THE 360 RIG
This pop up rig was the brainchild of Dave Lane of whom many consider to be one of the countries leading big Carp anglers,and in all honesty who can call that notion into question? Looking very different than a lot of pop up rigs being used at present it is easy to see why this rig has been the factor in some of Daves big fish captures to date.Despite having it's knockers and being banned from certain fisheries it is easy to see by those who have a good understanding of rig mechanics of how the rig works and works well.With all that movement in the hook it increases the chances of the hook point getting a purchase on the fishes mouth substantialy.Anyway lets get back to those who say the rig is unsafe.I myself prefare this configuration to many of the other pop up rigs because if tied and presented correctly i get more takes converted to fish on the bank than any other and whilst never caising harm to one single fish whilst in the process of using the 360 i can see how those who don't take a few things into consideration may cause damage to the fish they are attempting to land.This seems to be when the damge occurs,as the hook is not directly tied to the mainline there is a chance that a part of the hook may get caught in the mesh of the landing net thus if the net that has a part of the hook attached to the mesh was to pull/move away from the fishes mouth it could result in the hook being ripped from the fishes mouth rather than being unhooked safetly on the mat.Many anglers i know who use this rig actualy cut the hooklink as soon as the fish is in the net,this stops any tension between the mainline and the hook itself.It is also fairly important that no part of the hook gets attached to the mesh of the landing net at any time which is easily acheivable if the landing process is in the hands of a competant Carp angler,suffice to say that the 360 rig should probably only be used by an experienced competant angler who is fully aware of the problems which may occur if the fish isn't landed correctly whilst using this rig.
I will be posting a video of how to make up this rig as it is far easier to take in visualy how this rig is assembled.
How to assemble the 360 Rig
The Hair Rig
A Breif History
Prior to the development of the 'Hair Rig' it was common practice to mount the bait directly onto the hook.Although Carp were still being caught to some degree it was acknowledged through the observations of how Carp fed that a more effective method of hooking the fish could be developed.The development of the 'hair rig' was no accident,in the late 70's forward thinking anglers Len Middleton and Kevin Maddocks would be the one's to develop the 'hair rig'.Watching the way Carp fed in a fish tank would be instrumental in the design of this soon to be devastating method of bait presentation.
Taking it's name from the material used (a human hair) the new method was to increase catch rates dramaticaly.Seeing how Carp would eat food offerings freely whilst quickly learning to avoid those with monofilament or hook shanks protruding out of them was to be the logic behind the new methods development,by attaching the bait to the hook via the hair it would become apparent that the bait acted far more naturaly in the water thus not spooking the Carp who were wary of food items that did not act naturaly in the water simply because it was mounted directly onto the hook.
This new method of presenting the bait to the Carp would be a revolution,one that would send catch rates soaring,the 'Hair Rig' was born,the great leveler and as history has shown Carp angling was never the same again.
CAUK
Rig focus
The90°degree Rig
Fishing for Carp can become very frustrating especially when you know the fish are there around your rig but are being very finicky,whether this is down to pressure or another factor your angling can suffer for it.The 90° rig has been cleverly designed to trip up those very tentative fish,ESP consultant Steve Claridge is owed the credit for the invention of this rig and if tied up correctly this rig can be used to gain great results when other rigs fail.
To construct the 90° rig you will need the following bits of tackle.
A/ Fluorocarbon B/ a curved shank hook 6-4 C/ a small bead D/ a hook swivel E/ an 0.03g Olivette
F/ hook/shank bead G/ 2 x swivels a size 8 & a size 10 H/ rig putty
1/Take a length of your chosen fluorocarbon,say 6-7" and double it so both ends meet.
2/Take you curved shank hook and thread the doubled over fluorocarbon through the eye of the hook (point side first) the threaded fluorocarbon will have opened up into a loop,pass the hook through the loop dampen with tight.
3/Now thread the small bead over the tag ends of the fluorocarbon.
4/Next put the hook swivel onto the hook followed by the shank/hook bead.(place this section of your rig to the side for a moment)
5/The next thing you need to do is create a boom section,another length of fluorocarbon can be used or you can opt for some chod filament.Tie a swivel onto each end of your straightened boom material using loop knots the same as you would a chod rig.
6/ Now returning to the hook section take the boom and thread the smaller swivel end onto the fluorocarbon under the bead.
7/ Thread on an Olivette after the swivel pushing it up to the desired length ( no more than 2" )This rig has not been successful for me when the hook section has been longer than this.
8/Tie the fluorocarbon hook section under the Olivette,a granny knot twice will be plenty good enough,then blob the trimmed tag ends with a lighter to get a neat presentation.
9/ add a blob of rig putty to the other end of the boom section as to make sure the rig is pinned down to the lake bed.
