How to use a chod rig

Chod rigs were developed to pretty much be cast anywhere, and so that wherever they landed, you knew that it would be fishing and you would be in with a chance of a bite.

The big advantage of that is that you didn’t even need to know what you were fishing over – within reason of course, as if you chuck one into the middle of weed that is all the way up to the surface it isn’t going to be very effective! – and made them ideal for casting at showing fish where you didn’t want to risk disturbing them by plumbing around trying to find a clear spot to present a conventional rig on.

This makes them ideal when fishing over lower lying weed – not just silk and blanket weed, but also Canadian pondweed – thick silt, leaf debris, and other ‘chod’ on the lakebed.

The way they are set up means that whilst your lead, fished on a helicopter set-up, sinks into all that debris, your chod rig is free to slide back up your main line or leader, and due to the fact that this is a pop-up rig – which is balanced so it just sinks - it will settle resting on top of whatever you are fishing on. So basically, you are left with a pop-up sat on top of the weed/debris, fishing in a way that gives you a chance of hooking any carp that takes it.

Obviously for your rig to settle on top of whatever debris is on the bottom, and for your hookbait to sit proud of it, then you need to critically balance your rigs as much as possible, so they are only just sinking – an over-weighted pop-up cast on top of weed will just result in the whole rig sinking into it.

What situations are chod rigs good in?

Whilst chod rigs are often viewed as a rig for casting at showing fish – such as if you see them jumping or bubbling – they can also be very effective in situations where the carp are in an area of the lake where there aren’t any clear spots to fish on.

Spring is a particularly good time of year to use them as the carp are just waking up and starting to move around, and can be very susceptible to a brightly coloured pop-up presented in front of them – especially if they haven’t seen much angling pressure over the winter.

At this time of year there is also often a lot of debris on the bottom, such as dead weed and rotting leaves, and this is where all the food will be, for instance bloodworm, and especially as the water temperature hasn’t yet really warmed up.

You can of course fish a conventional pop-up rig over this type of bottom, but you never quite know how it is going to land and settle, especially where the debris is thicker and you can’t get a decent drop anywhere. With a chod rig you don’t have to worry about that.

Spring is the time of year when many anglers resort to fishing chods, often on all of their rods, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t work at other times as well. Some of our Team Korda anglers, such as Luke Stevenson, are big fans of them outside of that period as well, because it allows them to fish with the minimal amount of disturbance – light leads are ideal for chods – and flick rigs out to where carp are showing, whilst still feeling for a drop and knowing what he is fishing over.

During the summer months on lakes that tend to get very weedy, and where often the spots you are fishing to won’t actually be clear, but just places where the weed isn’t quite so thick, they can also be effective, if this is where the fish are spending a lot of their time.

In this situation it is far more than just chucking a chod out to showing fish, but instead using them to fish over the sort of bottom where any conventional rig would be totally buried to the extent that the carp would struggle to find it, and even if they did, then the chances your hook actually being clear to take a hold in their mouth would be close to zero.

But even with a chod, you have to know how deep the weed is that you will be fishing over, so you can set it up to give you the best chance that your hookbait will actually be settled on top of, rather than buried in, the weed. Using a dissolving foam nuggets on the hook and making sure that rig is balanced properly, so that it sinks very slowly, will definitely help ensure that it is clear and fishing.

Single hookbaits or fished over bait?

As already mentioned, chods are often viewed as a style of fishing which involves chucking a bright pop-up to showing fish, in the hope of avoiding spooking them and getting a quick bite whilst they are still feeding.

In that situation they are usually used as single hookbaits because in the same way that you don’t want to be casting a lead repeatedly, you also don’t want to be catapulting a load of boilies on their heads either.

When fishing chods in an area where you are expecting the carp to visit though – such as a spot where you might have seen them bubbling every morning for instance, but where it isn’t clear enough for a conventional rig and lead set-up – then spreading some bait around is a good idea as it will get the carp actively searching for it, even if that happens to be in amongst weed or thick silt. You might also opt for a more match-the-hatch type of pop-up, although that depends on how wary the carp are of bight ones – I’ve they’ve been being caught on fluoro pink and yellow baits all spring then they might be a lot more wary of them.

If you do decide to bait over the area where you are fishing your chods though, it is important to spread that bait around.

A chod rig ends up a long way from the lead, so you are relying on the fact that the carp is moving when it takes your hookbait in order to give you the best chance of hooking it. If the baits are spread around and the carp are actively moving around and searching for each boilie between mouthfuls, that increases your chances of hooking them with a chod.

Naked chod rig versus using a leader

You can use these rigs either fished on a leader, such as leadcore or a fused one such as the Korda Dark Matter ones, or ‘naked’ directly onto your main line.

A lot of this will come down to personal preference, as well as what the rules allow on the lakes that you fish.

But a lot of anglers like to use something like leadcore – you don’t need a long length of it, but enough that you can set your top bead as high as you need it to be – when fishing in amongst weed, on the basis that it will blend in better with the weed stems.

