Carolina rig for deep water

[blanked]

Here in east texas dragging a carolina rig with 1/2 oz or 3/4 oz weight is by far my number one go getter for LMB in summer patterns.   Moving to idaho in 2 months to a  rocky reservoir and looking for a way to drag the heavy weight in rocks.  Have a hard time beleiving changing the shape of the weight is going to make a major difference in hang ups 

[Dwight Hottle]

Maybe reconsider your approach if it doesn’t work out. Try vertical dropshot & vertical jigging with a spoon, blade or jig. Staying vertical still snags occasionally but a lot less than horizontal dragging. 

[FryDog62]

Could possibly try Biffle Bug, although in deeper water I prefer a 3/4 oz Strike King Jointed Structure jig w/craw. Sometimes that free swinging head is enough to keep from getting snagged. Catch a lot of smallies in/near the rock piles here up north...

[Fishes in trees]

Football heads come through rocks better than cylindrical weights.  Jewel Baits makes a football head Carolina rig weight - something to think about should you want to stick with the ball & chain.

How cool for you - you're going to get to go get immersed in a new style of fishing that, from what I read, is pretty different from East Texas.   Good. Luck & have fun.

[PaulVE64]

I dont mean to be contravercial but in my river a 3/8 oz or heavier football head lasts 3 casts at most. My rivers are mostly cobble and larger with little siltty bottom.

 

But i can drag a worm weight thru for hours.

 

[zeth]

What lake in ID? You just need to change your approach. Ditch the C-Rig and pick up something else. Slow roll a swimbait, Spinnerbait, Crankbait (those smallies don't mind if it's not hitting bottom), neko rig or shakey head (probably still not the best choice of super snaggy. Good luck. Big bass in ID.

[blanked]

Dworshak

[Boomstick]

As others have said, you're going to have to expand your arsenal. A football jig is worth a shot at the very least. Or possibly a drop shot as well - sometimes the smaller baits come through the cracks but remember that you can drop shot with larger hooks and weights on larger line as well. Maybe try something like a spinnerbait or crankbait that you can get near the bottom but keep off the bottom.

[Bluebasser86]

On snaggy lakes, a lead egg sinker is often the sinker of choice. When it does snag, it's less expensive than tungsten or brass.

[Columbia Craw]

You are a lucky guy.  Dworshak is an exceptional smallmouth lake that puts out the occasional 8 plus.  You will find a  half ounce egg sinker will work to as deep as thirty feet.  Main line will be lighter at 12 to 14 and leaders at 8 pound but you’ll find it works fine. Get ready to hone your drop shot skills and jerk bait skills.  

[blanked]

6 hours ago, Columbia Craw said:

You are a lucky guy.  Dworshak is an exceptional smallmouth lake that puts out the occasional 8 plus.  You will find a  half ounce egg sinker will work to as deep as thirty feet.  Main line will be lighter at 12 to 14 and leaders at 8 pound but you’ll find it works fine. Get ready to hone your drop shot skills and jerk bait skills.  

 

i hope i made a good decision. My current home lake toledo bend was a good one too.  Excited about the move

[ICFishing]

I have used a Carolina rig for deep smallmouth before but every time I did, I found myself throwing a dropshot rig within an hour haha! If you want to commit to the Carolina, I would look at egg shaped weights, they seem to work well for me in rocky lakes. I find that a Carolina works best for me when there is grass, and if there is enough grass for me to throw a Carolina then there are not enough rocks to worry about getting hung up that often. If there are enough rocks that I am worried about getting hung up then there probably isn't enough grass for me to justify a Carolina, which is where I pull out a dropshot. Also, it's hard to beat a small finesse football jig for deep rocky lake smallies, they are like candy to them!

[papajoe222]

Another weight option for your C-Rig would be a Lindy weight or walleye sinker   https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/bass-pro-shops-walleye-sinker

or a pencil weight like these  https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/northland-fishing-tackle-rock-runner-slip-bouncer

[Big Hands]

After doing well all summer and most of the fall on dropshot, that bite went away and the Carolina rig bite took off. I fish mainly on two bodies of water. One is a deep (over 300' in some places) mountain reservoir, with steep rocky shoreline, and the other is the forebay below the dam and it is mostly relatively shallow (>30' in a lot of it) and has lots of hydrilla like weeds.

