A guide to the best carp rigs

Carp fishing rigs can be very confusing, especially if you are a relative newcomer to the sport, as there are so many different ones to choose from.

Even amongst the top anglers in our sport, opinions will vary massively on which rigs are best, and even down to how each person will set up the same type of rig.

A lot of this comes down to confidence, and if you have caught lots of carp on one particular rig, then that will tend to be the one that you opt to use in any similar fishing situations that you encounter – of course this will vary depending on whether you are using bottom baits, wafters, or pop-ups.

Exactly how each person ties the same type of rig also tends to come down to the tweaks that they have made in the past in order to make the rig as effective as possible for their own fishing – even amongst the Team Korda anglers, if you asked them how long the boom section should be for a Ronnie rig/Spinner rig you’d get a number of different answers!

Once you understand how the mechanics work and what the rig is supposed to do, you can then tweak it to your own fishing situations, based on factors such as the exact make-up of the lakebed you are fishing over; the size of carp that you are targeting; or even how they feed, as heavily pressured carp will behave differently to virgin fish.

If you are losing fish regularly – you will always lose the odd one but it shouldn’t be a significant proportion of what you hook – or getting funny hook holds, then that means you either need to tweak your existing rig (things such as hook link length, hair length, the point at which the bait attaches to the hook, etc) or switch to a different rig which might be more suited to that particular fishing situation.

Whilst some of these rigs lend themselves more to certain patterns/shapes of hooks, or even hook sizes, again, a lot of it comes down to personal preference and if you spoke to a number of top anglers, you’d get several different answers as to which hook works best for them on a particular type of rig!

Here we take a look at the basics of some of the most popular and effective carp rigs that have been used over the years, and the mechanics behind them.

Knotless knot

The most simple carp is a basic knotless knot, with the hair exiting from the shank of the hook – ideally using enough turns on the knot so that point is roughly opposite the barb of the hook.

This rig is most similar to the original hair rig, which involved tying on a hook and then whipping a hair - made from very light line, like an actual hair - to the bend of the hook and attaching a bottom bait, balanced bait/wafter, or even a pop-up to it.

It is a rig that can be used with nylon, braid or coated braid, where the hair is a continuation of that material. The length of the hair can vary greatly, anything up to several inches in length, and the same is true for the hook link, which is typically anywhere between seven inches and at the other extreme as long as 15 or even 18 inches.

It relies on separation between the bait and hook allowing the hook point to take an initial hold, once a carp sucks in the rig and tries to eject it, and in terms of its actual mechanics is a lot more basic than many modern rigs. Although some anglers still swear by it for big carp.

D-rig

There have been lots of variations over the years of attaching your hookbait – usually a buoyant bottom bait/wafter – to some sort of ‘D’ close to the eye of the hook, which is formed with the tag end of the hook link material after it is attached to the hook via a knotless knot or whipping knot.

The most common type of D rig these days is tied using a relatively stiff hook link material, such as Korda IQ2 fluorocarbon – this rig has long been a favourite of Danny Fairbrass – and with some sort of micro rig swivel, or bait screw swivel on the D, which the bait is then attached to with Bait Floss, or via a short hair.

The D is formed simply by poking the tag end of the fluorocarbon back through the eye of the hook, trimming it, and then using a lighter to blob the end of it so it can’t pull back through the eye, even under pressure from a cast.

If you want to make it even simpler, you can use one of the Korda D-rig Kickers, which just pushes onto the hook and means that all you need to do is attach the hook via a knot of your choice, and you’re ready to go!

The D-rig is designed to be used with buoyant baits, where the hook lies flat on the lakebed and the hookbait sits on top of it, helping to hide the hook.

It works best on a clean lakebed and the movement that it gives to the hookbait makes it hard for a carp to eject once it has taken it inside its mouth. Due to the relatively stiff hook link material used, it is also relatively tangle-free on the cast and has the ability to re-set itself if it does get ejected (especially when using a stiffer/heavier hook link).

Combi-rig

Braided hook link materials have the advantage of allowing the hook and hook bait plenty of movement, so that initially the carp doesn’t realise that there is anything wrong with the bait that it is eating, until it is too late and the hook is inside its mouth.