For fishing over low lying debris on the bottom, then many swear by fluorocarbon main line, such as Korda Kontour, and a naked chod set-up. When fished slack it will sink very well and will follow the contours of the lake bed, as well as blending in. The weight of the fluorocarbon and drag caused by the fact it is pinned to the bottom, should also help when it comes to hooking any carp which takes your rig.

Whether you choose to fish with a leader or naked, your rig must be safe so that if your main line breaks, then your hook link can come free. A Heli-Safe set-up is ideal for getting rid of the lead, which helps you to land the fish in the first place, especially in weedy situations, but you still need your hook link to totally detach from the leader.

The Korda Leadcore Chod Safety System has been specially designed for this purpose and ensures that the top bead being used to set how far your rig will travel up the leader, and your rig itself, will detach from the leadcore every time. There is also a Naked Chod Safety System which does the same thing and means a fish isn’t left trailing line behind it, should your main line break.

When casting out, your chod rig should sit down near your lead, with the hook link ring swivel resting against the lower bead or even just the top of the Heli-Safe - how close to the lead that is depends on personal preference, with some having it sat right against the lead, and other preferring it a little way back up the line or leader.

Generally it is best to only set the top bead as far up the line/leader as it needs to be, rather than your rig ending up further away from the lead than is necessary – obviously that depends on how deep the debris is that you are fishing over.

The size of lead that you choose is also important, and you really want to be using as light as you can get away with, within reason, as by the time the lead comes into play the fish is already hooked, and suddenly hitting the resistance from a heavy lead could even bump the hook out. Plus of course you don't want to the lead to sink further into whatever you are fishing over than is really necessary.

What hook link should I use for a chod rig?

Chod rigs are tied using a stiff material, such as Korda Mouth Trap, which basically acts as an extension of the hook shank and helps the hook to take a hold – especially important as with a chod rig you don’t have the benefit of the lead to set the hook and are relying on tension/drag from your line/leader as the fish moves off with the bait.

For most fishing, a hook link material that has a high memory is a bad thing, but in this instance it is ideal as you want to be able to shape it to whatever your preferred curve is, and for it to stay like that – ideally without having to mess about steaming it into shape.

A material such as Mouth Trap can be shaped into a curve simply by using your fingers, and how aggressive that curve is will depend on personal preference, plus the type of hook you are using – you don’t want it to be so aggressive that it reduces the chances of the point taking a hold, and that is especially the case if you opt for a hook with a beaked point. Once it has been shaped it will retain that curve.

If you prefer a very uniform curve, then the Korda Chod Safe box – which is designed for storing your chod rigs in the shape that you want - does come with a built in device for steaming them into the perfect curve every time, and with a choice of how aggressive that is.

In terms of the length of your chods, most anglers prefer 2-3 inches and is viewed as optimal for keeping your bait visible and away from getting caught in debris, whilst offering good hooking potential when a carp takes the bait. For instance, over thick silt a shorter choddy might be fine, but when fished on top of weed you might want it a bit longer to ensure the hook is clear.

When balancing your pop-ups so that they sink as slowly as possible – you will need to use ones that retain their buoyancy once in the water, such as those in the Mainline range – it is important to add putty to the eye of the swivel/knot in a way that doesn’t prevent the swivel from turning/spinning. A Korda Balancing Weight fits neatly over the barrel of a swivel and ensures that it can still spin freely. If you’re fishing with a leadcore leader, then that on its own may be enough to counter-balance your hookbait.

Hooks specially designed for chods

With such a stiff material and the fact it is usually attached via a knotless knot to form a D-rig, you need to use a hook with an out-turned eye that is specifically designed for these types of materials – such as the Korda Kamakura Choddy, the original Choddy, or Krank Choddy.

This ensures that your hook will sit at the right angle and isn’t sat at an angle which makes it almost impossible for the point to take a hold.

The whole idea is that the carp swims along, sees the bait, tilts down and takes it, and then when the fish uprights itself again it gets hooked against the tension in your line, and the way that the hook is positioned.

Because of the fact that you aren’t relying on the lead to prick and hook the fish, you want your hooks to be as sharp as possible, to increase the chance of a pick-up being converted into a fish on the bank.

Ready-tied options are available

If you want to ty using a chod rig, but don’t have the confidence to tie one yourself, then ready-tied options are available.

The Korda Chod Rig is available in long and short versions, depending on what you are fishing over and the presentation you are looking for, and tied using our original Choddy hooks, in barbed or barbless, and with a matching suitable breaking strain of Mouth Trap Chod Filament hook link material – 15lb, 20lb, or 25lb.

You get three in a packet – so could happily arrive at the lake and cast out three rods with chod rigs – and each is finished with a ring swivel. They can either be used with the Chod Safety Systems, or added to one of our Heli-Safe leaders - made from either Kable leadcore or the fused Dark Matter version – and replacing the ring swivel that comes with those.