Carolina Rigging
What Rod, Reel, & Line to use
With
all the different type of line to use today, how do I choose what is
best for the Carolina Rig??? Let’s see we have Braid, Mono,
Co-Polymer, Fluorocarbon and some miscellaneous stuff on the market
today. Also what Rod, Reel and Weight do I use??? Here is my
suggestion for rigging up a Carolina Rig and the reasons why.
First
of all I use a 7 or 7 ˝ foot rod; my preference is the Carolina
Special by Custom Angle Rods (out of Lake Fork),
www.customanglerod.com. Whichever rod you choose, use a
specialized rod for Carolina rigging and I suggest a MH or H action,
7ft plus. You need a reel that is one of your favorites and that is
not one of your old heavy reels. I love my Ardent XS-1000 with the
extra line spool for long distance casting,
www.ardent.com. It is smooth, light weight and really is a great
casting reel for C-Rigging.
Now in
regards to fishing line, I use a combination of Fluorocarbon and
Co-Polymer (mono could be used in place of Co-Polymer). I spool up
either 16-lb or 20-lb of Fluorocarbon line as my main line. I do
this because Fluoro does not stretch, great sensitivity, it sinks
and it disappears in the water. In regards to my leader part of the
hook-up I always use a swivel because of three reasons, I want to
take any twist out, better clicking noise with Tru-Tungsten weight &
bead and I switch to Co-Polymer/Mono on my leader. Now it depends on
my conditions in regards to length of leader, but I use Co-Polymer
or mono leader due to it not sinking as fast as Fluoro line. I also
always use GREEN line on the leader as I want it as invisible as
possible. I use either a 3/0 or 4/0 hook based on the bait I am
using. I like the Youvella hooks (Fish-Harder Company hook) and my
all-time favorite C-Rig bait is the Fluke. Now with “fluke”
mentioned recently I have changed over to the new Perfect Plastic
Strike King Caffeine Shad. I find this fluke type of bait is better
especially for Carolina Rigging. If you have not tried Strike King’s
Perfect Plastic series of baits you are missing out. Their Caffeine
Shad (fluke) & Hawg Craw (brush hawg) are better!!!
I
guess the last item to mention is the Tru-Tungsten weight I use and
nothing but. I like a smaller size of Tungsten, but still having the
weight. The Tru-Tungsten brand of tungsten weights is by far the
best built weight on the market and that is another article in its
own. I use ˝-OZ up to 1-OZ. I also have found the Flipping weight
that Tru-Tungsten makes really comes through brush well.
Hope
this helps and C-Rig is GREAT this time of Year!!!
