Best time to use Carolina Rig

[QUOTE=JBryant;312731]An alternative to lead, brass, and tungsten that is supposedly safe for wildlife and priced the same as lead is Ultra Steel. Bullet Weights make ultra steel egg sinkers that I know of and can find in stores in central Kentucky. I haven't used them, but the company claims they are more sensitive. Has anyone else used them that can provide any feedback?[/QUOTE]

All I use are the Ultra Steel egg weights. Wal-Mart sells them, and are very cheap. The steel makes a lot more noise - bang a glass bead against it and you'll hear it! Some people don't like the fact that a steel egg sinker has more bulk when compared to a lead egg sinker of equal weight...I personally like the extra bulk in that it seems to "roll" up over the rocks more and results in fewer snags. Like I said, Wal-Mart has them, usually in packs of 2 or 4...and sometimes you can find a super pack or 8 or 10. My advice is buy some now, because come about May, Wal-Mart will be out...trust me, I've had that happen way too many times!

[QUOTE=catdaddy863;312734]what works best for u guys as far as swivel ,bead ,sinker set up? I personally dont fish water thats over 10-15foot deep because the creeks and small lakes (big ponds) I fish aren"t that deep,but when I go to C-land or Dale it puts me at in a real pickel during winter fishing when fish are low in water column.C-rigs and drop shottin is kinda new to me.[/QUOTE]

3/4 oz. steel egg weight, glass bead, and a size 1/0 crane swivel. Usually use a leader of 18" to start with, sometimes go all the way up to a 36" leader depending on what the fish are doing, but 18" to 24" is probably what I use most.

[quote=DaveStewart;312720]I could spend a lot of time writing here about the Carolina rig but will just try and hit some of the highlights.

C-rig is bar none the best technique to use to learn your water..ie..what type bottom structure...type cover...cover location. If fished properly the C-rig will tell you more about the area you are fishing than your depth finder.

C-rig is a great search bait technique and shines during transitional periods, post frontal, post spawn and deep summer patterns.

C-rig can be fished at any depth....and any time of the year....like any technique, it is sometimes the best technique to be using on any given day or time of day and sometimes it isn't...ie....you normally can catch some fish on it in most situations (shallow to deep) but sometimes another technique (jig, crankbait, spinnerbait, topwater, t-rig....you get the idea) may the most prolific to be using...only way to find out is experiment..this is why it is a good search technique.

Some tips:

Generally speaking bass tend to sit tighter to cover in spring and fall and suspend over cover in summer and winter...adjust your leader length accordingly.

Maintain constant contact with the sinker...that is do not have a bow or slack in the line...you do this by dragging the rig with rod down and at angle to the rig....this is the only way you can feel the fish biting your lure and the best way to feel the structure/cover you are searching out and fishing. If you are dragging the rig and the sinker is losing contact with the bottom you need a heavier sinker.

I prefer to use a lead egg sinker with my rig rather than a bullet type sinker. The rounded egg sinker tends to come through cover better by virtue of the rounded ends rather than having a bullet nose jamming up into the cover. Since I use the lead egg instead of a brass bullet..I use two glass beads between the sinker and swivel...lead against glass has no sound..glass against glass does.

98% of the time you need to fish it slow..you can't fish it too slow. Ask any bass guide and they will tell you most women will catch more fish on the C-rig than a guy will...the reason is most women have more patience than men and will tend to fish slower.

As for the jig as a weight..it works...my experience with this is that unless the fish are keying off on jigs that the amount of fish taken on a jig rigged C-rig is not enough to warrant the expense of losing a lot of jigs..because if done properly the weight is going to be constantly pulled into cover. If you use this rig and the fish are taking the jig a lot..you need to just throw a jig and work it better than you can on a C-rig.

Don't be afraid to experiment with different plastics. I have taken bass on virutally every type soft plastic lure made on a C-rig. Just like the T-rig...you gotta match the bait to what the fish want...ie..they not want a lizard or brush hog right now with all that action but they may inhale a do nothing bait like a french fry.

Well, I will stop here...I could write for a long time here about this technique and bore you to death if I got started...lol.[/quote]

Dave, great post!;) :D

I will agree the steel egg sinker works just as good as the lead egg sinker. I don't use the steel one because of costs more than anything. They are cheaper than brass but a heck of a lot more expensive than lead if you buy the lead ones from bulk boxes in the local tackle shops...6-8 cents a piece for the lead...which means I can buy 4 or 5 lead ones for what you are going to pay for a steel one. Just a cost thing in this business...when you are on the water with clients like I am 7 days a week for 9 months a year you can go through a lot of money in sinkers.

As a rule of thumb (starting point) in the spring I will normally be throwing 18 to 24 inch leader....as the water warms up after spawn I will increase that gradually to around 36 - 48 inches in mid summer..and then start decreasing it again when the water falls and fish are transitioning back to shallow water. Of course this is a rule of thumb....post frontal conditions any time of year will typically put some fish tight to cover and some suspended above the cover as an example so you may need to adjust the length as needed depending on the set up of the fish you are on.

If I did not mention this before...we all will do some things different....what I put up here is what I do that seems to have proven best for me...don't be afraid to experiment some.

This is great stuff.

"My advice is buy some now, because come about May, Wal-Mart will be out...trust me, I've had that happen way too many times!" - by Artcarney

Yeah; I agree there. Walmart has some good stuff at times; but sometimes you better get it while its hot because there are other times you won't find much of anything that helpful.

Dave, I've read where you use a lot of copolymer, because it's so versatile, but what would you recommend for C-rig main line & leader?

Thanks, everyone, for all the great info that's been posted in this thread.

Personally I think braided line with copolymer leader would be the optimum for the C-rig if the structure/cover you are fishing will allow for it. Here on Ky/Barkley I would stay with strictly copolymer as the chunk rock and mussels here will shred the braided line. I know some folks profess using a florocarbon leader but to me that makes no sense...to use a sinking line on a technique that I want the lure to suspend more or fall slowly.

As a note, I use 20lb Gamma copolymer main line and 12lb Gamma copolymer leader.

Biggest fish I ever caught on a carolina rig was about 7lbs on Lake Barkley. He hit the thing when I was reeling it in. Couldn't believe it.

However, I have fished some of the Red Man tourney as a non boater and used the caroline rig, while the boater used a jig. I caught a whole more than he did, but he got the big bites. At the end of the day he had a good limit and I had two keepers.

The carolina rig has saved my butt on tournaments in the past. I used the texas rig most of the day with no success and then switched to the carolina rig and got a limit. You just have to use it. I like a baby brush hog and lizard as my lures.