Technique Highlight: Carolina Rig

Video Transcript

What's going on everyone? It is a new week here at Amia and that means one thing. We have a new technique highlight. This week we want to talk about something that's kind of a sleeper. What we have in front of me is something that we're using for what we like to call the old ball and chain. And no, I'm not talking about your spouse. I'm talking about the Carolina rig. The Carolina rig has been a rig that recently has kind of lost its traction due to the quick advancement in forward-facing sonar. But even to this day it is still one of the most, in my opinion, slept on big fish bite producing techniques out there. Obviously you don't need forward-facing sonar to fish a Carolina rig or to even fish it effectively. This is a technique that we want to talk about that anybody can use and it can be used anywhere in the country, grew an amazing amount of popularity in the south and it's won a lot of money down there. So we're going to take you through a few things that we like to look for when getting set up to throw the Carolina rig. First thing that we obviously want to look for is we want to have the right rod. So there's in my eyes there's two different ways to approach setting up a Carolina rig. One direction that you can go down is the direction that I choose to go down with my rod choice. What I have in my hands here is a lose custom light. This is a 7-3 medium-heavy, moderate-fast action. So one thing that's special about these moderate-fast rods is obviously the rod loads up a lot more on the hook set. And when you're fishing a Carolina rig, when you're trying to set the hook you're making more of a sweeping motion . So having a more moderate action in your rod actually gets you a much better hook-up ratio than your super-fast action rods. So this is definitely my number one pick for throwing a Carolina rig, especially in the north. This is perfect for both large mouth and small mouth and ever since I switched to a rod like this, my hook-up ratio and my landing ratio has been incredible. If you're fishing down south and you want to go a little bit heavier route, you're making longer casts , you're fishing deeper water, that's where you can go up to a rod like what I have here. And this is the Dobbins Ecstasy. This is a 7-5 heavy fast. Rods like this are great for deep water, you know, ledge fishing techniques like that where you're throwing a lot bigger weight, a lot bigger bait. You know, you're still getting a very good hook-up ratio and you're still landing a lot of your fish. So what is special about the Ecstasy series, obviously it comes at a much higher price point, but when you're fishing something like the Carolina rig, having a higher price point rod usually means a lot more sensitive of a blank and fishing primarily everything with bottom. Having a rod that gives you the most bottom contact and the most sensitivity is crucial. If you're looking for a higher-end rod to go with that has more sensitivity, look at the Ecstasy series. If you want to go with a little bit more of an economical price point option that's just as good of a rod, consider looking at the loose custom light . These are both super awesome. So once you have your rod selected, next thing you want to look for is a good reel. So one great option of a reel to look for is the Arc Gravity 3. So this is a really good economically priced reel for fishing the Carolina rig. So a couple things that are really nice about this reel is it has an aluminum frame. So you know when you're battling these bigger fish out deep, there's no flex in the frame. It's much more durable. I also like to look at a higher gear ratio reel. So a lot of times like I'm trying to pick up a lot of slack to get a sweeping hooks out on a fish. So I want to have like an 8 to 1 gear ratio is what has worked for me. One cool little feature it has on it too is if you're fishing different poundage of line, so if you're fishing 17 or 20, there is a little knob that you can change on the side plate that will show you the pound test line that you have on there if you choose to change that. Now if you want to go for a little bit more of a higher price point reel that is more durable, it's much lighter. My pick for that will be the LUSE Hypermeg. I really love the Hypermeg for a multitude of reasons. It's a one-piece magnesium frame so it's very durable. It's extremely light. I think it comes in at like five ounces. It honestly, it feels like you have nothing in your hand. It also has these JDM style wind grip knobs on them. Love these things. They're incredible. It comes in an 8 3 to 1 gear ratios, the one I have selected. Like I said, I love being able to pick up my slack quick and get a good hook set on these fish so the LUSE Hypermeg is going to be my number one choice. So next, after you have a rod and reel together, another huge component that you need to pick out is your line. I personally love to run straight fluorocarbon on all my re els when I'm fishing a Carolina rig and I usually run two line sizes. So I either like to run a 17 pound fluorocarbon so I have the suffix advanced which is something that I've been using all year and I've been a really big fan of. It's been a very strong line and it doesn't get nicked up too bad especially when you're bringing your bait through rocks and wood and whatnot. So it is rather durable and