Rig and General Advice

Afternoon All
Firstly apologies if this has been covered/asked before but I'm hoping for a friendly nudge in the right direction. I'm quite keen on expanding my skills and have recently been given a carp rod. I'm hoping over the next couple of months to have a crack at a few carp alongside my usual coarse exploits. I'm really keen on the solid PVA bag approach but am finding myself confused with the huge number of variations in terms of rigs, leads etc. Any helpful hints or tips for a simple rig would be much appreciated. I really am a complete beginner at this type of fishing!
Cheers
Adam

Hi Pratty,

Here's two very basic anti tangle Carp rigs that have caught me many hundreds of Carp over the years:


NB: The swivel pushed into the end of the tubing should not fit too tightly as it should be able to pull free fairly easily if the line snags and parts above the swivel

No doubt others will post other basic rigs that they have used but these two are fairly common Carp rigs.

Tight lines

Keith

Keith
That's great! many thanks. What type of in-line lead do you use and could these be fished in a PVA bag with a pop-up as bait?
Thanks again
Adam

I don't fish at great distances so the heaviest lead I tend to use is around 3oz to 3.5oz for distances up to around 60 to 100 metres but at fairly close range I sometimes scale down and occasionally use leads of around 2oz however I don't go too light simply because with these rigs I want to have enough weight to start to set the hook as soon as the Carp moves off with the bait inside its mouth.

I use nylon lines of between 8lb and 14lb (most often 12lb) depending on the lead size I'm using and the amount of snags and size of fish in the water I am fishing.

For hooklengths I usually use Braid but will occasionally use nylon, and the hook sizes I use depend mainly on the size of bait I am using.
I use both Pop-ups or bottom baits when I'm using these rigs.

The above two rigs are fairly tangle free so I don't need to store my hook and lead inside a PVA bag; although this is still possible if you are experiencing tangles. Another alternative you could use if you are experiencing tangles is to tie your hooklength back along the tubing using PVA string; however as I've already said; these two rigs are fairly tangle free anyway.

I do sometimes attach a length of PVA 'Mesh' stocking or PVA string to my lead and/or hook containing a few freebies if loose feeding with a catapult or feeding stick is problematic. I am not a great lover of PVA bags which can sometimes hold air in them and float upwards with your loose feed still in them (unlike PVA mesh) LOL.

The above rig is only one of many different rigs available to the Carp angler but quite effective on most Carp waters.

Tight lines

Keith