 

Oddly enough, the bite in both bodies of water went the same way. I first happened on it in the forebay by sloooooooowly dragging the c-rig in and around the weeds in 20' to 30' feet of water.

 

Went to the upper lake, and found the same thing worked on the rocky slopes and and the few flats we have in 20' to 30' there. There are scattered stickups in those areas too (but no weeds), and working the bait through those is where I have been finding fish. I have been at least 15 times and only blanked once (I got bit, just didn't boat 'em) on the c-rig. For winter fishing and not having to fish deeper than 30', that's pretty good in my book. The dropshot hasn't been nearly as productive by a VERY wide margin.

 

I have been using 3/4 to 1 ounce tungsten flipping weights on 30 lb braid with 4' of 8 lb mono leader, and BOMB casting way out there up to 150' away. The majority of bites come from the first two thirds of the cast, so distance has been key for me.

 

The blessing of this setup for me has also been the curse. The sensitivity of the braid paired with the heavy tungsten sinker is superb, and makes detecting most bites possible. Very rarely is a bite thought to be merely a tick from hitting a rock and I LOVE that. The downside being that the braid can be frail in stickups and rocks. In a full day of fishing that c-rig all day, I might lose 1 to 3 rigs to the braid failing, and I do find paying attention to fraying and retying helps avoid unnecessary failure. I can usually pull the flipping sinkers through cover without too much trouble, and the failures seem to happen when I least expect them too (often times not really pulling that hard).

 

At $4 to $5 per 1 ounce tungsten flipping sinker, that starts to add up. I have been contemplating going to a 12 lb or 15 lb mono for the main line, but I know there will be a price to pay in stretch and sensitivity.

 

For me, keeping tension on the line as I drag really helps minimize snagging. I keep the rod tip high (about 11 o'clock) and slowly turn the handle rather than using the rod. If I feel it come off of a rock, I try not to let it fall into crevices by lifting the rod just slightly and can usually feel it land on the next rock. If the tension builds too high, I first give a slight 'pop' to the rod and if that doesn't do it, I will slightly back off the tension and pop it again (all in one motion) and that usually frees it. . . . until it gets to the next potential snag. It takes a good three to five minutes per cast to work the rig back to the boat.

 

But, the bottom line is that deep water c-rigging in rocky terrain flat out works and has been through the winter (or what we know as winter here - surface water temps high 40's to low 50's) for me. I know guys that c-rig all year here with good results in both bodies of water. We have both largemouth and smallmouth here and I find the mix to be fairly even and catch both in the same areas.

 

You might have make some tweaks here and there, but I'd be willing to give it a heck of a chance before giving up on it. 

[RDB]

You might try a Phenix Rock Crawler.

 

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Phenix_Rock_Crawler_Weights/descpage-PRCW.html

[Team9nine]

Slinkey or No-Snagg (Lindy) sinkers...

 

[Williep99]

On 12/26/2020 at 5:41 AM, blanked said:

Here in east texas dragging a carolina rig with 1/2 oz or 3/4 oz weight is by far my number one go getter for LMB in summer patterns.   Moving to idaho in 2 months to a  rocky reservoir and looking for a way to drag the heavy weight in rocks.  Have a hard time beleiving changing the shape of the weight is going to make a major difference in hang ups 

Welcome to Idaho. Defining rocks here is often different from other areas in the country. You don’t find cobble rock very much and the rock you will find is lure eating chunk basalt rock. If you are going to C rig you will have to learn the fish finder to find what areas it will work and areas that will just take your lure. You also learn to really interpret the shoreline when deciding what lure type to throw. You won’t be fishing vegetation much and I really only throw on identified fish. I throw a c rig some but only in select areas and for largemouth. Dworshak is a smallmouth lake and drop shooting is king in the rocks. At least there you only lose a weight. I wouldn’t invest in fancy weight systems and just stick with mainly cylinder weights. A good lure retriever is a must as well. I mostly fish south of you but will be happy give you what info I know.