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All the news about Oklahoma Bass
Fishing online
March, 2001
Carolina
Rigging Tips
with Dan
Brewer
| The worst nightmare
on a Carolina Rig situation is to get the fish hooked up and then
break off just before you get to the boat.
That break off happens in the
first 6" from your swivel up your main line because of the
friction these brass weights and these rattles play up and down
this line. Below are some tips to help you boat more fish while
Carolina Rig fishing.
I take a drill motor and a
1/8" drill bit. Lock the weight in a pair of vise grips, then
ream the weight's hole out just a little bit while holding the
weight with the vise grips.
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Take the filler tube
out of a BIC ink pen. Slide it into the hole in the weight until
you have about 1/8" sticking out the back end of the weight.
Take a cigarette lighter and heat the end of the ink pen tube
sticking out. Don't catch it on fire, just heat it. Then let it
cool, whatever you do, do not stick your finger on the end of it
to flatten it, because it will burn you, believe you, me. This
flares out the end of this tube and it rests in the countersink in the back
of the weight. |
| Take your pocket
knife out and go approximately 1/8" in front of your weight
and cut it off. What you have done is shorten this tube up so that
you can heat the other end of it. Put your finger on the back side
of this weight and take your cigarette lighter and heat the
plastic sticking out the front of the weight, it doesn't take a
whole lot of heating. |
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What you have just
done is take that brass weight away from the monofilament line.
Any time you run that brass up and down that monofilament line,
which is going to wear out first, monofilament or brass?
Monofilament line will, anything you can do to stop the weight
from abrading your main line is what you want to do. What you have
now added is a monofilament filler inside of this weight.
Monofilament will not wear out monofilament half as much as brass
against monofilament will. |
| We have the weight on
the main line, next we will add a bead to the line. I use red
beads in clear water and black in stained water.
Now you have your
weight and bead on the line, what is the next step? What is the
next weak point on the line? It is the knot right next to the
swivel. Every time that weight slams against the knot when you
cast it, it is banging that knot up. Every time you make a nick in
this monofilament line, you are losing about 4 lbs of test tensile
strength, so if you have 6 or 8 scuff spots in this line you are
taking a 20 lb main line down to 10 lb. If you stick a 6 lb fish
on a 10 lb line, you better be real careful or you are not ever
going to look at that fish.
To protect the knot, I use a
rubber stopper between the bead and knot. I use the Arky
"Speed Rig Carolina Stops and Beads". I do use the
rubber stoppers, but I don't use the clear beads. Take
your main line and slide it through the stainless steel eye and
get one of the stoppers and pull it down on your main line. These
are actually used as stoppers rather than a swivel because once
these rubber stoppers get wet they will slide down the line.
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The next step is to
take the swivel, dark swivels are what I prefer, and tie it to
the end of your main line. I use a palomar knot, but there are
other knots that can be used. Wet the line
before you pull it tight so that you won't *burn* the monofilament
line and weaken it's tensile strength. Pull your tag end and clip
it off. Pull the weight, bead and rubber stopper down next to your
knot. |
| Next tie a hook to a
piece of line, the length depending on how long you want the bait
to follow behind your weight. Be sure and wet the knot down before
pulling it tight. I use a wide gap hook on thick bodies baits.
Hook size depends on what I am throwing, I go down to a 1/0 if I am
throwing a real small baits like spider grubs, french fries, small
diameter tubes, etc. Next tie the drop line with hook to
your swivel to finish your Carolina Rig. |
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