Best carp rigs for beginners

For any relative newcomers to our sport, carp rigs are something that can be incredibly daunting and confusing, even with so much information and videos now available on them all.

Especially when so many of the top anglers in the UK all have their own personal favourites, or different ways of tying them, and there are definitely times when you can end up with too much information, to the point that it confuses you.

Even more so when you also have to factor in all sorts of other parameters such as the type of lakebed you are fishing on; whether you are using pop-ups, wafters, or bottom baits; the type of lead system you plan to use; and various other things that can change how they work or how the carp are feeding.

Sometimes less is more, and that is very much the case when it comes to rigs, and whilst you should always be trying to improve how many of the carp that pick your bait up actually end up being hooked and landed, you are still far better off having a few carp fishing rigs in your arsenal, for different situations, that you know work and are confident in. This also means that if it stops working properly in a certain situation, you will know what things to start tweaking to make it more effective, as you actually understand the rig and aren't just copying something you've seen somebody else using.

What you don’t want to be doing is casting out a new rig, in terms of having used that set-up before, every time you go fishing, as you will never really get to understand the mechanics of it and how it works. You also won’t have confidence in it either, certainly not via personal experience, and that plays a very big part in fishing – if you are leaving a rig in the water for up to 24 hours, you want to know it is giving you the best possible chance of getting a bite, and is also still fishing effectively throughout that time.

Rigs don’t have to be complicated

Simple rigs can still be very effective catchers of carp, even just a knotless knot hair rig - the easiest carp rig to tie - with a mono or braid hook link has caught plenty of fish over the years, even if there are other rigs out there which are more effective, both in terms of hooking potential and consistent presentation.

There is no point in over-complicating a rig unless you need to and it is actually serving a purpose, and of course you actually understand why you are using it in the way that you are.

‘Simple rigs’ don’t necessarily have to just be a basic knotless knot set-up, as in reality the Ronnie rig is actually one of the simplest rigs that you can use – you don’t even have to knot anything, just simply crimp your boom sections and then add a hook, kicker, and your hookbait on a micro ring swivel.

It really couldn’t be simpler and is very quick to change the hook when you need to without having to tie a whole new rig from scratch, meaning you can re-use all of the components – apart from the hook if it is blunt – and is one of the reasons why it is so popular, alongside the fact that it is tangle free and you know that it will always be fishing effectively, if using it over a fairly clean bottom.

Less is more when it comes to different rigs

It is great in some ways to have a huge choice of rigs for any situation where you want to present a bait and have the best possible chance at hooking a carp.

But there is no ‘wonder rig’ that will do everything and can be used in any situation, and over any type of lakebed.

You also have the problem that if you asked a load of top anglers what their favourite rigs are, and how they construct it – things like hook link length for instance, or the separation between bait and hook – you would get a load of different answers. Confidence plays a big part when it comes to rigs, and you want to be using something you know works and is always fishing when you cast it out.

The best thing you can do is find a rig that you like and are confident in – you’ll need to catch a few on it for that, and to experience yourself how good the hookholds are and whether you land most of what you hook – and you only really need a handful of rigs in your armoury to cover most situations you will encounter.

So, find a pop-up rig that you like – obviously the Ronnie rig is a popular choice; another that you will use with balanced or wafter type hook baits, such as Darrell Peck’s combi multi rig, or an IQ D-rig; and another for fishing straight bottom baits out of the bag, which could be something like a flipper rig.

It also makes sense to have a chod rig, a solid PVA rig, and some sort of zig rig – whether that is a standard one or an adjustable generally depends on the depth of water you’re fishing in – and you have pretty much covered all situations.

By using these rigs over and over again, and catching fish on them, you will become very confident in them, which is all part of the battle, as removing doubts over your rigs leaves you free to concentrate on things such as finding the fish, locating spots where they will feed, and deciding how you are going to bait those areas.

That is definitely the case with the most successful anglers – for instance you will usually see Tom Dove casting out a spinner rig/Ronnie rig as it is what he has total confidence in, unless the angling situation dictates the need for a different presentation.

Obviously if something new comes along that is potentially even better than your existing rigs, then there is no reason not to give it a go, ideally on an easier water where you can get a few bites and maybe fish it alongside your existing preferred rig for that situation.

Streamline your tackle box

Some anglers seem to carry half a shop in their tackle box, and have components for pretty much everything, sometimes even multiple different makes of the same thing!

Whilst it definitely pays to be prepared and to have everything you need with you, carrying lots of extra clutter that you don’t really use or have bought just because you saw someone on a video using it, tends to just confuse things and makes it harder to find what you need.

Once you have narrowed your rig selection down to just a handful that you’re going to be using for pretty much all of your fishing, then you only really need to carry the terminal tackle components that you need, and can streamline your tackle box and avoid carrying lots of stuff you don’t need.  

Ready rigs - no need to tie your own carp rigs

In the past, ready made carp rigs tended to be pretty awful and very basic, and often didn't use the best components available or give you any sort of flexibility in how to use them.

These days though things are very different, and if you don’t have the confidence to tie your own rigs from scratch – especially if you’re a relative newcomer to the sport or suffer with eyesight problems or dexterity issues with your hands – then the good news is that all the most popular types of rigs can now be bought in a ready-tied version and pretty much ready to use straight out of the packet. Just attach it to your chosen lead system, add a hookbait, and cast it out.

The other good thing with ready tied rigs, such as those that form part of the extensive Korda Ready Tied Rigs range, is that if you do want to try a different rig to that which you normally use, then you can go and buy one, without having to buy all the different components, such as a hook link material.

If you do decide that you like a particular rig and intend to use it regularly, then once you have bought all the terminal tackle you need, then it also gives you something to copy when you first start tying these rigs yourself.

The Korda Basix range of carp fishing rigs

Buying all the rig components that you need to get started can be expensive initially, which is why Korda introduced the Basix range.

The whole ethos behind Basix is that Korda boss Danny Fairbrass wanted to provide a range of tackle that works well and will catch carp, offering high quality rig components, and other items of tackle, but at a price point that is more affordable.

In some cases this has been achieved by using slightly lower grades of materials than can be found within the main Korda range, but without sacrificing too much quality – everything in the range is of a quality that any of our Team Korda anglers would happily fish using it, and some do anyway with certain items that they particularly like.

For instance, both the very popular Wide Gape and Kurv patterns of hooks are also available in a Basix model, with the main difference to the regular Korda hooks being that these have a black nickel finish to them, and also come on an ‘X’ gauge of wire which makes them more heavy duty and suitable for fishing anywhere, home or abroad.

With other items, such as hook link material, the main difference is the size of the spool that it comes on, as if you’re just starting out and trying different things, or don’t go fishing that often, then you don’t really need a spool with 20m of hook link material on it – especially in the case of something that is used to make booms.

The Basix range of hook link materials covers pretty much any rig that you could want to tie, as it includes Basix Boom (a fluorocarbon just like the very popular Korda Boom, but without the green coloured dye), plus a braid and a coated braid – all of which come on 10m spools, which will allow you to tie plenty of hook links but won’t break the bank.