I have seen a lot of questions on here from people that want to learn about Carolina rigging. I do a lot of Carolina rigging for both largemouth, and smallmouth bass. So I figured I'd share what I have learned over the years. Hopefully it will answer some questions, and help out a few people that are new to Carolina rigging. Besides..... I love talking fishing.
To start out with, a Carolina rig consists of, a sliding sinker, some kind of bead with a hole in it for the main line to pass through, a barrel swivel, the leader, and a hook. You start the rig by sliding your sinker on the main line, then you slide on your bead or beads, (more on that later) then you tie on your barrel swivel. You then tie one end of your leader material to the barrel swivel and the other end on to your hook. This completes the rig.
The first question is.... How heavy of a weight sinker should I use, and what type? A lot of articles suggest a 3/4 oz. egg sinker, stating that a heavier sinker makes more commotion, and the commotion is what attracts the bass to your rig. And that is true, but it also makes the rig more prone to hanging up, as well as adding more weight when it comes time to set the hook. To me, 3/4 oz. is way too heavy of a sinker to use. Unless you are fishing windy conditions, or water deeper than 20 feet, you don't need that heavy of a sinker. I use a 1/4 or 3/8 oz sinker the majority of the time. I will occasionally use a 1/2 oz. sinker, but not very often. The key is maintaining bottom contact and the feel of your sinker. So if you need to use a heavier sinker, by all means, use a heavier sinker. As far as what type sinker to use. I use brass bullet weights, or Lindy rig type led walking sinker for 95% of my Carolina rig fishing. I'll use the bullet shaped sinker if I am fishing near weeds, or light rock and gravel. And the walking sinker if I am fishing heavier rock, and gravel. The reason I use brass sinkers when I can, is that brass makes a more distinct sound than lead does. If they made brass walking sinkers I would use those, but to my knowledge, they don't make them. After I slide my sinker onto the main line, I slide on a bead. I use glass beads because they make a more distinct sound than plastic beads, but you can use plastic if you want. After I slide on the first bead I slide on something that is called a ticker. A ticker is a little disc made of brass with a hole in the middle for your line to pass through. After I slide the ticker on, I slide on another bead and tie on my barrel swivel. Why the beads and ticker? The first bead, and the ticker adds sound, the last bead is to protect your knot from damage from the sinker beating against it. The beads and ticker also add more weight to your whole sinker package, which is why I feel you can use a lighter main sinker. You don't need to use the ticker, but you do need to use at least one bead to protect your knot.
The next question is how long should I make my leader? A lot of articles you read about Carolina rigging put a lot of emphasis on leader length, and for good reason. The leader is the section of line connecting the barrel swivel to the hook, It seems that most articles suggest a 3 foot or longer leader. They say it keeps the bait above the bottom so the fish can see it better. But..... unless you are using a bait that floats, your bait doesn't stay off the bottom. It's in contact with the bottom, it's just not in hard contact with the bottom. Personally I have found that a leader about 2 feet long works much better than a longer one. If I am fishing for smallmouth bass, I shorten the leader to about 18 inches.The idea behind a Carolina rig is that your weight is making a commotion as you are moving it across the bottom. A shorter leader puts your bait closer to the weight, which is what is attracting the bass in the first place. Having the lure closer to the weight makes it easier for the bass to see your lure.
Put yourself in the bass' place. It comes over to see what's causing all the commotion, and it sees a weight. The weight doesn't look like anything to eat, so the bass just sits there watching it. As the weight starts moving away, the bass either immediately follows it, or he sits there watching for couple of seconds until his curiosity gets the best of him, so he starts following it again. If your leader is too long, the bass will start following the weight before it has had a chance to see your eatable looking lure that is following along behind. Unless you are fishing real clear water, or shallow water, it's darker at the depths that a Carolina rig is normally fished. In my experience a shorter leader just works better. A shorter leader also doesn't hang up as easily when you are fishing cover like rocks, or weeds. The closer your lure is to your weight, the easier it is to control.
What hook to use on the end of your leader is a matter of personal preference. Personally, I use Owner hooks for all my soft plastics. The Owner Wide Gap Plus is the hook I use for all of my Carolina rigging. As with any other soft plastic presentation....the size of the hook is determined by the size of the soft plastic bait you are using. As far as the line I use for Carolina rigging ..... I use 17 lb. test Flurocarbon for the main line, and 12 lb. test Flurocarbon for the leader. I never go lighter than 10 lb test for the leader. I like Fluorocarbon because it sinks, it's more abrasion resistant, it's more sensitive, and it has less stretch than mono. Some people like using braid as their main line. Personally I don't. I know you get better feel with braid, but it doesn't sink. It's just my personal preference, not a hard fast rule. The reason for the difference in line weight from main line to leader is that, if your lure gets hung up, the leader will break before the main line. So if your lure gets hung up, all you'll have to retie is your leader. As far as rods, I agree with other articles on Carolina rigging. I use a 6 1/2 or 7 foot rod, medium heavy power, with a fast or extra fast action tip. You want something with enough tip to make long casts, and enough backbone for setting the hook. You're moving a lot of line and weight when you are setting the hook, so you're going to need the length and power to get a good hook set. As far as casting a Carolina rig. You're going to cast it basically the same way you would cast a fixed bobber set up. You lob cast it.
