Carp Fishing Rigs the Hair Rig

Carp fishing has evolved over the years into what has become a highly specialised pastime. I have read some where that more people go fishing at the weekends than go to football matches which is astounding really, this just shows us how popular our sport is. You should also know that carp fishing rigs have also changed over the years and you must keep up with this technology if you want to catch more carp.

I remember being on holiday many years ago at Warmwell, this was a holiday park with several fishing lakes of which one was a specimen carp pool. Warmwell became famous in later years as it was home to a 38lb carp and in those days that was out of the ordinary, there simply was not carp of this size that average joe could fish for. There were still many lakes that held fish of this size but there were top secret and very private, you never got to know about these venues and the carp fishing rigs that were being used,

I remember walking round the lake In the evening and I started talking to two lads who were quite friendly, the had caught a carp and had it sacked up, for anybody who is new to carp fishing I will explain what sacking a carp is.

Carp fishermen usually sack a carp when they have caught a specimen fish during the night and want to take pictures in the morning in the light. They simply put the fish in a 'carp sack' which is a sack that the carp is placed in and tied to the bank, the fish is perfectly happy in the sack for a few hours.

The fish they had sacked was a 22lb mirror carp which they had caught on tutti fruti boile carp fishing rigs. At this time hair rigs were relatively new on the Market and were being used by all the top carp anglers.

There are many different types of carp fishing rigs,So just what is a hair rig?. Well in simple terms it's a loop that hangs below the hook, this has a massive advantage of leaving the bait hanging just below the hook completely free. When a carp has sucked in the bait they cannot see or feel the hook, as the bait is sucked in so is the hook the carp is yours!.There are many variations of these carp fishing rigs and I will be explaining these in more detail in further articles.

You may be asking how the bait (boilie) is attached to the hair rig?. Well a boilie is about the same size and shape as a marble. The boilie is drilled with a boilie punch and the hair is threaded through the hole, now we need to ensure the boile stays on the hair which is done by fixing a boilie stop through the loop that has been threaded through the the hole in the boile, the bait is then pushed down on to the bait stop and will never come off, this is just one example for carp fishing rigs.

The boilie stop is simply a very small piece of plastic or you can use a strand of grass, this will stop the bait coming of the hair rig. You can now cast your bait 150 yards plus knowing that it wont come off. As I have already mentioned there are many variations of carp fishing rigs including many different types of hair rigs, these will be explained in future articles.

Steve Kempson is a fishing fanatic who has specialised in carp fishing for over 21 years. His personal best carp is 29lb 2oz from Horse Shoe Lake in the UK. For more information go to Carp Fishing Tips