Pick of the rigs.

[David Gauntlett]

OK guys,

Having spent twenty years in carpy exile, I am well out of touch, so I need your ideas. My natural first choice rig for the small river I was fishing back then, was a simple, bog standard one...10lb line straight through to a size 6, with a 3 swan nylon link stopped by a ledger stop. I know ledger stops are now frowned upon, and that lead core, back stops, flying back stops, bolt rigs, safety clips etc., etc., have now crossed over from carp to barbel....so things have changed a lot.

Accepting that there is no such thing as a 'Best rig', simply because different swims/situations demand different rigs, nonetheless...if you had to pick one rig for a small river, which one would you choose? Or, to put it another way, which rig do you set up as your natural choice, on a normal looking, average small river for barbel?

I know I could just buy the books, but her indoors is threatening to carry out some painful surgery without an anaesthetic if I spend one more penny on re-kitting myself for barbel fishing

So...what do YOU use for small river barbeling?

Cheers, Dave.

 

[Ian Crook]

Hi Dave,

For me it would be 10lb PowerPro Braid to a size 8 swivel, running lead on a snagsafe ring with a buffer bead on the swivel. Hooklink is 2 to 3ft of Camoskin with the last inch before the hook stripped back. Size 8 Korda Curve, Korda Wide Gape or Owner C5X with a hair and 2 elips pellets (preferably the salmon ones).

That is the start of the season, as it wears on and they get spooky, backleads, leadcore, helicopter rigns, Fluoro/Braid combi rigs, anti-eject, bolt rigs, boilies, paste, etc all come into play at some point..................you will have fun trying EVERYTHING

 

[David Gauntlett]

Thanks for your reply Ian...we seem to be the only two talking to each other

I must have done a thousand different rigs while I was carping...cant say I ever found one that was truly outstanding, even when the rig was designed with a particular job in mind. Usually ended up going back to basics in the end

There is definitely a risk of trying rigs out for the sake of it, and of course when you can't buy a bite is not the time to try new rigs OR bait out. Frequently the reason you can't buy a bite is because either there are no fish in your swim, or they are not feeding for some reason. I would think many a reasonable rig or bait has been condemned simply because they were tried at the wrong time

Cheers, Dave.

 

[Ian Crook]

David,

I find the opposite actually, when nothing is biting, get bits and bobs all over your knee and up to your elbows in tying new rigs and a rod hoops around!!

 

[Ian Grant]

Ok then, just this once i'll reveal my ultra secret rig

Mainline 12lb big game, 18" ....ish 10lb suffix camo or black silt, stripped back about 1/2 to 1" from the eye of size 6 esp raptor G-4 tied to knotless knot, sometimes hair sometimes not.

This i kid you not is the ultimate rig took years to perfect

I never use anything else

Ian.

 

[David Gauntlett]

Ok then, just this once i'll reveal my ultra secret rig

Mainline 12lb big game, 18" ....ish 10lb suffix camo or black silt, stripped back about 1/2 to 1" from the eye of size 6 esp raptor G-4 tied to knotless knot, sometimes hair sometimes not.

This i kid you not is the ultimate rig took years to perfect

I never use anything else

Ian.

Hi Ian,

Many thanks for your reply.

Interesting though, because that rig...give or take a few inches on the length of the hook link, is a well used and sucessful carp rig ('course, for carping it has a lead as well )

Seriously though, I guess at the end of the day, most successful carp rigs only need a little logical adaptation to become successful barbel rigs.

Cheers, Dave.

 

[Ian Grant]

Just a bit of rig tickling on my part David, ..... the leads i forgot... aything from a 4 swan shot link, to 1oz thats downstream, upstreaming up to 2oz normaly a flat or gripper lead.

I used t do a fair bit of carping as well David, and i have to admit that my barbel 'rig' is what i'd be using if using a bottom bait.

I think fishing for Carp in a still water has many more situations, coupled with the size of a carps mouth and the way they tend to feed, that demand much more technical rigs than flowing water, though a lage slow flowing river may not be too different in some situations.

Even in Carping though, i've seen many using the latest rig copied from a magazine, without the faintest idea why they should or should not be using that particular rig, i.e a rig has a function, and if one that has particular characterstics is being used, it needs to be understood to what benifit that rig has in a given situation.
As you say it can become too easy to use a rig for the sake of it, usually it's the novice angler persueded by magazines etc, that the latest all singing all dancing rig is going to put a monster fish on the bank for them.

