Ask Bailiff

What rig if tench and carp are in the same swim?

Bailiff's answer, from the Carp Army rig library and what members have caught on.

Bailiff says: The hair rig

The hair rig is the honest all-rounder that both tench and carp happily pick up off the bottom without fuss. It's reliable across any water and won't over-complicate a mixed-species session where fish of different sizes are feeding together.

Tweaks

  • Drop to a size 8-10 hook to suit smaller tench mouths
  • Use a shorter hair with a single 10mm boilie or corn
  • Keep hooklink supple braid at around 6-8 inches

The hair rig

The rig everything else grew from. A bottom bait on a hair off a wide gape hook, on a supple braided hooklink.

Mainline3oz flat pear leadCoated braid hooklinkWide gape hookBottom bait boilieHairLake bed

Parts

Wide gape hook, size 4 to 6
Coated braid hooklink, 20lb
Shrink tube, small
Hair stops
Size 8 ring swivel
Lead clip and tail rubber
3oz flat pear lead
Bottom bait boilie, 15 to 18mm

How to tie it

  1. Cut 25cm of hooklink and strip 2cm of coating from one end.
  2. Tie a small overhand loop in the stripped end for the hair.
  3. Thread the hook on and set the hair so the bait sits just off the bend, then whip a knotless knot with seven turns.
  4. Steam a piece of shrink tube over the eye so the hook turns.
  5. Tie a figure-of-eight loop at the other end and attach to the swivel with a quick link.
  6. Mount the bait on a baiting needle and stop it with a hair stop.

Your swim is different?

Describe it and Bailiff picks for that.