C-Rig Anytime

[papajoe222]

I love to fish deep structure for the big girls. I've been doing just that for the last decade or so, but my body can no longer take deep cranking for any length of time.  I'm not covering a lot of water during an outing dragging a big tube or a football jig/trailer along looking for that sweet spot, but I have confidence that the fish are in the areas I target, so it's just a matter of figuring out what they want.    The other presentation I use and the one that seems to be more productive, is a C-rig with a 6in.-7in. action tail worm on a 12in.-18-in. leader.  It's more of a finesse presentation, IMO and that's why I believe it's more productive. There's just something about that skinny little worm floating along just off the bottom that the big girls really like and I learned long ago that giving the ladies what they like is the key to success.

So how many of you consider a C-rig as a year round presentation and if you don't, is a drop shot or other rig your season long pet presentation for deep structure?

[everythingthatswims]

I doubt a c-rig works very well through the ice if we are talking year-round presentations in your area!

 

I like a c-rig in the spring and summer, I tend to go towards a football jig if I'm fishing deep (slowly) in the fall. I fish a drop shot year-round but spring and summer are when I catch the most fish on it. If I had to pick two deep water techniques, c-rig and drop shot would be the two.

 

Find them with the c-rig, then catch every last one of them on a drop shot!

[Catt]

Order of productive for offshore deep water structure (at least round here)

 

#1/#2 Texas Rig & Jig-n-Craw; Texas Rig anglers #2 choice is jigs, jig anglers #2 choice is Texas Rigs. 

#3 Carolina Rig

#4 Deep Cranks

[MichaelCopeland]

I caught my first LMB on a C-rig. Oddly enough I haven't really used a C-rig much since then. Guess it's because I've been learning different techniques and just haven't thought about it much lately. Could be why I haven't really caught a big un yet. Think I'll rig up one of my rods with a C-rig next time I go fishing and see what will happen. I haven't been fishing very slow lately, not really fast either just somewhere in between but probably more towards the faster side. Might do me some good to slow it down a bit more with a C-rig.

14 minutes ago, Catt said:

Order of productive for offshore deep water structure (at least round here)

 

#1/#2 Texas Rig & Jig-n-Craw; Texas Rig anglers #2 choice is jigs, jig anglers #2 choice is Texas Rigs. 

#3 Carolina Rig

#4 Deep Cranks

At my limit for the day...lol. ??

Gonna have to catch a bass with a jig and a crank bait/deep crank soon. 

[Dorado]

Is it possible and effective to slowly troll (naturally drift without paddling from a kayak) a Carolina rig? 

[CroakHunter]

3 hours ago, Dorado said:

Is it possible and effective to slowly troll (naturally drift without paddling from a kayak) a Carolina rig? 

Oh yes. We do it during our tournaments when we take a break to eat a sandwich. Get on the upwind side and drift down to our next spot

[Todd2]

I used to have one on deck most of the year. The last couple of years I've switched to a drop shot.

 

I'll crank down to about 12-14. Deeper than that, it t-rigs, jigs, drop shots and occasionally a big spinnerbait. Don't forgot about slow rolling deep spinnerbaits. I don't do it enough myself.

[flatcreek]

Definitely got to have one tied on when you fish the Savannah or Chattahoochee rivers.You can get well real quick on a slow day.

[scaleface]

I use to use a Carolina rig a lot . I wanted to cover vast expanses quickly . I used a 3/4 ounce egg sinker   . I had a lot of success on points    but  pretty much came up  empty on large  flats .But it wasnt a waste of time , I learned a lot not catching fish .

[Fisher-O-men]

3 hours ago, scaleface said:

I learned a lot not catching fish .

I wish I could say this.  Hard to tell if I am doing something wrong or there are no fish.  

[WRB]

Strolling is a technique used by bass anglers and tournament anglers all the time. What is strolling? Slowly dragging a C-rig, split or slip shot rig along the bottom with a controlled drift using the trolling motor to keep the boat in the depth zone desired. What is the difference between trolling and strolling you ask? Technically you shouldn't strolling or moving the boat into the wind when tournament fishing....

Lakes that have Zebra or Quagga mussels eliminates dragging a C-rig along the bottom.

Tom

[Dorado]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

Strolling is a technique used by bass anglers and tournament anglers all the time. What is strolling? Slowly dragging a C-rig, split or slip shot rig along the bottom with a controlled drift using the trolling motor to keep the boat in the depth zone desired. What is the difference between trolling and strolling you ask? Technically you shouldn't strolling or moving the boat into the wind when tournament fishing....

Lakes that have Zebra or Quagga mussels eliminates dragging a C-rig along the bottom.

Tom

I can't wait to try this In my kayak soon. Regardless of those invasive species, my impressions of strolling are that you will still get snagged a lot on bottom structures. But, if that's the price to play then I'm willing to still try. Thanks for explaining that

[WRB]

19 minutes ago, Dorado said:

I can't wait to try this In my kayak soon. Regardless of those invasive species, my impressions of strolling are that you will still get snagged a lot on bottom structures. But, if that's the price to play then I'm willing to still try. Thanks for explaining that

I use a slip shot rig consisting of a Carolina plastic Keeper, 8mm glass faceted bead, black brass Pro-Jo cylinder 1/8 to 1/4 oz weight and Owner 5133 size 1/0 hook weedless rigged 5"-6" worms for finesse spinning and up the weight to 3/8 to 1/2 oz and 3/0 Owner 5100 hook for 7" worms and creatures/craws.

