Carolina rigging softies

[rigzz]

Hi all,
Just a short query to ask if anyone has tried what the yanks call 'carolina rigging'. It's basically just our standard bait rig ie. a small sinker and then a swivel or stopper followed by a leader and then the soft plastic body with no weight attached. It can give longer casting distance (depending on the weight used) and the plastic itself has NO weight when a fish picks it up. Has anyone tried this? Does anyone think it's worthwhile or isn't it worth the trouble?
Cheers,
Rigzz

[Geoff R]

A fellow called Madfish was throwing RMG 52's and 68's at Bream on the Flats while the majority of us were throwing plastics and small hardbodies at snags. We all thought that he had some special technique that was impossible to learn, and dismissed the technique as a freak.
In the Walpole comp i had the chance to fish against him, Saturday i choked, Madfish pulled a 4. something kg bag, I thought what the hell i'll give it a go. I came from dead last to tenth, the moral of the story is no one has really tried it i reckon. Give it a go and and see what happens, I have tried it but havn't given it enough time. We never discredit a technique anymore, it has helped me to get brand new anglers to this sport on the board and into Breamin. I havn't given up on it yet, Good Luck
Regards Geoff

[BreamShark]

You could also try using a float to keep the plastic at the dapth you want it. Would the sinker spook the fish???

[Granpop]

Hi,

In my limited exerience, anything goes. In the land of the softies (USA) jigheads appear to be the least used method with soft plastics. Texas rigs are supposed to be the best weedless rig, but I have used a Carolina rig thru weed (with a floating head near the SP so it rides above the weeds.

A session in autumn at Mallacoota I tried all methods (except the Florida) and they all caught fish. I like the Carolina rig where there is a bit of wash to move the SP more (like in the surf).

Experiment, and have fun!

Granpop

[BreamShark]

hey granpop, whats the florida rig??? We've gotta get some aussie names for these rigs

[Ravin]

I use the Carolina rig a fair bit around weed beds on the flats & find it very effective.

[rigzz]

Hi,
Thanks guys, I will persevere after all.
Cheers,
Rigzz

[Granpop]

the florida rig???

The sinker has a small corkscrew to screw into the SP (makes it more like a jighead). Do a google search on bass rigs - that will give you a heap of reading.

Cheers from wet Canberra

Granpop

[Granpop]

If you are interested in different rigs for SPs - have a look at this..

http://insideline.net/articles/rigging-guide.html

Granpop

[Angry]

That web page makes for some interesting reading Granpop. Its all worth a try I spose.

[rigzz]

Yeah, thanks heaps for that, very interesting and worth trying.
Cheers,
Rigzz

[BreamShark]

Thanks for that granpop,
now i can put my old bait tackle to good use;) .

[the_hide]

The carolina rig (aka running sinker) is my favourite freshwater softie rig I use a modified version from my kayak in the upper yarra for reddies/trout/cod and macquarie perch as my secondary line, combined with the often unmentioned senko style worm wacky rigged and dipped in spike it garlic/crawfish im hooked. I often jig with shads/squidgies/grubs etc on the primary and almost leave the carolina jigged one to itself (almost like bait). I fish it with a 1metre plus leader and a reasonable heavy sinker with a plastic bead and piece of cork instead of a swivel. Fished slightly ahead of your strike zone in the river the heavy sinker keeps your line on the bottom, then I free spool another couple of metres of line the unweighted softie then usually runs free into the current and flops around the beadand cork usually assists in creating odd action on the line. Occassionally Ill pull in the slack line with my hand then lit it go again or jig it a little. Fished on the last couple of rocks off rapids this is deadly, rainbow trout are dead set suckers for this. It really does blur the line between bait fishing however. I'm sorry to go on with about it but Im sold on it over the last three weekends in the dirty swollen yarra I have taken 1 fish from grubs , squidgies, craws , worms, senko's while jigging. Last weekend in 10 hours I nailed a medium sized cod, and possibly 10 or so accidental rainbows (wasn't targetting this off season species) and a multitude of redfin on the "secondary" carolina and wacky rigged home made scented senko. These baits where fished almost side by side with jigged bait, I can't wait to give them a go on the jews in the surf over summer with this method.

These hand poured and home made plastics were responsible for the majority of the damage.

http://users.bigpond.net.au/mjc/sticks.jpg

[Granpop]

Like your home-poured senkos - I meant to bring a couple of packets of smoke/silvers back with me. How easy is it to do, and where do you source your materials??

Cheers

[the_hide]

If you use the right materials senko styles are easy, unfortunately it took me some time to figure out what worked and what didn't.

Making the molds is relatively cheap but the plastic (Vinyl PLastisol) in Australia is reasonable expensive. It costs half as much to import and pay the freight as it does to buy it locally.

4 Litres of plastic costs around $100 imported, that would make around 800 senko style baits and they are reasonably large but also have a 30% salt content. PM me if you are interested and I'll be happy to tell you what does and doesn't work and where to get it for the best price.

[pw-bream]

Those big, fat worms look excellent. You've done a good job there.

[the_hide]

Another bonus I forgot to mention on the senko style is that you can often choose to use them without a weight of any kind, they are heavy enough with the Salt to cast good distances and they sink slowly naturally. Great for throwing into the current and letting it run.

[zimeric]

back home we call those french fries or chips
and are my bestest bestest by far favorite lure in the whole wide world
problem is they a bit big for breamskies!

and yeah they probably work best weightless or carolina rigged for better action - a bit like a leach swimming in the water!

[torvic]

like dropshotting? Or is it the same thing even??

[rigzz]

zimeric,
Sorry to stray off topic but I've got to ask. Is that critter in your avatar a tigerfish? Sure looks like one. Mean buggers by all accounts.
Thanks
Rigzz

[the_hide]

Zimeric I've just finished knocking up a clay master of a 2 Inch Stick ( funnily enough my daughter runs around with them calling them chips much to my wifes distain). I'll be pouring a few of these over the weekend , I'd be happy to send you some if you wan't to try a few on smaller species.

[Angry]

Try a search for "carolina".
There was a thread there a couple weeks covering all different types.
Also try
http://www.bassdozer.com/articles.shtml
It covers a lot of stuff.

[Angry]

I'm a bloody twit. This is the thread and there is a link on the previous page that describes all the rigs.
Excuse me while I give myself an upper cut.

[torvic]

Haha nice one :p

Thanks alot for that info Angry, i'l check the link out now :)