I fish several times a week and love it. Favorite thing to do. I usually fish t-rigs or some type of crankbait/top water. Can someone tell me what a Carolina rig is for and how it would benefit in different situations.

The Carolina rig Is by far my favorite thing to throw when im fishing away from the bank. you can throw it into anything, rocks, stumps laydowns grass patches. its a great search bait and the bait really tells you what the bottom is made up of, small or big rocks weeds mud stump field. the key to the rig is the weight. 90 percent of the time I throw a one ounce tungsten weight on 17 lb flouro carbon line. that weight and line combo will keep the weight on the bottom and that tungsten will give you amazing feel of the bottom and any bites you have. then you put on your favorite swivel. the hardest part of the Carolina rig is determining your leader length. if the fish are feeding off the bottom I like a longer leader, 24 inches or so. if they are right on the bottom I use a 6 inch leader. I always go with 12 lb mono leader. mono keeps the bait up of the bottom and if you ever get snagged the mono will break not the flouro so you wont lose your expensive tungsten sinker. as far as baits are concerned, you can literally throw anything on it. ive thrown hollow belly swimbaits already on with great success. but my favorite baits for a crig would have to be a 7 inch powerworm, a lizard or ragetail craw always pull the rod to the side when retrieving the rig or setting the hook. pulling it to the side on the retrieve will keep the weight on the bottom where it needs to be to bang into whatever is down there. if your hopping or pulling the rod upwards over your head your picking the weight off the bottom losing your contact with the bottom which would defeat the purpose of a Carolina rig. also the sweeping hookset picks up more line than an overhead hookset and when a big bass bites on a really long cast you def want the best hookset you can get..