# Tips for using hair rigs?



## lakota

I found a spool of 50lb test 12 lb diameter power pro on clearance today for 7 bucks so I bought it and some #6 Eagle Claw plain shank hooks to try tying some hair rigs. I have tied some before but I used mono and it was a miserable tangled affair and I quickly gave up on using them and went back to corn directly on the hook. I noticed right away that it was easier to tie the rig using braid. I also used the directions for tying the rig on this forum. My plan is to use a bolt rig with a 3/8 oz casting sinker. Should I leave the bail open on my spinning reel when using this rig? I was also wondering where I can find the small rubber tubing used on the shank of the hook?

Does anyone have any other tips?

I have fished for carp for years just using corn directly on the hook and chumming the area I fish and I have cuaght a lot over the years but probably not anything bigger than 10 pounds. The other night I fished and had 4 takes but no hook ups so I have decided to try some new methods. I want to hook into some bigger carp!


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## TimJC

The rubber tubing isn't necessary. You can find .75mm ID tubing at Big Carp Tackle or other carp tackle dealers. But without the tubing, just make extra wraps down the shank until it is almost wrapped to where it is even with the tip of the hook. Even this isn't something to be worried with. Just use them as you have them tied now.

The 3/8oz sinker might be a little on the light side. Give it a try and if you have issues with hooking up try increasing to 3/4-1oz or more.

On a standard spinning reel I don't like to leave the bail open, because the line could become tangled if allowed to peel off uncontrollably. Instead, loosen the drag to the point where the fish can take line without pulling the rod in. This way you have the drag clicker as an audible alarm when the run happens. Then simply lift the rod, slowing the spool with the tips of your fingers on the rod holding hand, and tight the drag with the other hand. It sounds more complicated than it is, and you should have it down after a couple attempts. Be careful not to overtighten the drag or you will have the hook pull.


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## lakota

Well I must be doing something wrong with the hair rig. I fished 3 hours tonight. I had two rods in the water both set up with bolt rigs. One with a hair rig and one with corn directly on the hook. I had 4 takes and 2 hook ups and 2 fish landed-about 10 pounds each. All the action was on the rod with corn on the hook. These were my first carp on a bolt rig. Not so much as a nibble on the hair rig. I put 5-6 kernels on the hair rig. I nipped small pieces of tooth pick slightly smaller than the width of a corn kernel to act as a bait stop. I dont know if the corn was flying off on the cast or if something was picking it off in the water. I checked the hair rig three times and it needed to be rebaited each time. Is canned corn too soft to use on a hair rig? I am thinking about getting a bag of feed corn and boiling some up so it is a little tougher than canned corn.
Can you spot anything wrong with my rigging? I really want to work the bugs out of this rig so I can increase hook ups and hopefully crack the 20 pound fish barrier.


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## TimJC

Sweet corn is a delicate bait, so it is possible that it could be coming off the hair. I have gotten to the point were I almost always tip hair rigged baits with imitation sweet corn. I started doing this when I fished hair rigged sweet corn a lot for a couple reasons. One, it helps hold the sweet corn in place since it is a nice wide, durable surface. Secondly, even if the sweet corn comes off I still have something for the fish to pick up. You probably don't have imitation sweet corn, and you don't need to run out and hunt it down. Try a piece of foam, like part of an earplug or some similar, and that should solve the issue. Just be sure that your bait isn't too buoyant, so the weight of the hook holds the bait on the bottom. The buoyancy should make it easier for the carp to suck the bait up, which should lead to more fish.

If hair rigging sweet corn is giving you too much trouble, give chick peas/garbanzo beans a try. You should be able to find dried chick peas next to other dried beans at the grocery store. The preparation for chick peas is pretty easy. Put the chick peas into a pot of water, bring the water to a boil, then remove from heat and allow to cool. You can keep them in the refrigerator without worries of retribution from the significant other. They also take on flavor _very_ well.

However, sweet corn on the hook should work fine with the bolt, since sweet corn is a soft bait. Just go with a larger hook than you would with a hair rig (size 2-4 vs 4-8). The hair rig was originally developed for harder baits that couldn't be hooked, chick peas for example.

Other than that, can you post a photo of your rig? That would go a long way to determining any issues.


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## lakota

Here is an example of the 7 rigs I tied. They are all about 16" long with a barrel swivel at the end. I left the tag end on the hair loop for adjustment I trimmed it off the rig I was fishing.








When you mentioned foam to hold the corn on I remembered I had these styrofoam kernels I punched out of some styrofoam meat trays. I cut the primer end off a 223 case and sharpened the mouth to use as a punch to punch them from the meat tray but I never tried them. They are close to the size of a kernel of corn.







I appreciate your helping me work the bugs out of my setup.


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## TimJC

You might want to shorten the hooklink (line between hook and swivel). 16" is pretty Long unless you are fishing over heavy weed or for pressured carp (not an issue in the US). A long hooklink gives the carp more range of movement before getting into the resistance of the sinker, which we are using to set the hook. 6-10" is a good starting point. 3" & 16" hooklinks would be at the short and long extremes respectively.

That foam should work perfectly. Check the buoyancy in the margins (water's edge) and see how it sits. You might even be able to get away with a second or third piece of foam sandwiched between kernels of corn.

After getting the hair rig dialed in you can try adding more foam to experiment with a pop-up rig. Add enough foam to make the hookbait buoyant, and then add a splitshot to the hooklink so the hookbait sits 1-2 inches off the bottom. Most of the time this yields more catfish for me, so the effectiveness varies from water to water.


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## lakota

Is the hair loop its self a good length? How many kernels of bait do you usually use on the hair?


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## TimJC

The hair length is hard to judge without some bait for scale, but it looks fine. The reason I tie mine like you have there, is so I can adjust it for the bait when it comes time to use it. For sweet corn or maize, I use 3-5 kernels. For chick peas or boilies it is normally 1 or 2.

Lacking the tubing, which you mentioned earlier, try adding more wraps down the hook shank to the point where the wraps are almost even, though opposite, the hook point. Also, don't add so much bait to where the bait is pinned to where the hair touches the wraps of the shank. The bait on the hair should, at the very most, just kiss the bend of the hook, and an 1/8" gap between the bend and first kernel would be ideal. You want the bait on the hair to have a bit of movement independent from the hook.


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