Carpiers Arsenal
Tying the "Hair Rig"

The one piece of ammo that you want in your carping arsenal is the hair rig. This is important for successful carp fishing. Carp have very sensitive lips and will suck up food stuffs and check them out. The first sign of a sharp hook barb and they will spit it. What this rig allows you to do is thread  boilies or pieces of kernel corn on your line separate to the hook. This allows a more natural free floating presentation. When a carp takes the bait he is more committed prior to a hook set.

These two illustrations show tying the hair rig with the "Knotless Knot."  I will usually cinch my "Hair" close to the wraps next to the hook shank. This differs from the illustration but it is my personal preference. 10lb to 15lb test mono will work nicely for tying this, but some of the new braided kevlar lines can bring some extra strength to this setup, with 20lb to 50lb test braid being the same diameter of 10-15lb mono. Once you learn to tie this rig, you are ready to thread on your boilies or corn using a straightened fish hook  or a purpose built boilie threader.

Until I learned this knot carp fishing was very hit or miss. This is the one peice of information that will improve your carp hooking ability %110. Once practiced this is an easy knot to tie quickly and you can have a new rig ready in minutes. Grab your boilie needle thread a few pieces of corn or boilie on, secure with a stopper or blade of grass and your ready to go!

We'll get into making a bottom rig and screaming runs with baitrunners, rod pods, and chummin in future articles.

Rigged Boilies Threaded with Boilie Needles

Boilie needle Set w/Boilie Drill for Hard Baits, Note: You can use a straightened fishook as a boilie needle, just make sure you heat it good with a lighter or flame before bending it. I will do this and seat the hook into an old dowel drilled in the middle. Dip the eye hook in epoxy before pressing into the dowel.

`Longjohn