When 99.9999 % of the time undestanding the basics is what will achieve that far more than the rotating - sliding - combi - stiff 'D' ringed - rig will ever do.

But i know i'm preaching to the converted

Ian.

 

[David Gauntlett]

I know mate.

Mind you, I must confess to an unhealthy degree of fascination with rigs myself. I love going over the sketches/photos and trying to work out the theory, and the mechanics involved. It's fun...I just don't let it affect my fishing. The rigs that I actually use are invariably pretty basic.

I believe that most of the nonsense stuff is press driven. The ever increasing numbers of 'names' that keep cropping up want to stay that way. They want to keep earning from sponsorship deals and regular articles in the mags...and that puts them under a fair amount of pressure. Sometimes that pressure has fun results.

I recall one particular 'name' describing a rig which he had invented, claiming it to be 'the rig to end all rigs', the best thing for catching 'carps' as he called them, since sliced bread (excuse the pun). When he finally revealed his 'wonder' rig, the majority of the carp fratenity fell about laughing. I believe it was called the 'scorpion' rig....and it certainly had a sting in the tail for the fella concerned, because he never lived down the ridicule the preposterous heap of **** brought down upon his head

But then...pointing out that the press is undoudtedly the root cause of half the worlds ills is hardly breaking new ground, is it

Cheers, Dave.

 

[Haydn Clarke]

But then...pointing out that the press is undoudtedly the root cause of half the worlds ills is hardly breaking new ground, is it

Cheers, Dave.

Which is precisely why I eschew most angling publications these days, with the notable exception of the occasional copy of Carpworld, which tends to be more anecdotally driven, a bit of history, comment and thinking angling with far less latest wonder rig and bait cr4pulence that some of the others spout. Carp & Course (almost totally devoid of adverts, which I resent paying to read) is also worth a flick through, though perhaps a little cemex-centric. I still think there is a gap in the market for a decent multi-specimen mag aimed at the serious big fish angler but that's another issue.

On the rig front I have found that less is more and now nearly always have in mind fishing (as well as other things in life) along the "K.I.S.S" principle. Keep It Simple Sweetheart. 10lb - 12Lb mainline, John Roberts quick change link, hooklinks of varying length to a knot-less knotted size 8 Owner or Korda and Robert is your father's brother.

Haydn

 

[David Gauntlett]

Know what you are saying Haydn

However, I am a tad disappointed that leadcore, lead safety clips and other lead attaching systems, back leads (in all their manifestations) and all the other rig possibileties and permutations have barely had a mention yet.

I know I requested rigs for small rivers, but surely not everyone is of the 'less is more' persuasion ?

Cheers, Dave.

 

[Peter Littleworth]

Dave, you may be surprised to learn that your simple , bait on the hook, link ledger rig may well outfish any of the miriad of "clever" rigs!!!!! There only pretty dumb fish afterall!
Peter

 

[David Gauntlett]

Dave, you may be surprised to learn that your simple , bait on the hook, link ledger rig may well outfish any of the miriad of "clever" rigs!!!!! There only pretty dumb fish afterall!
Peter

Actually Peter, I wouldn't be surprised at all However, not everyone sees things as I do, and as I say, I find it a fascinating subject. I have lost count of the times this subject has ended up in heated words when innocently raised down the pub

Cheers, Dave.

 

[Paul Boote]

It has always been of some comfort to me to see the look-away, poor-sod pitying look of some camoed-up Nouveau Barbel Clone as, after engaging me in increasingly searching conversation for a minimum of 30 minutes (and up to 2 hours), I wind in what I am fishing and let it dangle in front of them..........

 

[Rich Frampton]

 

[David Gauntlett]

It has always been of some comfort to me to see the look-away, poor-sod pitying look of some camoed-up Nouveau Barbel Clone as, after engaging me in increasingly searching conversation for a minimum of 30 minutes (and up to 2 hours), I wind in what I am fishing and let it dangle in front of them..........

So....let me get this straight Paul...are you saying that you DON't use the secret rig?...The one with the remotely programmable, variable density leader, all terrain stealth swivels, and the new self levelling, adjustable geometry 'invisileads'

What the HELL is life coming to

Cheers, Dave

 

[Paul Boote]

Always been totally and brutally up-front, Dave - if only the ever-scheming, turn-back-the-relentless-tide Canutes would realise...

 

[David Gauntlett]

Cheers, Dave.