by Bruce Middleton, July 03, 2011

Compliment a Texas rig by using a Carolina rig to catch more bass…


When you’re out bass fishing, the whole idea is to get your bait or lure right in front of the bass and to cover as much water as possible to get that bait in front of as many bass as possible. If you were in 1 to 10 feet of water a spinner bait or jig would be great choices of lures to start with. If you were in 10 to 15 feet of water a deep diving crank bait would be a good choice of lure to start with. But if you are in water that’s 8 to 30 of water or deeper, the best choice of baits could be a Carolina rig. This rig is one of the most effective ways to fish deep water yet versatile enough to be used at any depth. Jigs are a second choice but for now we are going to concentrate on the Carolina rig. But there is one consideration to keep in mind, and that is the amount of vegetation your fishing in. A Carolina rig is best used where there is less vegetation and more open water and a hard bottom. Where there is heavy vegetation a Texas rig or split shot rig are the rigs of choice. Sandy, gravel and rocky bottoms with sparse vegetation are the perfect spots for a Carolina rig.

This rig is versatile enough to be used with either a spinning gear or bait casting gear and you can use different sized lines depending on the underwater cover and structure. The bait itself is usually rigged weedless so there are no problems around weeds, stumps, ledges or other places that might hang up a bait or lure. And best of all, it’s easy to use. Carolina rigs are also bait specific meaning they use a curtain type of bait and in this case plastics. But I have used a very tiny crank bait with this set up with great success but more about that later.

The Carolina rig is one of the oldest ways to rig a plastic or live bait for taking a bass. It consists of the main line from the reel, a ¼ to 1-ounce sinker, usually snag free, a bead, a swivel, a bead (if you want a bead in front of the bait), a leader and the hook and finally bait, usually plastic. These baits can be worms, craws or any other shape. Sinking and floating types will be touched upon later. There are also pre-mad Carolina rigs that are one-piece affairs that come in weights from ½ ounce up to a full ounce. But realistically a 3/8s ounce rig or small is in my opinion a better size to use. They are also very compact and only have the two tie points for the leader and the main line to tie on. This simplifies the time to rig one.

This technique has been around since the early 1950’s when it was first introduced. Some say it’s popularity has declined but with a rig as versatile as this and add in the fact that now we have floating plastics as well as sinking and you would be hard pressed to convince me that this rig is doing anything but gaining in popularity.

A Carolina rig and a Texas rig both have their place, one is not any better than the other. They are separate rigs and yet they complement each other so well. Each is fished with similar techniques but all the basic components are shares by each. The real difference is in the length between the sinker and the bait and how much weeds are found on the bottom.

For years anglers have used plastic worms on their Carolina rigs and many still do but you can and should modify this rig to suit the water, the bottom conditions, the water clarity, temperature and especially the likes of the bass to the conditions you are fishing in. Some days the bass may not want a worm, they may be biting on tubes or creature baits, so drop the worm and fish with what makes sense.

Regular plastic baits float gently to the bottom after the weight has reached the bottom. After the Carolina rig is on the bottom, each time you pull it along the plastic is picked up a few inches, moves forward and then floats down gently. This secondary action is a bonus and should be used to your advantage. Each time you pull the sinker forward the plastic has a tendency to ride up in the water and then float back down to the bottom. This is the natural action of a living bottom dwelling creature and the Carolina rig imitated it perfectly. This secondary action is actually more important than the primary action when using a non-floating bait. This is why lizards, tubes and other plastics are so successful. But now when you add it the extra dimension of a floating plastic where each time the sinker is moved, the plastic dives down to the bottom and then gently floats up to the length of the leader, it takes on a completely different look. This floating up action duplicates small baitfish and is a perfect place to use a swim bait. Besides the look it also represents different places that this bait can be used. Sinking plastics are used in areas where there are less weeds or tree limbs and brush to climb over. A floating plastic can be used in areas of denser weeds where it rises above the level of the weeds and can be seen atop of them. Floating plastics can also be used as twitch baits, where a faster retrieve is used and twitches added to give the bait a more erratic action that active bass find irresistible. It is also a terrific lure for suspending bass where you can set the length of the leader to the height off the bottom the bass are holding at. Remember too that the weight of the hook as apposed to the size of the plastic used will govern how fast the plastic being used rises or fall. You can actually almost get a neutral buoyant plastic if done right.

