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How to Fish a Carolina Rig for Bass by Carlton "Doc" Holliday A Carolina Rig is good for fishing deep structure when searching for bass. You rig it as follows: Take a light wire hook (2/0 or 3/0 depending on size of worm) and rig a worm weed less. Tie a piece of lighter line from 18 inches to 3 feet in length to the worm. The length depends on your preference and to a degree on the conditions. To the free end of the line, tie on a barrel swivel. To the free end of the line from your rod, add a weight. After assessing what type of structure and depth you are going to be fishing, decide how much weight you are going to need. The way to look at it is, get away with the lightest weight possible; usually throw between a 3/8 to 1Ú2 oz weight for water less than 25 feet deep. Use a 3Ú4 to 1 oz weight for deeper water. There is a variety of weights to use for this, egg sinkers, bullet weights, weights with rattles in them, and so on. They come in different composites, lead, brass and tungsten. A bullet weight is a more common weight for ease of getting through vegetation. Since many states are getting away from lead, use the brass or non-lead weights. The heavier weights allow for longer casts and the sinker maintains constant contact with the bottom. As the sinker is pulled along the bottom it kicks up clouds of silt that arouse a fish's curiosity. The next component that goes onto the line after the weight is the bead. Beads come in either plastic or glass and in many different colors. Personal choice dictates which type and color you will use. Whether you use one or two beads, again is your personal choice. Some fishermen advocate that two beads generate more noise. The sound generated by the clicking of the weight and bead is a representation of the clicking sounds a crawfish makes. Now tie the free end of the line to the barrel swivel. This is used to keep your line from twisting. It also has a secondary purpose as an equipment saver. When the rig hangs up, the lighter leader should break first thus you only lose the worm and not the rest of the components. A four to six inch plastic worm, french fry, senko or lizard are all ideal for Carolina Rig fishing. Make long casts and give your sinker time to get to the bottom. Retrieve by slowly cranking the reel to keep the sinker in contact with the bottom. The only time you need to raise your rod tip is to lift the sinker over an object. Just keep slowly cranking the reel throughout the retrieve. When a fish bites the worm, you might feel only a heavy feeling on the line. Occasionally, you will feel a "tap" but as a general rule it will just feel heavy. To set the hook, just sweep the rod to the side and keep reeling. With the light wire hook, this will be enough to set the hook. If you use bigger 3/0 or 4/0 hooks, the sweep will have a tendency to tear the hook out of the mouth of the fish except when using larger bodied worms. Remember, reel the worm in during the retrieve at a pace slow enough to keep the sinker in contact with the bottom. Fish these baits slowly to begin with and then vary the retrieve until the fish tell you which retrieve speed to use. I hope this article helps you put a few more fish in your livewell. About the author Carlton "Doc" Holliday and his wife, Darlene "Dee" Holliday, tournament fished together for 5 years. In 1992, Carlton had a heart attack and retired from tournament fishing. Individually and as a team, Doc and Dee won over 30 and placed in the top 5 in over 70 bass tournaments. Career winnings estimated over $85,000.00. Visit us at bassfishinglakeouachita.com |
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