But they also have the disadvantage of being incredibly prone to tangles on the cast – unless used with a PVA bag, stringer, or similar – and can land in a heap on the lake bed, and especially so if a carp sucks in the hookbait and then ejects it.

A good compromise is to use some sort of combi rig, which gives you the best of a stiffer boom type set up but with a supple section at the hook end – so you get the mechanics that a braided hook link would give you, but in a form that is much more resistant to tangles and more likely to re-set after ejection.

The simplest form of combi rig is some sort of coated braid, with the coating stripped back close to the hook, meaning you only require one piece of hook link material, and can choose how the hook bait is attached – whether that be a standard hair, a micro rig swivel sliding on the shank, blowback style, or whatever your preference might be.

Some anglers, such as Darrell Peck, prefer to use a combination of two different materials, which are joined together – an Albright knot is ideal for this – and allow the use of a very stiff material such as Boom, with a much more supple material such as Dark Matter braid.

Combi rigs, in their various forms, are a very popular choice with anglers targeting big fish both in the UK and overseas, and can be used with bottom baits, wafters, or snowman style hookbaits.

Multi rig

The multi rig was the first rig to allow you to quickly and easily change your hook, without the need to put on a completely new hook link.

This meant that not only was it very quick to get your rod back out, with a new hook, after you’d had a bite, but also cut down on wastage and cost, as you could keep using the same hook link.

This rig can be used with coated braid, either with a section stripped back near the hook, or a braided material, and basically a large loop is tied in the end of the supple section; or you can keep the coating on to form a stiffer hook link (a small break in the coating can be made next to the loop knot, if using it with a pop-up).

The loop needs to be large enough that it will go through the eye of the hook, from front to back, and can be ‘lassoed’ over the point (prior to doing so a micro rig swivel or similar is threaded onto the loop, and your hookbait attaches to that, like a conventional D rig).

A piece of shrink tubing or a kicker is then used to hold it in place and a D rig is created on the shank – the size of the D can be adjusted to your required length prior to securing it with the shrink tubing or kicker.

It is an incredibly versatile rig and can be used with pop-ups, wafters or bottom baits.

Blowback rig

This refers to the way the hookbait is mounted, with a ring, micro rig swivel, or bait screw that is free to slide up and down the shank, but is attached to the tag end of the hook link material, to limit how far round the bend it can travel. Usually it is set so that it sits on the shank opposite the barb.

There are lots of different variations of this rig, with some that involve the hookbait sitting tight to the shank, and others where a longer hair extends from the ring/rig swivel/bait screw to give the hookbait more freedom of movement.

The thinking behind this rig is that when a carp spits out the hookbait, it is able to freely travel for quite a distance before it exerts any force on the hook, thus leaving the hook to take a hold in the mouth, especially if the carp moves and tightens the hook link.

It is often used with some sort of braid or coated braid, but can also be used with nylon hook links as well.

Some sort of shrink tubing or kicker can be used to create a more aggressive angle to the hook, or it can just be used with a hook with a more aggressively in-turned eye.

It can be used with bottom baits or some sort of wafter or buoyant bait – larger hookbaits such as a snowman also work well and make it harder for the fish to eject the rig.

Flipper rig

This rig is basically just a knotless knot, but with a small piece of silicone on the hair so that it can be set so that it exits the hook further around the bend, or even up towards the point.

It is very simple to tie, with the piece of silicone being threaded on first, then the hook being carefully pushed through the silicone, point first, before a knotless knot is tied, once the length of the hair and its exit point has been set in your desired position.

This rig relies on the weight of the hookbait to cause the hook to ‘flip’ over and sit upright, point down, when the hook link tightens, causing it to prick the bottom lip of the carp.

This ‘flipping’ movement can be made even more aggressive by the addition of a piece of shrink tubing or a kicker being added to the eye, or it can be fished without that and ideally with a hook with an in-turned eye.

It is a rig that has been around for decades and has led to the downfall of many big carp, and can be fished with braid, coated braid, or mono. It works best with bottom baits as the weight of the hookbait is what causes it to ‘flip’.