You also have the option of using two baits with a sinking or floating plastic, simply replace the sinker or weight with a jig. This rig will give a whole new meaning to Carolina rigs after you use it. This can be accomplished in two distinctly different ways. The first and most obvious is to tie the bait right to the jig head or you could use a palamar knot to keep the jig in place while the plastic follows behind. I prefer a 3-way swivel set up because you can change the floating bait for a sinking bait and it casts better and doesn’t get tangled up when you cast it. There is one other advantage this style of rig has to offer, after experimenting with it a while I discovered that a floating plastic used as a trailer on a jig really slows the fall rate of the jig. This one little spark of an idea has helped me catch more bass than I can tell you about. Since most jig strikes happen on the fall, that rate of fall is very important. Keeping the jig in the water column longer and off the bottom will up your strike rate by at least 15% guaranteed. So playing around with different rigs can lead to winning ideas in different areas if you just think about and take a little time to fool around with different ideas. With two chances to catch a bass on one rig, covering two different sections of the water column, you can cover a lot of water and at different depths in a very short time. This is another important feature of the Carolina rig. It covers a lot of water in a short time. It is a slow search bait after all.

The leader of this rig from the hook to the swivel should always be fluorocarbon line in the 6 to 12 pound class. The length of the leader can vary from 4 inches up to 6 feet long depending the water, location of the bass, height of the vegetation and many other factors. However, 14 to 24 inches are the most common lengths. Most anglers will use a no-snag ½ ounce sinker with a swivel and a bead so the line doesn’t twist up. The bead, usually red is added to protect the knot from the sinker. Without this protection the sinker bangs against the swivel and knot and eventually weakens it. Red is chosen because it is an attractant color. The main line is heavier that the leader and can be a braided line or fluorocarbon as each has little stretch, high abrasion resistance and high tensile strength. Braided lines also have the added advantage of being quite small in diameter for the size, typically 30-pound line is just the diameter of 8-pound line. This makes long cast very easy and both have very low memory to prevent coiling or loops in the line. Both lines are super sensitive so you can feel the slightest tap at the other end. An EWG or extra wide gap hook is always used with plastics as the wide throat of the hook allows the plastic to be pushed out of the way and still expose a very large amount of hook to grab the bass with. A size 2/0 or 3/0 is usually just right for the job although a 3/0 or 4/0 is used on some of the larger creature baits.

The length of the leader is one of the most crucial points of a Carolina rig. A leader length of 12 to 18 inches gives you the greatest control when you’re casting and is short enough that when you detect a strike it is not too much line to reel down on and then set the hook. The hook set is done with a long sweeping side arm action as apposed to a traditional straight up jerk. This is because of the length of the leader. With a really long leader of 5 or 6 feet you can easily see how much line you will have to move in order to set the hook properly. In thick high vegetation where a long leader is required to get the floating bait up on top of the weeds you can also see the need for a really long fishing rod. A 7 to 7-1/2 foot rod is recommended. But casting a Carolina rig with a six-foot leader is a lot like casting a car radiator fan, its really awkward and you need a lot of unobstructed room to do it in. Short leaders are a great deal easier to cast. But in the end the bottom and the vegetation will ultimately determine how short or long the leader will have to be as well as what depth the bass are holding at.

The length of the leader also effects how your bait performs. A short leader will often get you more strikes when bass are holding tight to cover or the bass are inactive and won’t move too far for a bait like right after a cold front has passed through the area or in early spring.

