly simple, but it’s something I have confidence in – which is paramount – if you’re not confident you will not fish effectively.
Hooks: I generally stick to a few patterns of hooks. I was a huge fan or Longshank Nailors, but these are banned on many waters and seeing the potential damage that they have caused I decided to ditch them to set an example to others.
My preferred patterns are: Nash Fang, Nash Fang Gapers, Fox SSC, Gardner Mugga Longshank, Korda Choddy and Korda Longshank. I stick to these patterns as a general rule. I have faith in these and know how to couple these with different rigs.
Hooklink Materials: I must admit to being a little ‘narrow minded’ in this aspect. I’m not one for trying loads of different materials and I’m generally found to use a coated braid, whether it’s fully coated, combi or completely stripped. I’m starting to open my eyes a lot more, particularly to fluorocarbon and since I’ve used the chod rig, bristle filament and similar materials. My favourite material was Armaled Kik-bak, which I cannot find anywhere (please let me know if you know where I can get some). Everything about this was perfect, lovely, clear, and almost welded on coating. The braid was lovely and supple and took to marker pens and putty incredibly well. I’ve been using ESP Two Tone on 25lb since as this is the only material that I’ve found to tick all the boxes; and it’s still not perfect.
My ‘Standard Carp Rigs’
As mentioned previously I have some rigs that I default to. I have rigs to suit most situations I’ll find myself in, and if I don’t have a rig to suit, I’ll adapt one and keep tweaking it. I get little fishing time so this can be a drawn out process!
- Blow Back Rig – this is a favourite of mine. I fished a competition on my local lake when I was 12 and won the competition with five fish in 24 hours fishing. 14lb 2oz Mirror, 13lb 8oz Mirror, 18lb 8oz Common (PB at the time), 16lb 4oz Mirror and a 14lb 12oz Mirror.This rig works with any bait – bottom bait, pop-up or balanced baits. But I’ve found a fantastic way to fish it is a balanced snowman. Two 16mm baits, one pop-up and one bottom bait has produced phenomenal hook holds for all carp I’ve caught on this rig. I use either this on all of my preferred hook patterns, with the exception of the Korda Choddy. Nash Fang Gaper gives you better hookholds in barbless in size 8 with 16mm baits – superb.
- Chod Rig – something that has featured in my fishing of late, but never banked a fish on it. I’ve had takes on it butam tweaking it to get it right. Korda Choddy and 20lb Bristle Filament for a Size 6 or 15lb Bristle Filament for a size8 hook. Superb rig. In fact, the first session of the new season last year I had a fish on within 10 minutes of casting out, but unfortunately I lost the fish in the weed.
- Balanced and Popped-up Tiger Nuts – another favourite. Two tiger nuts with a piece of cork in the middle to balance or pop-it up. Couple this with a short combi rig with a few mm stripped back. Tiger nuts are not often used as hook baits, but as a flavour in stick mixes and the like, I know of a few anglers who use 5 small tiger nuts popped up in a stack and cast them into the middle of the lake and catch fish after fish, after fish. Devastating method – carp love tiger nuts. Fox SSC is my favoured hook of choice, but for the stacker the longshank is the one. Korda Lonkshank size 8.
- KD Rig – again, something a bit new to me. I’ve been experimenting with particle baits a bit recently, using the newFox Armamesh. I have been creating little bags filled with hemp, boilie crumb, sweetcorn and covered in tiger nut sludge on the KD Rig. I use a small cork ball in the centre to balance out the bag. It looks so carpy, it’s un-beliveable. I’ve only used this on the last two sessions – but it looks fantastic. Something I will show you in detail, in due course.
So to finish up, your rigs should be whatever you are comfortable with, you need to be confident in your rigs ability tocatch carp and stick to it. Learn tecniques of adapting your rigs in different situations, this will enable you to quickly change if needed. Most anglers only use a handful of rig types but have many variations on the style, the 4 above are a graet place to start. Get on a local runs water and give them a test.
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