The way I fish a Carolina rig varies depending on the mood of the fish. Most of the time I will cast out and allow the weight to hit the bottom, then I tighten up the line using the reel, I then use the rod to pull the weight. You can reel to move the weight but you lose sensitivity when you do that. Plus it just plain harder to do. I move the sinker about a foot before stopping. I'll let it sit there about 10 to 15 seconds and then move it another foot. I keep doing that until I get it past where I want to fish, or until I get it back to the boat. Sometimes I will move the weight more, some times less. I'll also vary the amount of time I let it sit motionless. It all depends on what the fish are wanting that day. Rod position, and hook setting when you Carolina rig is a little different than it is when you are fishing other kinds of soft plastics. I hold my rod off to the side at about a 90 degree angle to the water when I am moving the bait, and setting the hook. When you feel the fish take the bait move your rod tip towards the fish and reel a little bit of line in, then sweep the rod back, and to the side. I rotate my whole body. The idea is to move line. Sweeping your rod like that moves more line than a regular hook set. If I feel the fish on the end of my line, I just start reeling. If I don't feel a fish on the end of the line I let the bait sit there. A lot of times they will come back and get it. From my experience, when you are fishing a Carolina rig and a fish takes the bait, they just sit there. Occasionally they will take it and move off slowly, but I haven't found that to happen very often. If they take it and move off quickly to where they almost jerk the rod out of your hand...... that means they have buddies with them. They're taking the bait and running with it before another fish can take it away from them. If that happens .... once you land the fish, cast right back to where you caught it. You'll probably catch another. Sometimes you'll feel the fish hit the sinker itself, and they won't stick around to hit your bait. If that happens you may want to switch to a technique that puts your lure where the weight is. Either a jig or a Texas rig.
As far as what lures to use. You can pretty much fish anything on the end of a Carolina rig. I like to use craws or lizards, but I use Senkos and plastic worms as well. Don't be afraid to experiment. You can fish Carolina rigs just about anywhere, shallow or deep. They work good along weed edges or sparse weeds. They aren't good for heavy weeds though. But you would be using a Texas rigged worm or another kind of bait for that anyhow. Carolina rigs are really good for covering a lot of water, and finding fish. It is kind of a finesse version of power fishing. And it catches fish........ lots and lots of fish.
To start out with, a Carolina rig consists of, a sliding sinker, some kind of bead with a hole in it for the main line to pass through, a barrel swivel, the leader, and a hook. You start the rig by sliding your sinker on the main line, then you slide on your bead or beads, (more on that later) then you tie on your barrel swivel. You then tie one end of your leader material to the barrel swivel and the other end on to your hook. This completes the rig.
The first question is.... How heavy of a weight sinker should I use, and what type? A lot of articles suggest a 3/4 oz. egg sinker, stating that a heavier sinker makes more commotion, and the commotion is what attracts the bass to your rig. And that is true, but it also makes the rig more prone to hanging up, as well as adding more weight when it comes time to set the hook. To me, 3/4 oz. is way too heavy of a sinker to use. Unless you are fishing windy conditions, or water deeper than 20 feet, you don't need that heavy of a sinker. I use a 1/4 or 3/8 oz sinker the majority of the time. I will occasionally use a 1/2 oz. sinker, but not very often. The key is maintaining bottom contact and the feel of your sinker. So if you need to use a heavier sinker, by all means, use a heavier sinker. As far as what type sinker to use. I use brass bullet weights, or Lindy rig type led walking sinker for 95% of my Carolina rig fishing. I'll use the bullet shaped sinker if I am fishing near weeds, or light rock and gravel. And the walking sinker if I am fishing heavier rock, and gravel. The reason I use brass sinkers when I can, is that brass makes a more distinct sound than lead does. If they made brass walking sinkers I would use those, but to my knowledge, they don't make them. After I slide my sinker onto the main line, I slide on a bead. I use glass beads because they make a more distinct sound than plastic beads, but you can use plastic if you want. After I slide on the first bead I slide on something that is called a ticker. A ticker is a little disc made of brass with a hole in the middle for your line to pass through. After I slide the ticker on, I slide on another bead and tie on my barrel swivel. Why the beads and ticker? The first bead, and the ticker adds sound, the last bead is to protect your knot from damage from the sinker beating against it. The beads and ticker also add more weight to your whole sinker package, which is why I feel you can use a lighter main sinker. You don't need to use the ticker, but you do need to use at least one bead to protect your knot.
