Tie-at-home extras · Free rig

Carolina rig

A sliding weight ahead of a short leader lets a soft plastic drift and flutter behind it as you drag it slowly over the bottom.

Braid 10–15lb+ fluoro leaderEgg or bullet weight10–20g, runs freeGlass beadSize 10 swivelstops the weightLeader 30–60cm12–15lb fluoroSoft plasticoffset or light jig hook
Targets
Wrasse, pollack, bass, flatfish on lures
Where
Sand patches and lighter rock from the shore

What you need

Mainline
10–15lb braid
Weight
10–20g egg or bullet weight
Bead
Glass bead
Swivel
Size 10
Leader
12–15lb fluoro, 30–60cm
Lure
Soft plastic on an offset or light jig hook

Build it

  1. Thread the weight onto the braid, then the bead.
  2. Tie on the swivel with an FG or Palomar knot.
  3. Tie the fluoro leader to the swivel.
  4. Tie on the hook and thread the soft plastic.
  5. Drag slowly along the bottom, pausing often.
On the beach

The free rig works the same way. Clip a drop-shot weight to a ring running on the line and tie the hook straight on. It has fewer parts and casts better.

Knots for this rig are in Knots. Line strengths, hook sizes and weights are starting points: scale them to your tackle, the ground and the tide. Diagrams are schematic and not to scale.