The Stiff Rig
The Stiff Rig is primarily used to make it very difficult for the carp to eject the hook after it has taken the bait into its mouth. There are many variations of the Stiff Rig, but the basic principle is the same.
Using a stiff hooklength material has other advantages, for example, it has great anti tangle qualities when casting and when the weight/lead hits the lake bed the stiffness of the hook length material will throw the hook away from the weight/lead as it will not fold up on itself.
How To Tie A Basic Stiff Rig
To tie a Stiff Rig you will need a suitable hook length material. There are many types on the market, one of the most popular being Amnesia, this is a very stiff material and ideal for tying the Stiff Rig.
Cut a length of your chosen hook length material 10-20 inches is ideal. Then tie a standard overhand knot (pictured here) into one end and trim off the excess leaving a very small tab. Some carp fishermen prefer to go through the loop twice for a more secure knot, but it is a personal preference.
Next you can put a boilie or other bait onto this knot using a boilie stop, we do this now so as to avoid any guess-work as to the length of the hair when we tie the hook on. Be sure to put the bait on that you will be using this rig for, there is no point in tying a hair rig of perfect length for say a 16mm boilie then using this rig for a single grain of corn.
Next, lay the line along the back of the shank of the hook and thread the free end of your line through the BACK of the eye as per diagram 1.
Now to tie the knot less knot, leave the bait hanging the desired length from the hook (which as said earlier is dependant on size of bait), now wrap the line from the bottom of the eye, down the shank five or six times as per diagram 2.
Then feed the loose end, again, through the BACK of the hook and gently pull everything tight so as your rig now looks similar to diagram 3. Some carp anglers then super glue this knot and some do not, but i prefer to err on the side of caution and glue mine, being VERY careful not to let the glue stick the "hair" to the shank of the hook in the process.
This just leaves you to tie the loose end of the rig to your chosen swivel, depending on which hook length material you are using will depend on which knot you will use for this purpose but we will cover this in our Carp Fishing Knots section.
Carp Fishing Thoughts
"The landing of any carp should be seen as an achievement, and to capture a particularly wary fish is a truly remarkable event" - John Bailey - an excerpt from his book "Carp Challenge".