Carolina Rig
When the fish move to the shallows as we approach the fall this time of year, one good never fail presentation to catch them on is fishing a Carolina Rig. There are however some very important rigging keys that will make a difference. Pay close attention as to how you rig it, as rigging it properly will mean the difference in catching fish. It should also be noted that rigging and proper presentation go hand and hand and I will explain both in this article.
When the bass are shallow, there is no need to overweight your rig, many people feel that they must use a heavy weight when Carolina rigging; not so, the presentation is effective lightly rigged. I wouldn’t rig anything heavier than a ¼ oz. weight when fishing shallow bass. You want the rig to be able to move over a shallow bottom and generally that means stumps and some short grass to pull it through, so a heavy weight is just over kill. The next and maybe most important key is leader size, don’t make it very long 18 inches at most, your fishing shallow there in grass and all you need is a long enough leader to just give the bait some action; if your fishing a floating bait the length just needs to be long enough to let it float up. Also believe it or not I have seen people use way to big of a swivel and big swivel causes hang-ups on and around wood, so keep it relatively small and don’t use gold color, the little gold swivel sometimes causes the bream to notice your bait and they will bite at you swivel and aggravate you to death making you think your getting bites.
Rigging it correctly also means fishing the bait like a Carolina rig should be fished, this means pulling the line and rod parallel with the bottom, so the weight stays in contact with the bottom this will make the bait move up and down from the pulling movement. Creating a great target for the bass; the pulling along the bottom is a real key to catching fish, it’s kind of like lightly pulling a swim bait over grass except the Carolina rig gives it a completely different look and makes it easy to catch fish.
Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service
www.fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com
Email: bassguide@comcast.net
Call: 256 759 2270
Captain Mike Gerry