The Carolina rig, the old ball and chain, one of my favorite techniques for covering deep structure and shallow structure. So we're going to walk you through the Carolina rig start to finish in the springtime.
That's right, springtime is a great time to fish the Carolina rig. And why is that? It's because those fish are getting territorial. That big weight bouncing through there can trigger a lot of strikes springtime. Very, very good time of year for the Carolina rigs.
So let's get into the setup a little bit. To start with, we're going to say. Weight bead and then a little protector to protect the knot from the swivel got the SPRO Power Swivel and then we're going to have a leader of fluorocarbon down to the hook and the bait. And so we're we'll get into the details of it, but that's the essential. Nuts and bolts of what the Carolina rig is, and we're going to be fishing anywhere from 1/2 ounce to a one ounce.
Carolina Rig Half oz is probably the place where I'm going to start. Sometimes I'll even go down all the way to 1/4 ounce in certain situations, but we'll get to that in a minute. Half oz is probably where you want to start.
The, the best rule of thumb for the weight on a Carolina rig is to fish as heavy as you can fish without getting hung up. Because as I mentioned earlier, I'm going to tell you again and again and again that weight banging on the structure is a trigger for those fish to find out what's down there and follow it, see what looks like food and eat it. So they see this little, this little morsel dangling and, and following and, and following them. Right, following that that. That trigger, they're going to see this coming through there, then they're going to eat it. It is just, it is just proven year after year after year.
So we start out with that half oz. I like a bead, a red bead I think tends to attract fish a little bit. Sometimes I'll go with a black or even a clear bead just to give them a little bit different look. And then I like to have in that little bit of a knot protector right here. There's just a you know, it goes right in front of your swivel. Because this thing is going to be crashing around into the rocks, banging around. You need to have as much protection for your knot as possible. You're going to have to retire periodically. And there's a little trick if you get around a really heavy cover, some really nasty rocks got you a little trick here. I'll show you here in just a minute. But that's what you're going to do with your. With your swivel on the front side, I'm going to throw 20 LB Shooter.
Fluorocarbon, this is Sunline. Very, very abrasion resistant, not a lot of stretch in it. We're talking about making really long casts. So 20 LB mainline and then that 14 LB shooter is typically what I use on a leader and that's really clear water all the way to stained and dirty water. So 12 LB, I might go down to 12 LB and really, really clear water, but typically 14 LB does does the trick.
And then I typically throw a offset shank, round bend worm hook, the Gamakatsu, it's one of the ones with the the nano alpha coating on it. I think the coating is very important. You want to make sure your hook is very, very sharp because we're talking again, long, long ways from the boat where you're going to make these casts and then you're going to be able to you need to reel up all your slack. You're not going to be able to put a ton of pressure on them. You have to have a very sharp hook. That's where that's where that Gamakatsu comes in handy. This is the. The profile of that hook with that slick coating on it, This is a Missile Baits. Baby D Stroyer is probably the number one bait that I throw on a Carolina rig year round. I've caught some really big fish in the springtime on on this bait. Something about it. I think it looks like a crawfish kind of scurrying along the bottom. That's a that's a big part of it.
And then let's just mention the the rod and reel combo as well. I told you about the 20 LB Sunline Shooter as the main line, very abrasion resistant. I think that's the kind of the best. Size wise, I've dropped down to 18. I fished that. That's OK. 20s probably is like where I stay. 22 might be a little bit too big.
7 foot 3 inch medium heavy fast action rod. This is a Cashion Icon worming rod. This is what I use. I have caught hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of fish on a Carolina rig with this exact rod. So that is what I want.
I like to have a high speed reel. This is a Seviin. It's a GSC model from Seviin. High speed it's 8.1. One to one gear ratio. I like that high speed because when I'm done with the cast, I want to be able to reel it in as fast as possible so that I could throw it out there again, even though I'm making longer casts, I might only work that bait for 20 to 40 feet and then I'm reeling it in and then going over a little bit a little bit more. But we'll get into how you fish a Carolina rig here in a minute. But that's what that's my that's my setup rod and reel wise.
You just want to make sure that your rod is not too stiff. You do not want your rod to be. You don't. I don't like throwing with a flipping stick. Medium heavy for sure. But you can see even though it's medium heavy, there's kind of a, it's, it's somewhat of a moderate action. It's not a super fast, just a regular type fast action. That is really the key for, for that Carolina rig.
But in the springtime, springtime, we're talking about pre spawn during the spawn and then post spawn. That's, that's what you're looking at in the springtime, pre spawn. Those fish are very territorial. You're going to be able to. Look for those areas where the fish are coming to. So take the spawning flats, spawning areas, spawning pockets back out. Look for the points, look for the ledges leading into those areas. Find those hard bottoms. That's where those fish are going to be staging. I've caught some really big stringers of fish on a Carolina rig pre spawn. As those fish are moving up, maybe, maybe we get, you know, Bluebird skies like we have today. They're not eating a crankbait. They're not eating a chatterbait. They're not eating some of those other type of baits that you typically would throw in the pre spawn period. Carolina rig banging along the bottom is going to be what you're going to be trying to trying to fish.