10/ To bait the rig pull some bait floss through the hook swivel and thread both the ends through your bait with a bait needle.
11/ Place a boilie stop between the tag ends of bait floss and secure the bait against the stop trimming off the tag ends when finished.
Now the rig is ready to be fished.This style of pop-up presentation is quite an advanced method but if your an improver and your bites are not materialising into fish then practising the 90° rig and perfecting it will land you more carp,practise makes perfect.Good luck.
CAUK
Rig Focus
The Combi Rig
The combi rig gets it's name from the combination of materials that are used to construct the rig.This particular rig is especially good on clear bottoms and is designed so the bait is pushed away from the lead via it's stiff boom section,the combi rig is a versatile rig as far as it can be made in a few different ways,the easiest being to use a stiff coated braid with a small section of the coating stripped off leaving a supple section at the hook end of the material. My preferred arrangement for the combi rig will require the following pieces of tackle.
Chod filament (for the boom section) A size 4-6 curve shank hook
A section of braided hooklength A good quality rig ring
A good quality swivel 50Lb B/S shrink tube
.04 silicon tube Rig putty
First tie an overhand knot in the braided hook material,this will be the basis of your hair,attach your desired bait so it is easy to measure it up against the hook also thread on about 3-4mm of the .04 silicon tube.
Next take the hook making sure it is sharp as always,and thread the point of the hook through the silicon tube that is on the braid.Make sure you thread the hook with the point going towards the overhand loop that was tied in the braid at first.The silicon tube should be positioned on the shank of the hook opposite where the barb of the hook is(if your using barbless then it's a guess job)Now commence tying the knotless knot making sure the braid is threaded so it comes through the eye of the hook towards the point,whip the shank of the hook about 7 times then thread the braid back through the eye of the hook again going towards the point making sure the hooklength is pulled tight and the whipping on the hook is neat and moved up towards the eye.Take a length of shrink tube about 21/2-3 cm long and thread it onto the braid and over the eye of the hook and over the knotless knot,this will be steamed eventually to form an anti eject effect.
Now taking the rig ring we tie it onto the other end of the braided section when tied to the ring the braided hook link should be no more than 4-5cm long,use a half blood knot to attach the rig ring and put it to the side for a minute.
Next take the chod filament a straighten it between your fingers,this will also be steamed to finish it off.The length of the chod filament should be about 7-8 inches.Take the swivel and tie it to one end of the stiff chod filament,a figure of 8 loop knot is a good knot here,now take the braided hook link and tie the stiff chod material to the rig ring on the braided hook link a 3 turn half blood knot is ideal,make sure the knot is wetted before you pull it tight,cut off the tag ends and blob the cut ends of chod filament with a lighter making sure you don't burn your rig and more importantly yourself,almost done.
At this stage the almost complete combi rig will need steaming to get the boom effect from the chod filament also the shrink tube on the hook needs steaming. Carefully move the stiff chod filament through the steam on a boiling kettle keeping tension on both ends of the boom section when the chod filament feels like it has straightened out remove it from the heat and it will cool quickly remaining perfectly straight and stiff,do the same with the hook passing the shrink tube through the steam until the tubing shrinks around the eye and shank of the hook pulling the top of the shrink tube over so it curves towards the point of the hook giving it that anti eject effect. Finally mold a piece of rig putty around the rig ring that joins the two materials making sure you have applied enough to pin the boom section to the lake bed.The finished rig is now ready to be tied to your mainline.
Knots are probably one of the most important factors when it comes to
fishing,not just carp fishing but all fishing.After all if your knots
are not up to it then the loss of your fish is inevitable,thus putting
the fish at risk as well as a despondent feeling when your prize capture
heads for the hills without posing for the camera,so hear are a few
illustrations to help you perfect your knot tying.This pop up rig was the brainchild of Dave Lane of whom many consider to be one of the countries leading big Carp anglers,and in all honesty who can call that notion into question? Looking very different than a lot of pop up rigs being used at present it is easy to see why this rig has been the factor in some of Daves big fish captures to date.Despite having it's knockers and being banned from certain fisheries it is easy to see by those who have a good understanding of rig mechanics of how the rig works and works well.With all that movement in the hook it increases the chances of the hook point getting a purchase on the fishes mouth substantialy.Anyway lets get back to those who say the rig is unsafe.I myself prefare this configuration to many of the other pop up rigs because if tied and presented correctly i get more takes converted to fish on the bank than any other and whilst never caising harm to one single fish whilst in the process of using the 360 i can see how those who don't take a few things into consideration may cause damage to the fish they are attempting to land.This seems to be when the damge occurs,as the hook is not directly tied to the mainline there is a chance that a part of the hook may get caught in the mesh of the landing net thus if the net that has a part of the hook attached to the mesh was to pull/move away from the fishes mouth it could result in the hook being ripped from the fishes mouth rather than being unhooked safetly on the mat.Many anglers i know who use this rig actualy cut the hooklink as soon as the fish is in the net,this stops any tension between the mainline and the hook itself.It is also fairly important that no part of the hook gets attached to the mesh of the landing net at any time which is easily acheivable if the landing process is in the hands of a competant Carp angler,suffice to say that the 360 rig should probably only be used by an experienced competant angler who is fully aware of the problems which may occur if the fish isn't landed correctly whilst using this rig.
