Carolina Rig Question

[randyc]

I want to start fishing the carolina rig this year and see if it improves my summer catches.

I have a question on the baits you use in a carolina rig. I have some senkos, lizards, tubes, etc. However, should I use floating baits or will any soft plastics work?

[notabassmaster]

Predator- I usually use centipedes or lizards exclusivley on C-rigs, just seems to produce more fish for me here. Almost any plastic bait you have will work though

[hershey]

Depends on the situtatiuon but lizards and worms usually get good results.

[Rich]

Any soft plastic will work. Some people even fish a floating jerkbait on a C-rig. I seem to recall Lizards said he had tried it with some success.

[jglassguy]

I think most work to, consider water temp on size and clarity of water for color of bait selection.
I was in one tournament where the shore line looked muddy as hell and everyone wouldn't touch it, yet some clown was carolina rig fishing it and slaying the fish,
he had figured out that the mud line was surface only, the water was murky for top 5 feet but the bottom 4 feet had clarity 8)

[macgyver]

[quote author=Rebbasser link=board=news;num=1118340611;start=0#3 date=06/09/05 at 19:27:13]Any soft plastic will work. Some people even fish a floating jerkbait on a C-rig. I seem to recall Lizards said he had tried it with some success.[/quote]


It wasn't a JERK bait, it was a shallow diving crankbait. And I learned it from this board. But no reason why a hard Jerkbait wouldn't work. I would suggest a floating jerk or crank. Any thing can work on a c-rig, and lots of retieves can work. Heck zooker uses them in 6" of water, I prefer 3 feet or deeper. I have used lizards, flukes, worms, senko's, cranks, zipper worms, crawdads, and who knows what else. I don't like using the c-rig with timber, just to many hang ups. Weeds no problem, mostly weeds and points or open water. Lots of stuff work, just start throwing it out and see. Adjust the leader on conditions. I will make it clear though. IMO a c-rig is a great tool, but it is when you have some noise making rig, on the rig. Lots of folks believe it's a c-rig if it's just a weight. To me it has to have the beads/noise makers, the others are variations of the split shot or mojo rig. Which by the way are also very effective too

Lizards

[hookset0888]

i use senko's, kreatures, grubs,swimming minnows basically and soft plastic bait in my box which is alot because thats what i usually use

[jglassguy]

Regardless of what you decide to throw, I'd figure out what direction you want the bait to go, if you're on the bank fishing your limited, but in a boat you can position yourself to work it down the hill, across the hill, or many variation around dif. structure, like weedbeds, rocks, timber...generally whats nice about reading the graph is finding those real nice points on the shore an using the graph to see how far it drops and where the fish are located..and target your C=rig so the fish can see it..
I'd try a french fry finesse plastic...

[dave_in_fl]

When fish get picky in the summer months I like to use either a fry or a finesse worm, this is only when they refuse a lizzard.

[Rob Mak]

i normally down size to a 4" lizard and dye the tail chartruse.helps get more light biter's. 6" of water -yep- bout right. 1 thing i also notice is that pro's use a 3/4 oz egg sinker-or so they say- but yet when using one you feel the sinker more than the bait. so i changed and am currantly using a 1/2 oz egg sinker it allows you to feel the very light bites that we are currantly getting .

zooker

[jglassguy]

yup zook I use a 1/2 ounce or even 3/8 ounce, it gets the job done, and hopefully when that strike hits,
its good enough to pull the pole outa yer hand lmao

[FishinMommy]

Zooker,
The pros like to use the heavier sinker I imagin so they can feel the structure better so they can key in on what type of bottom the fish are relating to. Sometimes when using a carolina rig its good to be able to tell whats down their. use whatever works for you though. Witha a swivle and a egg sinker the amount of weight you use should not have any effect on feeling for the bite. You could alos use spiderwire ofr braid to get better feel.

[Rob Mak]

first of all fishie i feel alot of the bottom with a lighter sinker. most of the lakes round here are hard bottomed -lots of rock- i refuse to use spider crap and or braid. braid is what you tie your boat to the dock with.

i don't really fish any lake that i would consitder using braid because there is just not that type of vegation in these lakes.

zooker

[FishinMommy]

What kind of Carolina rig would you guys recommend if you where using it from the bank. Maybe a Lindy rig would be best because they have that weight that doesn't hang as much.

[NorthNJangler]

You can use floating plastics on a C-rig if you want it to stay up above submerged weeds.

I normally use a worm on C-rig

[jeffman]

I use a 1/2 oz Lake Fork tungsten BULLET WEIGHT and brass "clickers" along with the glass beads on C-rigs. The bullet weight shape and the smaller diameter of the tungsten comes thru the brush and stumps better without hanging up. As far as using C-rigs in brush, my favorite place to use them is on stump laden main lake points or creek channels with standing timber. I always use Power Pro braid as my main line on C-rigs, but then, hell I use Power Pro braid as my main line on everything with a 5 or 6 ft flurocarbon leader.

JackL

[jglassguy]

I use the brass clickers too ,but didn't want to give out one of my secrets LOL
guess the kat is out of the bag... its been told about many times in bassmasters mag..and works fine

[largemouth76]

What exactly do you guys mean by brass clickers? If you don't mind, could you show me what they look like.

Thanks a lot,

Kevin

[Bassin_Dude]

if im not mistaken...they look like BB's with a hole going thru it.....

[Rob Mak]

like a fat washer with a small hole.


if i was rich like uncle jackl there i would use a 75cent sinker too. i use them during tourny's -leads a whole lot cheaper.

zooker

[jglassguy]

[img] http://www.topbrasstackle.com/new/im...r/carolina.gif [/img]

[FishinMommy]

Today the Carolina Rig on my lake out produced everything else. I threw a tube lizard on a c rig with about 20 inch leader and caught fish and caught some on a 14 inch leader. I dyed the tails in SPIKE IT and caught about 25 today. I only used a 3/16 OZ weight which is lighter than the norm I suppose.