Chod rigs: what are they and how to use them

Chod rigs have had various names over the years, and are basically a way of presenting a bait effectively in situations where there is either lots of debris on the lake bed, or you are fishing in thick silt.

The whole idea behind it is that whilst you can’t prevent your lead from sinking into the silt or debris such as weed, your hook bait will still be presented above it and not only visible to carp, but fishing in a way that gives you a good chance of hooking one if it takes your bait into its mouth.

How do chod rigs work?

A chod rig – which gets its name from the fact that it is fished amongst chod, a slang term for the debris found on the lake bed – is basically a helicopter rig with the top bead/stop set much further up your leader or main line than you ever would do if fishing it in the conventional way, where you tend to just allow a few inches so that if the lead sinks into the bottom you know your hook link is still clear.

This is fished with a very short chod hook link, with the length of that being defined by how far you want your pop-up to be sat above whatever it settles on top of, and typically one to three inches. This pop-up is either counterbalanced by a piece of putty around the barrel of the hook link swivel, or when using a leadcore leader that can be enough to sink it without any additional weight.

Terminal tackle for chod rigs

The hook link itself is made from a stiff bristle filament, such as Korda Mouth Trap, with the idea being that it sits the hook at an aggressive angle – you need an out-turned eye model such as the Korda Choddy or Krank Choddy, otherwise it is sat over too much and won’t hook anything – so that when a carp takes the bait into its mouth it immediately pricks itself as it lifts up off of the bottom.

It does rely on the fish moving to hook itself, but given that a chod rig is fished as a single hook bait or other scattered boilies, the carp is naturally moving anyway after it has sucked in your bait.

What type of lead set up should I use for chod rigs

The top bead on your helicopter rig could easily be set three or four foot up your line, depending on how deep the weed, or whatever you’re casting it into, is. So when you cast your hook link flies back up your leader or main line until it reaches that top bead, then once it lands in the water, the lead goes all the way down to the bottom, whilst your rig sinks slowly and comes to rest on top of whatever weed or other debris is there.

The downside of this is that it means that there isn’t much there to actually drive the hook home even once a carp has pricked itself, other than the tension in your line, and this can result in funny hook holds or hook pulls, especially once the hook link swivel travels all the way down to your lead and comes to a sudden halt. You can reduce that risk by using the Heli-Safe System, as with the lead gone and no longer bouncing around with such a short hook link whilst you are playing a carp, there is less risk of a hook pull.

How are chod rigs used?

Whilst chod rigs are far from perfect, they are still much better than any other alternative and allow you to present baits in areas of the lake where you wouldn’t be able to fish with a conventional rig.

They are also incredibly effective when you are casting them at showing fish, as you don’t need to worry about finding a clear spot of getting a good drop, and if you see signs of feeding carp, such as bubbles or coloured water, you can flick out a couple of chod rigs, with light leads and the minimum amount of disturbance, even if you know that the fish are feeding in a load of dead weed, and your hook bait will still be presented, as long as you have balanced it so that it sinks slowly and are using a good quality hook bait that retains its buoyancy. To find out more about baits, have a read of Bright and highly attractive hook baits for spring carp fishing.

Chod rigs - naked or with a leader

Chod rigs can either be fished naked – meaning on your main line which goes all the way through to your lead – or with a Kable leadcore or Dark Matter fused Tungsten leader, and your choice will depend on the angling situation and also the rules of the venue (some ban longer leaders which could be needed if fishing in very thick weed.

The advantage of a naked version is that it is less obvious, and especially if using fluorocarbon main line such as Korda Kontour, but it isn’t as durable as using it with some sort of leader, and is also more like to require a blob of Dark Matter Putty to get your hook link to sink as you want it, whereas the weight of the leader can sometimes be enough to achieve that, especially with leadcore.

Some anglers such as Team Korda’s Luke Stevenson fish chods a lot and uses them naked, but with a short piece of leadcore by the lead which is designed to take all the pressure during the fight, rather than the ring swivel being directly on your Kontour or mono main line.

Whichever version you choose, you need to bear in mind fish safety, and not just dropping the lead via a Heli-Safe, but also ensuring the hook link can come off in the event of your line breaking. This is easily achieved via the use of a Naked Chod Safety System, the Leadcore Chod Safety System, or one of the Dark Matter or Kable leaders that come already set up and feature these systems.

To find out how to tie a chod rig, see here or watch this video.