I will be posting a video of how to make up this rig as it is far easier to take in visualy how this rig is assembled.
How to assemble the 360 Rig
In this second video Dave Lane explains about the origins of the 360 rig
The Hair Rig
A Breif History
Prior to the development of the 'Hair Rig' it was common practice to mount the bait directly onto the hook.Although Carp were still being caught to some degree it was acknowledged through the observations of how Carp fed that a more effective method of hooking the fish could be developed.The development of the 'hair rig' was no accident,in the late 70's forward thinking anglers Len Middleton and Kevin Maddocks would be the one's to develop the 'hair rig'.Watching the way Carp fed in a fish tank would be instrumental in the design of this soon to be devastating method of bait presentation.
Taking it's name from the material used (a human hair) the new method was to increase catch rates dramaticaly.Seeing how Carp would eat food offerings freely whilst quickly learning to avoid those with monofilament or hook shanks protruding out of them was to be the logic behind the new methods development,by attaching the bait to the hook via the hair it would become apparent that the bait acted far more naturaly in the water thus not spooking the Carp who were wary of food items that did not act naturaly in the water simply because it was mounted directly onto the hook.
This new method of presenting the bait to the Carp would be a revolution,one that would send catch rates soaring,the 'Hair Rig' was born,the great leveler and as history has shown Carp angling was never the same again.
CAUK
 |
| The Hair Rig |
 |
| Using the knotless knot to aceive the Hair Rig |
Rig focus
The90°degree Rig
Fishing for Carp can become very frustrating especially when you know the fish are there around your rig but are being very finicky,whether this is down to pressure or another factor your angling can suffer for it.The 90° rig has been cleverly designed to trip up those very tentative fish,ESP consultant Steve Claridge is owed the credit for the invention of this rig and if tied up correctly this rig can be used to gain great results when other rigs fail.
To construct the 90° rig you will need the following bits of tackle.
A/ Fluorocarbon B/ a curved shank hook 6-4 C/ a small bead D/ a hook swivel E/ an 0.03g Olivette
F/ hook/shank bead G/ 2 x swivels a size 8 & a size 10 H/ rig putty
1/Take a length of your chosen fluorocarbon,say 6-7" and double it so both ends meet.
2/Take you curved shank hook and thread the doubled over fluorocarbon through the eye of the hook (point side first) the threaded fluorocarbon will have opened up into a loop,pass the hook through the loop dampen with tight.
3/Now thread the small bead over the tag ends of the fluorocarbon.
4/Next put the hook swivel onto the hook followed by the shank/hook bead.(place this section of your rig to the side for a moment)
5/The next thing you need to do is create a boom section,another length of fluorocarbon can be used or you can opt for some chod filament.Tie a swivel onto each end of your straightened boom material using loop knots the same as you would a chod rig.
6/ Now returning to the hook section take the boom and thread the smaller swivel end onto the fluorocarbon under the bead.
7/ Thread on an Olivette after the swivel pushing it up to the desired length ( no more than 2" )This rig has not been successful for me when the hook section has been longer than this.
8/Tie the fluorocarbon hook section under the Olivette,a granny knot twice will be plenty good enough,then blob the trimmed tag ends with a lighter to get a neat presentation.
9/ add a blob of rig putty to the other end of the boom section as to make sure the rig is pinned down to the lake bed.
10/ To bait the rig pull some bait floss through the hook swivel and thread both the ends through your bait with a bait needle.
11/ Place a boilie stop between the tag ends of bait floss and secure the bait against the stop trimming off the tag ends when finished.
Now the rig is ready to be fished.This style of pop-up presentation is quite an advanced method but if your an improver and your bites are not materialising into fish then practising the 90° rig and perfecting it will land you more carp,practise makes perfect.Good luck.
CAUK
Rig Focus
The Combi Rig
The combi rig gets it's name from the combination of materials that are used to construct the rig.This particular rig is especially good on clear bottoms and is designed so the bait is pushed away from the lead via it's stiff boom section,the combi rig is a versatile rig as far as it can be made in a few different ways,the easiest being to use a stiff coated braid with a small section of the coating stripped off leaving a supple section at the hook end of the material. My preferred arrangement for the combi rig will require the following pieces of tackle.