then a line that's a little bit more on the higher end of the scale that has more sensitivity. Stronger line is the seagar tattoo line and I have this in 20 pound. The difference between 17 and 20 pound when you're throwing a tech, when you're throwing the Carolina rig like this is pretty minimal. If you want, you also have to tie a leader on the other side of your barrel sw ivel so if some people want, if they want their bait to sit a little bit higher off the bottom, I know they'll tie their leader section with like monofilament. You can do that too but I personally keep it pretty similar between my main line and my leader line just using fluorocarbon. Once you get line, rod, reel together, obviously you want to take a look into the components because the components of the Carolina rig are rather important. You know, first thing you need to pick out when it comes to this whole deal is a barrel swivel. So my pick with the barrel swivel is going to be the owner micro hyper barrel swivel. I like to use the number 6 style that's just my personal preference based on the size of weights that I'm using and the size of the line that I'm also throwing. This is definitely going to be the way to go with barrel swivels . I don't personally use these but these are Wu-Tungsten. They are flipping beads so they are plastic beads. The concern I have with beads is they break and so when they break it's just an easier way for you to cut your line but I know there are guys out there that will use beads. It's another way to add a little bit of sound to you know your barrel hitting the bead but it also is a great way to help protect your knot so your weight is not sliding up and down on your knot all the time. So if that is something you want to consider, Wu-Tungsten flipping beads are a great option. Now when it comes to weights I usually rotate between two different size weights. What I have is two different versions of Wu-Tungsten's painted barrel weights so I usually like to throw either half-ounce or three-quarter-ounce. It also is not uncommon for me to go up to a one-ounce depending on how deep I'm fishing or the type of fishery that I'm on. If I'm on a river, a reservoir or like an inland lake, half-and-three-quarters is going to be my go-tos when it comes to choosing a weight. Now some considerations that I take in when I'm choosing my weight size, if I'm fishing in like 10 to 12 feet of water I'll usually go with the half-ounce say I'm like an inland lake or a river. If I'm fishing like 20 feet plus of water I'll go up to like a three-quarters size weight just because I want to get my bait down there a little bit faster but I also still want to have really good contact with the bottom. Two of the hooks that I like to use, mainly I keep them in four-ot unless I'm throwing something like a brush hog then I'll go up to a five. I really like the Ichikawa PK2 worm hook and I also like the Hayabusa offset round-vent worm hooks. One thing that really sticks out to me at least with the Hayabusa's is they're a little bit of a thicker hook which I personally like because I tend to horse on fish a little bit when I'm fighting them so having a thicker hook obviously it makes a little bit more sense for my style of fishing . If you're throwing a little bit lighter of a setup as a whole it does not hurt to look at like a PK2 because it is just a little bit lighter of a hook but they're still both very strong. Now when it comes to selecting baits I usually pick between like three styles of baits. So up here in the north a lot of the bass tend to feed on like crawfish or blue gills or perch so having something that imitates something like that is something that I really key in on when picking out a bait. My first pick is going to be the Strike King Rage Punch Bug. This is kind of a sleeper pick for a crawfish style imitation plastic. It's very slender it has a ribbed body and then the appendages on the bottom there are make it very lifelike when it comes to imitating a crawfish. The other plastic that I would also pick is the Big Bite Bait's Quarantine Craw. Works really good on rivers. I like to throw this one in the tilapia color. When I'm fishing these sort of plastics I'm usually looking for either hard bottom areas that are like on the edge of weed lines or I'm fishing rocky points, gravel points or any sort of like change in bottom from say hard bottom, sand, bottom to gravel, anything like that anywhere in the 10 to 15 foot range. If I was to fish down south a little bit more or if I wanted to throw a plastic with just a little bit bigger of a profile to get those bigger bites the next bait I'm going to reach for is a very common one. It's going to be the Zoom Brush Hog. Same thing if you're fishing any sort of points, hard bottom points, flats so any sort of like main lake points, gravel points, changes in bottom from solid rock to peak gravel, stuff like that. This is a great time to throw this bait especially like in the Tennessee River Systems. I know this is a very popular Carolina Rig bait as well. So this is a very quick rundown on the Carolina Rig. Some of the different components that I think about when I want to set this up anything from weights to baits, where to throw it, anything like that. Get yourself some of this stuff, get out, throw a Carolina Rig, you'd be amazed at the amount of bites that you're going to get. [BLANK_AUDIO]