Tom

 

[Dorado]

1 minute ago, WRB said:

I use a slip shot rig consisting of a Carolina plastic Keeper, 8mm glass faceted bead, black brass Pro-Jo cylinder 1/8 to 1/4 oz weight and Owner 5133 size 1/0 hook weedless rigged 5"-6" worms for finesse spinning and up the weight to 3/8 to 1/2 oz and 3/0 Owner 5100 hook for 7" worms and creatures/craws.

Tom

 

Good info! Do you get snagged a lot on rocks with that 3/8 - 1/2 oz set up?

[Fisher-O-men]

2 hours ago, WRB said:

Strolling is a technique used by bass anglers and tournament anglers all the time. What is strolling? Slowly dragging a C-rig,

Sounds like a technique to try from a tube.  I have tried dragging a Drop Shot por nada.

[WRB]

33 minutes ago, Dorado said:

Good info! Do you get snagged a lot on rocks with that 3/8 - 1/2 oz set up?

Hard cylinder weight the line slides through with little to no drag so strike detection is good. Rocks the lighter you can go with a weight the better regarding not getting snagged. Cylinder weights go through rock without snagging as long as you don't let them settle down on slack line. I almost always can shake them loose, sometime requires changing direction to work it out.

Tom

[Dorado]

@WRB you've helped me a lot already since I've joined. You dish out some great info! I've loaded up on those Roboworm Oxblood with light red curly tails and they're awesome on a split rig for finessing Ponds. 

[papajoe222]

20 hours ago, Fisher-O-men said:

I wish I could say this.  Hard to tell if I am doing something wrong or there are no fish.  

You can tell a lot about the area you're fishing even when you don't catch anything.  You can tell when the bottom changes from soft to hard, gravel, rocks, shell beds, etc. Because you're always in contact with the bottom, when you do loose contact, it's because of a quick depth change. On a flat, especially, you can locate ditches that the bass use like inroads from the deeper water when feeding. 

[Catt]

As with any technique I know a few guys who throw c-rigs only year round & are quite competitive.

[Brett's_daddy]

What setup is best for this (rod, reel, line)? I'm thinking maybe a 6.3:1 reel but would you use a regular rod or a crankin' rod? As for line I'm guessing fluoro since you want it to sink correct? What lb. test?

[WRB]

The classic C-rig consist of swivel, bead and egg sinker weight on the main line with a leader tied onto the swivel and a worm hook. The leader can vary from 18" to 48" depending on your preferences and cover being fished. If you have a long leader longer rod helps to make casting easier. 

It's advantage if the line doesn't sink, this helps the main line from snagging and leader material like mono to keep the soft plastic off the bottom and helps to prevent snags and increase strike detectection.

How long should a C-rig rod be? 18" of line to the weight from the rod tip then add leader length you have anywhere from 36" to 66" rod tip to hook.

Tom

[Brett's_daddy]

On 8/29/2017 at 1:02 PM, WRB said:

The classic C-rig consist of swivel, bead and egg sinker weight on the main line with a leader tied onto the swivel and a worm hook. The leader can vary from 18" to 48" depending on your preferences and cover being fished. If you have a long leader longer rod helps to make casting easier. 

It's advantage if the line doesn't sink, this helps the main line from snagging and leader material like mono to keep the soft plastic off the bottom and helps to prevent snags and increase strike detectection.

How long should a C-rig rod be? 18" of line to the weight from the rod tip then add leader length you have anywhere from 36" to 66" rod tip to hook.

Tom

So I would think braid would be a good option then as it's more sensitive? I also ordered some of those Carolina Keepers as they looked handy from the bassresource video i watched...only one knot to tie and can adjust leader length without retying.

[WRB]

Carolina Keeper works good with mono/coploy main line/leader. Braid is commonly used with the swivel style C-rig and mono/Copoly leader, some anglers believe FC main line/leader is good do to the low light refraction...whatever you have confidence using. Having used both FC line and mono main line with Carolina keepers my preference is mono for the reasons stated earlier; fewer snags and better strike detection.

Tom

 

[Brett's_daddy]

7 minutes ago, WRB said:

Carolina Keeper works good with mono/coploy main line/leader. Braid is commonly used with the swivel style C-rig and mono/Copoly leader, some anglers believe FC main line/leader is good do to the low light refraction...whatever you have confidence using. Having used both FC line and mono main line with Carolina keepers my preference is mono for the reasons stated earlier; fewer snags and better strike detection.

Tom

 

I have my Dobyn's Fury 7'3" Heavy with a Shimano Curado i spooled with 17lb. Sunline Armilo Defier...would this be a good setup to use?

[WRB]

3 minutes ago, Brett's_daddy said:

I have my Dobyn's Fury 7'3" Heavy with a Shimano Curado i spooled with 17lb. Sunline Armilo Defier...would this be a good setup to use?

Perfect!