Chod filament (for the boom section) A size 4-6 curve shank hook
A section of braided hooklength A good quality rig ring
A good quality swivel 50Lb B/S shrink tube
.04 silicon tube Rig putty
First tie an overhand knot in the braided hook material,this will be the basis of your hair,attach your desired bait so it is easy to measure it up against the hook also thread on about 3-4mm of the .04 silicon tube.
Next take the hook making sure it is sharp as always,and thread the point of the hook through the silicon tube that is on the braid.Make sure you thread the hook with the point going towards the overhand loop that was tied in the braid at first.The silicon tube should be positioned on the shank of the hook opposite where the barb of the hook is(if your using barbless then it's a guess job)Now commence tying the knotless knot making sure the braid is threaded so it comes through the eye of the hook towards the point,whip the shank of the hook about 7 times then thread the braid back through the eye of the hook again going towards the point making sure the hooklength is pulled tight and the whipping on the hook is neat and moved up towards the eye.Take a length of shrink tube about 21/2-3 cm long and thread it onto the braid and over the eye of the hook and over the knotless knot,this will be steamed eventually to form an anti eject effect.
Now taking the rig ring we tie it onto the other end of the braided section when tied to the ring the braided hook link should be no more than 4-5cm long,use a half blood knot to attach the rig ring and put it to the side for a minute.
Next take the chod filament a straighten it between your fingers,this will also be steamed to finish it off.The length of the chod filament should be about 7-8 inches.Take the swivel and tie it to one end of the stiff chod filament,a figure of 8 loop knot is a good knot here,now take the braided hook link and tie the stiff chod material to the rig ring on the braided hook link a 3 turn half blood knot is ideal,make sure the knot is wetted before you pull it tight,cut off the tag ends and blob the cut ends of chod filament with a lighter making sure you don't burn your rig and more importantly yourself,almost done.
At this stage the almost complete combi rig will need steaming to get the boom effect from the chod filament also the shrink tube on the hook needs steaming. Carefully move the stiff chod filament through the steam on a boiling kettle keeping tension on both ends of the boom section when the chod filament feels like it has straightened out remove it from the heat and it will cool quickly remaining perfectly straight and stiff,do the same with the hook passing the shrink tube through the steam until the tubing shrinks around the eye and shank of the hook pulling the top of the shrink tube over so it curves towards the point of the hook giving it that anti eject effect. Finally mold a piece of rig putty around the rig ring that joins the two materials making sure you have applied enough to pin the boom section to the lake bed.The finished rig is now ready to be tied to your mainline.
 |
| The Combi Rig |
BUG ZIGS-ZIG BUGS!
If your ears are to the ground and your up to date with tackle innovations then you will have heard about the Nash developed artificial bait the "Zig Bug."According to Jerry Hammond he's been taking the lakes he's visited apart with this new innovation.I also have been on the bank this weekend and i never thought my short six hour session would see so many bites.After reading about the Nash Zig bug i thought to myself that making a zig bug can't really be that difficult but to make it effective is a different kettle of fish.Using zig foam size 10 Guru QM1 hooks bits of Walkers crisp packets,super glue and the outer tubing from an old set of Walkman headphones i sat down at the kitchen table with my son and we went about making what we thought would be the best imitation bug we could come up with,the thin outer tubing to the Walkman headphone cable was a nice touch after a few attempts we actually came up with an home made bug that from a fishes prospective would probably look like some kind of creepy crawly especially when we placed the imitation bug in a small goldfish bowl it looked even more impressive.Pleased with our creation we quickly made a few more chucked them in a glug pot full of Trigga and i set of for my local club water.
On arriving at the pool the sight of carp cruising below the surface caught my eye straight away,the pool is only about 8ft deep at it's deepest and knowing the venue very well markering etc was unnecessary.I checked to see how buoyant my creations where before i cast them out with intent and they were great,doing their best to make it to the surface but obviously hindered by the lead on the lake bed.Satisfied that the home made bug zigs would be fishing once cast out i positioned the first of my two rods right in the path of the cruising fish,i put the rod down set the alarm and bobbin turned to get the second rod and the first one took off wow!The fish that had taken the bug was admittedly small,not even 7 Lb but the fact that mine and my little boys creation had fooled the fish was a great satisfaction in itself.The following 5 3/4 hours that i fished saw another six fish go over the top of my landing net,none reaching double figures but after all i was only experimenting and my club waters are jam packed with small carp.My next session will be to target some specimens and i will post the photos success being a factor in that,i am also going to try and get my hands on an original Nash Zig Bug for my next session it will be interesting to see what the results of any comparison will be although i expect the Nash Zig Bug to be the Bee's knees for this style of fishing,in any case i won't neglect to keep whoever wants to know informed of my zig endeavours.
CAUK
Know your knots
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| Palomar knot |
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| The Grinner knot |
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| The knot less knot |
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