Active bass or bass that are suspended above the cover are places where you would use a longer leader of 4 to 6 feet. Leader length can make a huge difference in the number of strike you do receive just like using the right bait and the right color, size, etc. The shortest leader I ever use is 6 inches and that is when I’m fishing in and under docks in early spring and for bedding bass during the spawn. You have to use your brain when you’re out on the water and apply the leader length to the situation you’re in. With bedding bass a bleeding tube or finesse worm floating at eye level with them is like a fly buzzing around your face, sooner or later you’re going to swat it and the same goes for bass.

Normally a Carolina rig is an open water rig and therefore pinpoint accuracy is not involved. But getting the bait close is still an important factor. A 7 to 7 ½ foot rod with a fast action is recommended although a medium action can be used. The tips flexibility is what makes casting this rig so easy. You need a whip-like action to help you get the long rig out and to add distance to your cast. The draw back is when setting the hook. Because the fast action has a flexible tip, you’ll have to move the rod a lot farther and faster in order to get enough quick tension on the line and hook to ensure a good deep hook set.

A ½ ounce sinker is the norm for this rig but wind, current or other factors can force you into using a ¾ to 1-ounce weight. This is not a handicap. You can actually feel the bottom better with this sized weight. The rig allows you make contact with the bottom so you know exactly what is down there. You can feel any rise or drop-off, rocks weeds or stumps there. The sinker also generates a lot of noise as it bangs around on the bottom. This noise attracts bass. Also too, the weight is prone to collecting a lot of debris from the bottom like weeds, scum and other vegetation. This doesn’t hurt a thing. What is important is the fact that the bait is left free of such things. Ensure the bait is hooked weedless and check it often to make sure it stays that way.

The retrieves are a sliding motion and a hopping motion. The siding action is done by pulling the rod sideways across your body in order to keep the weight and the plastic down on the bottom and close to the cover. Anytime you run into a snag, you just gently lift up on the rod until the weight is freed and then resume dragging the bait. In rockier places and places with more vegetation a hopping retrieve is used which makes a lot of sense. This keeps the weight out of trouble all the time. The hopping retrieves also takes full advantage of the secondary action of the weightless bait has to offer as it falls.

The retrieve can be fast or slow but long casts are a must. In fact the longer you can cast this rig the better.

If you’re fishing and sudden find yourself in a situation where your not sure if you have a strike or not, just reel down on the weight and freeze. If there is a bass on the other end he will tell you about in a few seconds. If it is the bottom, nothing will happen no matter how long you set there. Let the bass give himself away.

When a bass strikes a Carolina rig, it’s not the thundering whack you get on a top water lure. What you feel is resistance to forward movement of the bait. If you are paying attention to what is going on, you will feel the weight move each time. But if the weight moves and then stops that is a bass. You can move the weight but not the bass at the end of the leader. Be very aware of this fact when using this rig. When you feel this resistance, set the hook immediately.
One other thing to remember, like a Texas rig, a Carolina rig is not a fixed rig. You can rig it wacky style too. Wacky worms, wacky tubes, wacky anything will work. Don’t get stuck in a rut and think the only way to rig one of these thing is through the nose and weedless. You have a lot of choices.

The Carolina rig is a complete system of fishing and one that catches bass in so many different ways and at so many different depths. It is also a search bait that can be used to cover a lot of water is a very short time. While it absolutely great as a deep-water bait it can be adapted to any depth you desire. The length of the leader, floating or sinking plastic, even floating or suspending soft jerk bait, makes this so versatile as to be almost without equal. And the best part is that it works.

Now one sinking bait I really love to use and with great success too is the preserved small baitfish that are sold at any large outlet or catalog. They come in several sizes that range from 3/4ers of and inch up to 2 and ½ inches long. With a Carolina rig, each time you move the weight the baitfish rises up and then falls nose first back to the bottom. This looks exactly like a baitfish that is in trouble or injured and the bass just rush it before it can get away. It makes it a very attractive bait to use and since it is a real fish and it is packed in scent all you have to do is fish it. Now a Texas rig works too with this bait and can be a real go to rig when in heavy vegetation. A pack of these real baitfish is quite inexpensive and well worth buying a few bags of. Try them and see.


Bruce Middleton
bpmiddleton@wildblue.net