Origins of the "Chod" rig

[dezza]

When I wrote various articles in: "The Carp" in early 70s about carp rigs that were being successfully used in South Africa, I was taken to task quite severely by a number of UK carp luminaries of the time. The rig that did it was the short hook length paternoster.

I sketched this rig, detailing a length of 18 inches from the lead to a small swivel. And then a distance of 6 inches of hook length from the swivel to the hook. Some times the hooklength was as short as 1 inch!!

What my critics - and one of them was **** Walker - failed to understand was that in South Africa we were fishing in large reservoirs or river impoundments that had become heavily silted up, and still are. Vaal Dam was typical of such waters, as was/is the Bloemhof Dam. On the bed of these lakes was up to 12 inches of soft silt that the lead sank into. Give slack line and the hookbait would sink too, and most times carp would never find the bait.

So the South African rigs were not stupid. They made it possible by using a tight line to make sure that the hook bait was as close to the top of the silt bed as possible.

Tim Paisley, in his editorial "Carp Leader - Carp World - July, points this out very well and even shows one of my early diagrams from "The Carp", the magazine of the BCSG.

This really took me back.

How many of you use the "Chod Rig"?

 

[Rodney Wrestt]

I use the Chod rig in it's present form with non tether properties, however when I started fishing I used a rig which consisted of a spark plug on the bottom of the mainline and a hooklength attached to a swivel about 20" from the weight the hook length varied in length to whatever I felt like as long as it was less than 15" so it didn't tangle. This was a great way to catch perch, flounder, dace, roach and eels from the river, even using 12lb line and size 10 hooks, as I said it was when I first started out and my knowledge of safe rigs was non existent. But I did catch some huge fish, from memory many would be my P.B's if I'd kept a record.

 

[Fred Blake]

Take a look at the rig BB describes in Confessions for fishing in midwater. Could be either a chod or even a zig, depending how long you set the hooklength. That illustration dates from 1950, and to all intents and purposes represents what today's carp angler would call a chod rig.

Mind you, an American carp fisher called Phillips invented the spod (and the baiting spoon) in the 1940s. Not much in fishing is new, despite claims to the contrary.

 

[mikewilson]

Fred

I think you will find it was Leslie P Thompson who 'invented' this and published it in his book ' Fishing In New England'. His article on the use of sweetcorn as bait [used in the 30's] and the development of what we now call the spod was published in the Fishing Gazette on 30th March 1946.
There is very little new to fishing if one looks deep enough.

Mike

 

[ED (The ORIGINAL and REAL one)]

Fred

I think you will find it was Leslie P Thompson who 'invented' this and published it in his book ' Fishing In New England'. His article on the use of sweetcorn as bait [used in the 30's] and the development of what we now call the spod was published in the Fishing Gazette on 30th March 1946.
There is very little new to fishing if one looks deep enough.

Mike

So Ron copied Leslie P Thompson ??

 

[dezza]

There is very little new to fishing if one looks deep enough.

Absolutely true.

The "chod" rig was certainly not invented by myself. I don't think anyone can really take credit for inventing it. It probably evolved in countries such as the USA and South Africa due to the problems that the anglers had to surmount. During the 50s, carp fishing technology developed the way it did due to the problems that had to be overcome in small lakes such as Redmire and Ashlea. Then came the big gravel pits with hard or weedy bottoms that demanded a different approach to say nothing of the increase in carp anglers which put more pressure on individual fish.

We in South Africa at the time were fishing huge reservoirs and river impoundments that suffered from heavy silting, especially waters such as Vaal Dam where the catchment was mainly intensive maize farming.

---------- Post added at 12:31 ---------- Previous post was at 12:29 ----------

So Ron copied Leslie P Thompson ??
__________________

Ed, read my reply to Mike Wilson!

 

[ED (The ORIGINAL and REAL one)]

Absolutely true.

The "chod" rig was certainly not invented by myself. I don't think anyone can really take credit for inventing it. It probably evolved in countries such as the USA and South Africa due to the problems that the anglers had to surmount. During the 50s, carp fishing technology developed the way it did due to the problems that had to be overcome in small lakes such as Redmire and Ashlea. Then came the big gravel pits with hard or weedy bottoms that demanded a different approach to say nothing of the increase in carp anglers which put more pressure on individual fish.

We in South Africa at the time were fishing huge reservoirs and river impoundments that suffered from heavy silting, especially waters such as Vaal Dam where the catchment was mainly intensive maize farming.

---------- Post added at 12:31 ---------- Previous post was at 12:29 ----------



Ed, read my reply to Mike Wilson!

I know I'm good Ron .... but I couldn't read it before you wrote it ....

 

[cg74]

I use the chod rig but more so for tench than carp.

Regards the origin of this rig, its doubtful that any one person actually developed it, rather a whole heap of tinkerings on other's set-ups.

My grandad was shown this rig by a Norwegian sea angler, just after WW2.
Its usage is obvious, to hold a bait just above the kelp found in the Fjords.

A bit like the pulley rig, a common place set up for fishing amongst snags, I can't recall which 'named' carp angler is now claiming to have devised it??

 

[dezza]

Does anyone know where the term "chod" comes from?

 

[Rodney Wrestt]

Does anyone know where the term "chod" comes from?

Terry Hearn used it when describing the detritus he was trying to avoid on the lake bed and it's been adopted as the generic term as he has re-popularised and advanced the method most recently.

 

[Cakey]

everyone knows Spiders invented it in 62

 

[ED (The ORIGINAL and REAL one)]

Chod is a chav term for sh1t... (try saying that when your pi*sed)

 

[dezza]

And CHAV means "Council House and Vicious"

Right!

But Terry Earner doesn't seem vicious.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

And CHAV means "Council House and Vicious" Right!

I was led to believe it was:

Council Housed and Violent

Alternatively, and probably more appropriately, it is a derivation of the Romani word "Chavo or Chavvy" meaning a a boy or a youth respectively.

Now, not a lot of people know that, as MC might say . . . .

 

[ED (The ORIGINAL and REAL one)]

And CHAV means "Council House and Vicious"

Right!

But Terry Earner doesn't seem vicious.

I thought the question was what CHOD meant .....

 

[Mr Cholmondeley-Corker (PaSC)]

CHOD = Council House On t' Dole

 

[ED (The ORIGINAL and REAL one)]

And CHAV means "Council House and Vicious"

Right!

But Terry Earner doesn't seem vicious.

A little bit of jealousy creeping in there Ron ??

 

[Rodney Wrestt]

I guess he didn't really want to know, another of Ron's bandwidth eating waste of time threads :wh

 

[ED (The ORIGINAL and REAL one)]

I guess he didn't really want to know, another of Ron's bandwidth eating waste of time threads :wh

The answer is for everyone to just not reply to ANY of his postings .........

 

[Rodney Wrestt]

That'd be a shame