Darrell Peck - Why I Love The Hinged Stiff Rig

The hinged stiff rig has been around for a long time now and it is still widely regarded as one of the best pop-up presentations around. There’s two main reasons why it has stood the test of time, firstly, and most importantly, the guaranteed presentation, and secondly, it’s hooking efficiency.

Primarily, it’s a presentation that I use for larger fish as I believe that sometimes is can be a little crude for smaller carp, of say single and low doubles.

There are several variations of how it can be constructed but what I’ll describe in this article, is how and why I tie it the way I do. As with all my rigs, I keep things as simple as I can. All I need from my rigs is something that won’t tangle, will present on the lakebed I am fishing, will efficiently catch hold and will have the strength to land every carp I hook. Those to me, are the key concepts of any rig.

There are two sections of a hinge rig, the hook section, and the boom section, and I’ll begin with the hook section.

With a hinge, you always want to fish a pop-up hookbait, to which I attach via Bait Floss to either a rig ring or a micro ring swivel. This lives on a ‘D’ section, on the back of the hook, formed from 20lb MouthTrap. A six-turn knotless knot with the tag end pushed back down through the hook’s eye, will form your D.

My hook of choice for this rig, is a size 6 or size 8 Wide Gape. It’s no secret that Wide Gapes are my favoured pattern, and I’ve personally found the hook holds to be much more reliable than that of a Choddy hook. I’ve also found the smaller size of hook tends to help with hookholds.

As with all my rigs, I pay great attention to my hookpoint, and being that the hook will be sat proud from the lakebed, you can get away with a really sharp point, that being a Kamakura or hand sharpened hook. 

I find the 20lb Mouthtrap the best material for this situation, as it was designed specifically for this job, with excellent memory which is needed for the hook section to hold its shape. It’s also important to have the flexibility to create a nice curved D at the rear of the hook.

I’ve seen anglers use other materials to form their hinges, such as supple fluorocarbons or even braid! Don’t fall into doing this, you will only give yourself problems, use products that have been purposely designed for this task.

The length of the Mouth Trap depends on the situation, but as a rule, I like my hinges to sit around 2.5-inches of the lakebed. I’ve tried really short sections of 1-inch but have found hookpulls can occur when going too short.

To complete this section, I tie the MouthTrap to a size 11 Ring Swivel via a 2-turn blood knot. There’s no need to use any more turns, it will never slip. When tying the blood knot, leave a smaller gap between the hook and the swivel than you think, by the time you pull the knot tight, you will gain an extra inch. Basically, start shorter than the length you want the finished rig. It may take a few goes tying to perfect your length, but preserve, it’s very simple once you’ve mastered it.

Finally, once this section is tied, I like to give the MouthTrap a gentle curve, this helps turn the hook into the bottom lip, regardless the direction the carp approaches from. The curve is one of the rig’s most effective weapons and if done correctly, the hookholds are phenomenal. I nice and easy way to effectively do this, is by pinning your rigs into a chod bin, ensuring they are pinned really tightly, and then steam them. The steaming is really important as it set the MouthTrap into the desired shape. Fishing in this way, you’ll get great hookholds, often with the hook absolutely buried.

For my boom section, I still favour using Hybrid Stiff, a long term product that to this day, I love. Fished anywhere from 5 to 12-inches, I krimp it into position, a really neat and easy way to fish.

Finally, the lead arrangement, in which you can fish a Lead Clip or Heli Safe depending on personal preference and the lake bed.

The hinge can be fished in a variety of situations, for me, it’s at its best used as a single hookbait tactic or over a spread of boilie. It’s probably accounted for more big fish than any other rig and it’s my go-to for pop up work.

Pecky