Was reading an article that had this guy Mike Roller talking about Carolina rigs. He likes a heavy weight (at least an ounce), a medium light rod (!), no clacker, and ONLY black or clear beads (no red).
He also doesn’t believe that leader size will matter much because if the fish are aggressive, they’ll bite.
I don’t include a bead most of the time because they’re yet another thing on the rig to fiddle with and get weeds off, and I also just use whatever the main line is for a leader half the time because it’s there. But I do like the clacking, but shoot for more of a crawfish clack than two rocks banging together.
Then again, as I’ve said here many times, I’m hardly a big-timer. How do you Rig?
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Dave W
November 17, 2011 at 2:40 pm
I consider the C-rig one of my strengths and have won 20+ tournaments on a rig. I can’t see how the bead color makes any difference, but we all have our superstitions. As to the leader size, if you are fishing color water, I would agree the line size doesn’t matter much, but I have seen there be a significant difference in the number of bites I get downsizing from a 15# leader to a 12# leader. As for the the Med Light rod, I have no idea. And yes, if they are agressive, the leader size doesn’t matter, but sometimes they aren’t and sometimes it does.
Dave W
November 17, 2011 at 2:41 pm
Sorry, should say “colored” water
jim kelley
November 17, 2011 at 4:00 pm
Yeah, Mike kinda on to something. My winter fishing partner uses only 8lb line, doesn’t bother with leader size either, and no bead no clacker, and rigs it all on a 7′ med spinning rod. And he catches the heck out of them in 38-42degree water, as a matter of fact, he will out fish me from the back of the boat 9 times out of 10 if we’re both fishing a rig. It says alot about the sensitivity of a light rod, line, etc…one thing I forgot to mention, he will fish it through every cover imaginable, he rarely breaks off, he’s become so used to the “feel” of that bait with that setup, that he can tell if its cover, grass or a fish.
Chad Keogh
November 17, 2011 at 8:22 pm
I use a baitcast set up with 17-20 lb fluorocarbon main line on a med-heavy rod. I then put my 3/4 oz tungsten weight, a stone bead (can’t remember the type of stone), then I tie on a 2-4″ leader of 12 lb fluoro using a swivel, and usually run a 3/0 Mustad Mega-Bite hook with a Big Bite Baits Yo-Mama on it in the camo pattern. The smallies like it, and I like smallies….
Chad Keogh
November 18, 2011 at 8:28 am
2-4′ leader…
Jeff Hahn
November 18, 2011 at 7:25 am
I use the same pre-rigged set-up with a brass or tungsten sinker on a wire. In addition, I use a 4 inch to 6 inch piece of clear surgical tubing on the main line and run the upper loop of the wire into the end of the tubing. I originally used the tubing to prevent the zebra mussels from fraying the main line. But, as it turns out, the tubing also greatly helps when fishing heavy rocks. Not only does the harder sinker (compared to lead) mean that it’s easier to get loose when it gets stuck in the rocks, but add the tubing and you can virtually fish rip rap with a C-Rig and not lose it. Much of the time it will be tubing that gets wedged in the rocks and a sharp “snap” of the rod gets it loose.