Martin Bowler is especially confident in his version of the hinged stiff rig. Its simple but very effective. Here’s how he ties it:
Martin with a cracking linear caught on the hinge rig
For pop up fishing the wonderful chod covers many a situation but occasionally I need an alternative, especially when fishing between weed beds. Here the line can get caught up and this in turn can lift the chod off the bottom rendering it useless.
Martin uses Strip-Teaze for the boom section and Stiff Rig filament (of course!) for the hook section
Cue the hinged stiff rig that puts an extension on the chod and sees the lead arrangement altered to an ESP clip and 12 inches of 1.75mm anchor tubing. Connected to the size 9 swivel snugly sitting inside will be an anti tangle sleeve and 6-8 inches of Striptease. This coated material knots best with a moistened 3 turn blood and the tag blobbed with a lighter for extra security.
The Strip-Teaze connecting knot
Along its length I will place a piece of tungsten putty to keep it tight to the deck. At the other end comes the chod arrangement, which can be a ready tied one from ESP. However if I have time I will create my own by threading 25lb bristle filament through the eye of a size 5 Siff Rigger before wrapping it up the shank 5 times, passing the tag back through the eye to create a knotless knot. A small ring is then placed on the tag before it is once again passed through the hook eye to create a small loop before securing with a lighter which causes the bristle filament to blob.
The business end of Martin’s hinged rig
So far all very similar to the ready tied chods but at the opposite end I use a figure of 8 knot to create an additional loop which I’m sure gives extra movement, helping to snag in the carp’s mouth.
Next I run the bristle filament over my thumb to create an aggressive curve, tie on an Atlantic Heat pop up from Baitworks with bait floss and add tungsten putty to balance as required. You now have another of my tried and trusted go anywhere rigs.