CARP TACTICS
Break out the zig rigs
THE transition period between late winter and early spring is the prime time to start using zig rigs.
Bright days, chilly nights and high air pressure combine to get the fish moving about in the upper layers, where they will often readily take an artificial hookbait suspended a few feet below the surface to mimic an emerging insect.
For this reason I never leave home without my designated ‘zig bag’ containing foam in various colours, hooklink materials, hooks, and several other little gizmos I use to get the best from this tactic.
Colour choices
What hookbait you use with zig rigs is down to personal choice.
Bespoke ‘bug’ imitations are available, but I prefer to use just a small section of foam.
On certain days the fish will show a definite preference for one colour of foam over another, so always carry a good selection.
Black is my starting point, but on some days red or yellow will work better. Overall, I’ve found that on the lakes that have been hammered on zigs, the darker colours will work better than the brighter, more obvious ones.
You can attach your foam hookbait using the standard knotless-knot method, but I prefer to use a dedicated Zig Aligna. As well as helping to flip the hook over on the take to improve the hookhold, it also makes chopping and changing between hookbait colours a whole lot quicker and easier.
To begin, I take the hooklink and attach a size 6 hook using a Palomar knot. I then thread the Aligna on to the hooklink and push it over the eye of the hook, before adding the foam to the small recess, and trimming it to fit. Alignas come in different colours, and one pairing that I have done well on is a red Aligna with black foam.
Tactical tweaks
I like to carry a number of zig rigs already tied up in 12ft lengths and stored on foam discs. If I want shorter ones, I just cut these down.
To attach the hooklink I tie a figure-of-eight loop in the end so that all I need to do is slip it into a small quick-link clip. If I then want to change the length of the zig, I can just unclip it and put a new one on.
When fishing for big carp I prefer to drop the lead because
in the long run it will help you to land more carp by not having a large lead swinging around 6ft or so away from the fish.
To do this I cut off a small piece of silicone and put it around the arm of the lead safety clip. This stops the lead falling off on the cast, but when a fish shakes its head after being hooked, the lead will dislodge and fall away, leaving me in direct contact with the fish.
Finally, depths. I start by setting one zig up at around three-quarters depth (so, 9ft in a 12ft-deep swim) and work down a couple of feet with the other two rods. By searching like this you will eventually land on the right depth for maximum bites.
Every angler should have zig rigging in their armoury, so if you haven’t had the confidence to do so in the past, give it a go this week – it’s a devastating early spring tactic!