GO ON THE RUN FOR WARY CARP

Improve Your Coarse Fishing editor James Furness thinks running rigs will help fool post-lockdown fish

THERE’S been a lot of talk about how carp will react in their underwater world to the reappearance of anglers, along with their rigs and baits, back on the bank.

Will the fish have become less cautious and forgotten how to deal with rigs? Will they have missed boilies so much that they’ll be queuing up over the first bed of bait they see like the coffee lovers causing mile-long queues outside the first Costa Drive Thrus to reopen?

If you speak to anglers who remember when the traditional closed season applied to all stillwaters as well as rivers, they’ll tell you that from March 14, the fish would always be seen cruising around enjoying a life of unadulterated solitude.

Then on June 16, as soon as that first rig entered the water, they’d quickly disappear and return to being their usual elusive selves.

If I was a betting man, I’d imagine that’s exactly what will happen when we’re given the green light to get back on the bank – which will hopefully be fairly soon.

The carp are going to be a little spooky when rigs start being thrown at them again from every direction, so what better way to target them than with a set-up they won’t have seen for years?

Most anglers favour semi-fixed bolt rigs such as lead clips and helicopter set-ups. Running rigs are rarely used. This makes them ultra-effective for wary fish, and they will be my first choice of rig post-lockdown.

The main difference between a running rig and other lead arrangements is that the mainline can pass through the weight as soon as a carp picks up the hookbait.

This movement is then transmitted instantly to your