Carolina rigs + scented soft baits = a good fish dinner

I believe most fishermen are familiar with the Carolina rig. It’s a very basic way of rigging that involves using a short to medium piece of leader, a swivel and an egg or bullet sinker to make a bottom rig. There are two basic types: the sinker above the swivel sliding freely on the line to the reel, and a round, tapered sinker that slides across small irregularities on the bottom and allow the bait and rig to be retrieved.

While many saltwater anglers don’t like to admit it, the Carolina rig originated in freshwater. Some might disagree, but when I ask a large group of knowledgeable fishermen, they always reach a strong consensus that the Carolina rig was originally developed as a way to fish plastic worms for bass. As the development of soft plastics continued, it became a standard for fishing lizards, craws and more.

The dynamics of the Carolina rig come from the sinker — which bounces along the bottom and puts up puffs of sand each time it’s jigged — and the trailing bait, which only has the light weight of a wire hook, so it stays off the bottom longer and flutters before settling. In freshwater and in saltwater, this action has accounted for many fish, including many tournament-winning fish, and the numbers are growing daily.

For years, inshore saltwater anglers looked to the Carolina rig as a means primarily to deploy live baits and cast around an area. However, with recent development of many synthetic, scented or bio-baits and scents for artificial baits, saltwater fishermen are re-discovering the Carolina rig as a productive way to fish artificial baits.

The basic Carolina rig consists of a piece of monofilament leader with a hook at one end and a swivel at the other. The Eagle Claw Series 042 Wide Bend Hook is a favorite of many fishermen. The slightly wider bend of this hook holds live baits and chunks of natural or bio-baits well. With the offset at the point, it has a good hookup ration on most inshore fish, including flounder. Any small, high-quality swivel will work; A ball-bearing swivel is not necessary.

The sinker is an egg or bullet sinker that is threaded on the line to the reel, then tied to the other eye of the swivel. It is not pegged and may slide along the line. The lightest sinker that will take the bait to the bottom is preferred. In many situations, a half-ounce is all that is needed. A bead between the sinker and the swivel is optional. The original purpose for the bead was to avoid chafing on the knot, but many fishermen believe the sinker striking the bead and producing an audible click often attracts fish.

One of the first variations of the Carolina rig was to use a second bead or one of several variations of clackers to produce noise. Brass beads are the loudest, followed by glass, with plastic last. A variety of clackers is available; many have internal noise making properties.

Clackers or beads are rigged between the weight and the swivel, producing noise when the weight slides back as it is being jigged off the bottom. The noise causes fish to look, and then they see the puff of sand and the fluttering bait.

Another variation is using small corks between the weight and the bait to hold it off the bottom a little. Most fishermen make the leader a little longer when they do this, and the longer leader can reduce casting distance and accuracy. Several flounder rigs come to mind when envisioning this rig.

Some of my favorite Carolina-rig variations involve using Betts Carolina Floaters. These small corks, which look far more like bullet weights than floats, were designed to use in front of a soft plastic lure on a Carolina rig and to help suspend the lure above the bottom. They were intended for the freshwater market but work very well, maybe even better, in the higher buoyancy of saltwater. I was introduced to them many years ago while fishing for speckled trout over grass beds and found them to be very helpful.

The easiest way to rig a Carolina floater is to slide it on the leader, pointed end forward, just in front of a light-wire hook. A soft-plastic lure is then threaded on the hook, and the floater adds buoyancy, which causes the bait to flutter more and sink more slowly. When small-enough or low-density plastics are used, the bait may actually float.

Continuing on this idea, adding a bead between the Carolina floater and the bait can create the impression of an eye. A dot, drawn on the bead using a permanent marker, makes a pupil and adds to the realism of the eye. In shallow or very clear water, a faceted bead will reflect light and give an occasional flash, which often helps attract fish.

A second version of the Carolina Floater/Carolina rig is to turn it around so the pointed end is closer to the bait. The large end is slightly concave and will catch water and make the bait move erratically when it is jigged. A clicker can also be added to this setup by putting two beads between the Carolina Floater and the hook. Usually the bait and floater will separate an inch or two when not being jigged, but if they don’t or the bait floats too high, switch to a hook made with heavier wire.

Originally, I used the Eagle Claw Series 042 hook with soft baits, but I recently switched to wide-gap worm hooks. I am still experimenting with the worm hooks but am seeing good hookup ratios and really like being able to lightly peg the hook point in the bait so it will fish weedless. While plastic baits have variations in their density from brand to brand, generally smaller baits have more floatation and sink more slowly while fluttering more. Occasionally, a bait even floats.

My final suggestion involves tube baits and requires just a little more rigging, but it works well and allows for easily adding scent to non-scented lures. I use the Carolina Floater or other small floats that fit inside the body of the tube to help keep it slightly above the bottom.

For this application, I generally use a No. 4 Eagle Claw 042 hook. If I am only expecting puppy drum, I may switch up to a No. 1 or 2. The leader is tied to the hook, then threaded through the float and must be run through the front of the tube before tying it to the swivel. Once the float and hook are pulled snuggly into the body of the tube, the scent is added in the remaining body space behind the float.

Tube baits aren’t real popular in North Carolina’s saltwater just yet, but they are slowly gaining acceptance. If folks try this, their success will go a long way toward increasing the popularity of tube baits along the coast.

About Jerry Dilsaver 1168 Articles
Jerry Dilsaver of Oak Island, N.C., a full-time freelance writer, is a columnist for Carolina Sportsman. He is a former SKA National Champion and USAA Angler of the Year.

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