So during the spawn there's only going to be limited times that I'm going to throw the Carolina rig. We're fishing for smallmouth bass or we're fishing for spotted bass. A lot of times those fish will be more on the main channel, not as much in the pockets, more on the main channel. Gravel type points, gravel type flats. That's where those small mouth. And sometimes the spotted, at best they're going to be spawning more out there. Sometimes those fish are harder to see. Maybe you don't have forward facing sonar. Maybe you can't find them with forward facing sonar. You can take that ball and chain, you can take that half oz weight with that leader and you can throw it around in those gravelly areas. You can feel that gravel. Those those smallmouth are not going to be spawning in areas that are muddy or clay banks. It's not where they not where they spawn. So you can feel that with the Carolina rig way easier than you can a drop shot or shaky head or any of these other baits, Texas rig, anything like that that you're going to be throwing for spawning fish. Take that Carolina where you could feel you say, Oh no, no, it's too soft too. So wait a minute, there's a ton of gravel right here. You know that that's where they're going to be spawning in during the spawn. So that is one time period that I do throw the Carolina rig and and typically during the spawn, I'll throw a little bit shorter leader, maybe, maybe 18 inch at at absolute most. I want that that banging and I want the bait to be real close together.
So then we we jump to post spawn. Post spawn is one of the best period. Times of the year to throw Carolina rig. It's something about those fish after the spawn. They're a little lackadaisical. They start, they, you know, it's, it's around the time that the shad spawn, maybe the herring spawn as well. They're going to pull out to those first points. Just a little secondary points or main lake points. A lot of times they're shallower than most people think they might be in two to six feet of water. Sometimes they'll be out there in 12 or 14, but a lot of times they're shallower than most people think.
Half oz to even a three quarter oz weight. But in that post spawn period I have seen. A little bit longer leader, like a three to a four foot leader. Has a lot better, a lot better luck and just so you know. That is the only time of the year that in the post spawn, immediate post spawn, that I might go to a straight worm, something like a Quiver 4.5, something short and straight that has no action, maybe even a Magic Worm, short and straight, no action in that postpawn period with that longer leader. It's a really, really good combination. I've seen it over the years and that post spawn period. Later in the spring can be can be just a really, really good combination.
But again, you're looking for hard bottoms. There's probably not a better technique and a better setup to throw to find out what kind of bottom that is that you're fishing other than a Carolina rig. We've got all the forward facing sonar. We've got all these side imaging technologies. We've got all these technologies on the boat. But I'm telling you, a fluorocarbon line transmits. The density of fluorocarbon transmits the signals of what you're feeling on the bottom. Better than any other line, hands down. Better than braid. I'll put it up against there. And it's way more abrasion resistant than braid too. That's why I like fluorocarbon on my Carolina rig. You can feel every Little Rock, every little Pebble, every little nothing as well.
But in that pre spawn period, I'll go back to that one real quick. I told you about lightening up your sinker. Sometimes I'll go to the little bit skinnier egg style sinkers. So this is these are the bigger ones. Sometimes I'll go to these cylindrical type type weights and I'll go all the way down to 1/4 or a 3/8 if I'm around grass. That is a big deal with the Carolina rig and that pre spawn period especially and post spawn is that those fish in lakes that have grass will use grass points, will use isolated patches of grass to sit, you know, after the spawn or you know, moving in or moving out. You can take that light Carolina rig and just drag it across the top of that grass, eel grass, hydrilla, sometimes mill foil, but that's typically not what you're targeting in the pre spawn. That pre spawn you're typically targeting either eelgrass or hydrilla under the surface, you can drag that through there and it's going to come through there and there's not a lot of other techniques that you can do to drag it across the top of that grass like that and then still have your bait be clean behind it like a Carolina rig.
So there it is Carolina rig in the springtime tie one on get used to it and I'll give you that one other tip about having. Having that. Having that bait not get hung up. Is that there are times when you get around, especially post spawn, you might say I've got, I've got this. I've got this really heavy rock area. I know the fish are sitting there, but every 10th cast I'm breaking off and I'm having to retie 3 San Diego jam knots blah blah blah instead of having one great big weight. You can have two. So instead of having two half oz weights, you can do two quarter oz weights which still equal to half oz will still get that bait down there. And these are not quarter oz, but I'm just going to show you what they what they look like. So what happens is that weight gets dissipated over top of two. Now you don't get that same thud dragging it on the bottom. But if you're just trying to get that bait down there and try to have something scratched along the bottom, you can take 2 weights of a similar size maybe you're up at Champlain and you're dragging around a three quarter oz weight, but you're breaking off all the time. You can take two 3/8 ounce weights. Put them together in front of that setup that I showed you earlier all of a sudden. You got extra sound and since the weight is divided up between the two weights, you're not going to hang up near as much almost not at all. It is it is really kind of crazy how much more cover you can bring it through by dividing those two weights up.
So there's your little there's your little heavy rock tip for a post spawn period, especially pre spawn sometimes, but definitely in that post bomb period. Try that with your Carolina rigs in the springtime and you will definitely catch more. Fish and you'll catch some big ones too.