KD rig

The KD rig in various forms has been around for many years and is attributed to well known angler Kenny Dorsett, who was the first to write about it.

It is a very simple rig to tie and involves the use of a variation on a knotless knot, such that the hair exits the hook shank very close to the eye. This means that one the hookbait is in the mouth of the carp and the hooklink is under tension, the hook naturally hangs down at an aggressive angle, point first, and increases the chances of it taking a hold as it drags across the bottom lip.

Traditionally it was fished with a pop-up, but instead of the counter balance weight (usually a shot) being on the hook link below the hook as normal, it was squeezed onto the hair just below the pop-up, to create a balanced hookbait. It was also typically fished on a hair that was longer than would normally be used with a conventional pop-up rig, where the hookbait tended to be quite tight to the hook.

These days it can also be used with wafters straight out of a pot – any balanced hookbait will work, including tiger nuts that have been drilled out and cork added to them.

Hinged stiff rig

One of the greatest big fish rigs of all time and has accounted for some of the largest and hardest to catch carp in the UK, and abroad.

It is an out and out pop-up rig, designed to present a higher sitting pop-up, and basically consists of a boom section and a shorter hook section (typically two to three inches or so long).

The boom section has a fairly large loop on the end of it, with a swivel freely running around that loop, and the hook section is tied to the swivel, given it plenty of freedom of movements and ensuring that it sits correctly. The swivel (ideally PTFE) also allows the hook section to spin around freely, thus increasing the chances of the hook taking a hold, especially if this section of the rig has a slight curve to it.

The rig putty used to counter-balance the pop-up is moulded around the knot where the hook section is tied to the swivel, and ideally you want to be using a very buoyant pop-up that is balanced so that it just sinks – it is essential that it remains buoyant in order to keep the rig sat upright and not leaning over.

A small D-style loop is formed, with a rig ring on it, and the pop-up is tied onto that ring using bait floss, so that it sits tight to the hook and kicks it over at the perfect angle to gain a hook hold. You will need to use a hook with an out-turned eye, for it to sit properly, so a Korda Choddy or Krank Choddy is the perfect choice.

This rig in its original form was designed for fishing over clear lake beds, especially on gravel/sand/clay, but there are more recent variations of it for fishing over low lying weed or other debris, which involve the use of a softer boom section, made from some sort of coated braid, such as Hybrid Stiff or N-Trap, depending on how supple you want it to be.

Ronnie rig/spinner rig

The Ronnie rig, also known as a spinner rig, is without a doubt the most popular rig these days, and a large percentage of anglers use it in some form.

It is a popular choice for fishing low lying pop-ups or wafters, and some anglers have even adapted it with the addition of things such as a hair to enable it to be fished effectively with bottom baits.

It is very simple to use, with a hook that can quickly and easily be attached to the boom section via a spinner swivel, covered by a kicker to hold it in place and ensure it sits at the correct angle, and changed as and when required.

It offers a very aggressive presentation, as it spins around in the mouth of a fish until it takes a hold, and if it does get ejected then it is very good at re-setting itself. Coupled with its anti-tangle properties, it means that you know that it will always be fishing.

It is a firm favourite with many top anglers, including Tom Dove, to the extent that if they’re fishing on the bottom in a conventional way, they will rarely ever cast out anything else.

It can be used with a number of different hook patterns, including Krank and Wide Gape, plus a Spinner hook specifically designed for this rig, and as well as the traditional stiff Boom material to create the booms, it can also be used with coated braid if fishing over debris on the lakebed.

A micro rig swivel or bait screw slides freely around the hook and is stopped by a hook bead, which is usually positioned somewhere opposite the barb, so the hook sits at an aggressive angle. For a more in-depth look at this rig see HERE.

Ready tied rigs are available

Exact instructions on how to tie these ready rigs, and the components which are needed, can be found on the Korda website, or by clicking on the links above, which will take you to the relevant instructions for each rig.

If you don’t have the confidence to tie these rigs yourself, or just want to try one before buying all the components needed, then you will find many of them available HERE in ready-tied versions, which can be used straight out of the packet.