The next question is how long should I make my leader? A lot of articles you read about Carolina rigging put a lot of emphasis on leader length, and for good reason. The leader is the section of line connecting the barrel swivel to the hook, It seems that most articles suggest a 3 foot or longer leader. They say it keeps the bait above the bottom so the fish can see it better. But..... unless you are using a bait that floats, your bait doesn't stay off the bottom. It's in contact with the bottom, it's just not in hard contact with the bottom. Personally I have found that a leader about 2 feet long works much better than a longer one. If I am fishing for smallmouth bass, I shorten the leader to about 18 inches.The idea behind a Carolina rig is that your weight is making a commotion as you are moving it across the bottom. A shorter leader puts your bait closer to the weight, which is what is attracting the bass in the first place. Having the lure closer to the weight makes it easier for the bass to see your lure.
Put yourself in the bass' place. It comes over to see what's causing all the commotion, and it sees a weight. The weight doesn't look like anything to eat, so the bass just sits there watching it. As the weight starts moving away, the bass either immediately follows it, or he sits there watching for couple of seconds until his curiosity gets the best of him, so he starts following it again. If your leader is too long, the bass will start following the weight before it has had a chance to see your eatable looking lure that is following along behind. Unless you are fishing real clear water, or shallow water, it's darker at the depths that a Carolina rig is normally fished. In my experience a shorter leader just works better. A shorter leader also doesn't hang up as easily when you are fishing cover like rocks, or weeds. The closer your lure is to your weight, the easier it is to control.
What hook to use on the end of your leader is a matter of personal preference. Personally, I use Owner hooks for all my soft plastics. The Owner Wide Gap Plus is the hook I use for all of my Carolina rigging. As with any other soft plastic presentation....the size of the hook is determined by the size of the soft plastic bait you are using. As far as the line I use for Carolina rigging ..... I use 17 lb. test Flurocarbon for the main line, and 12 lb. test Flurocarbon for the leader. I never go lighter than 10 lb test for the leader. I like Fluorocarbon because it sinks, it's more abrasion resistant, it's more sensitive, and it has less stretch than mono. Some people like using braid as their main line. Personally I don't. I know you get better feel with braid, but it doesn't sink. It's just my personal preference, not a hard fast rule. The reason for the difference in line weight from main line to leader is that, if your lure gets hung up, the leader will break before the main line. So if your lure gets hung up, all you'll have to retie is your leader. As far as rods, I agree with other articles on Carolina rigging. I use a 6 1/2 or 7 foot rod, medium heavy power, with a fast or extra fast action tip. You want something with enough tip to make long casts, and enough backbone for setting the hook. You're moving a lot of line and weight when you are setting the hook, so you're going to need the length and power to get a good hook set. As far as casting a Carolina rig. You're going to cast it basically the same way you would cast a fixed bobber set up. You lob cast it.
The way I fish a Carolina rig varies depending on the mood of the fish. Most of the time I will cast out and allow the weight to hit the bottom, then I tighten up the line using the reel, I then use the rod to pull the weight. You can reel to move the weight but you lose sensitivity when you do that. Plus it just plain harder to do. I move the sinker about a foot before stopping. I'll let it sit there about 10 to 15 seconds and then move it another foot. I keep doing that until I get it past where I want to fish, or until I get it back to the boat. Sometimes I will move the weight more, some times less. I'll also vary the amount of time I let it sit motionless. It all depends on what the fish are wanting that day. Rod position, and hook setting when you Carolina rig is a little different than it is when you are fishing other kinds of soft plastics. I hold my rod off to the side at about a 90 degree angle to the water when I am moving the bait, and setting the hook. When you feel the fish take the bait move your rod tip towards the fish and reel a little bit of line in, then sweep the rod back, and to the side. I rotate my whole body. The idea is to move line. Sweeping your rod like that moves more line than a regular hook set. If I feel the fish on the end of my line, I just start reeling. If I don't feel a fish on the end of the line I let the bait sit there. A lot of times they will come back and get it. From my experience, when you are fishing a Carolina rig and a fish takes the bait, they just sit there. Occasionally they will take it and move off slowly, but I haven't found that to happen very often. If they take it and move off quickly to where they almost jerk the rod out of your hand...... that means they have buddies with them. They're taking the bait and running with it before another fish can take it away from them. If that happens .... once you land the fish, cast right back to where you caught it. You'll probably catch another. Sometimes you'll feel the fish hit the sinker itself, and they won't stick around to hit your bait. If that happens you may want to switch to a technique that puts your lure where the weight is. Either a jig or a Texas rig.
As far as what lures to use. You can pretty much fish anything on the end of a Carolina rig. I like to use craws or lizards, but I use Senkos and plastic worms as well. Don't be afraid to experiment. You can fish Carolina rigs just about anywhere, shallow or deep. They work good along weed edges or sparse weeds. They aren't good for heavy weeds though. But you would be using a Texas rigged worm or another kind of bait for that anyhow. Carolina rigs are really good for covering a lot of water, and finding fish. It is kind of a finesse version of power fishing. And it catches fish........ lots and lots of fish.
