This distance from the lead up to the top Chod Rig bead is critical, and adjusted depending on how scruffy the lake bed is where you’re fishing. In light debris and low weed the stop can be as little as 12 inches from the lead, but if the weed is several feet deep the bead should be right at the top of a long Plummet leader. If in doubt, fish the top bead further away from the lead.
To get the most out of the chod rig you need to be careful how you set your bobbins. Always try to keep the line relatively slack, otherwise any added tension may pull the hook link down into the debris. Bites with a chod rig will often start out looking like a violent, twitchy liner, as the fish hooks itself against the weight of the line and the Plummet leader acting against the anchor point of the lead. If the bobbin stays tight to the buzzer there’s normally a fish on the end.
When Should I Use It?
If the lake bed is predominantly covered in weed, leaves or algae consider using the chod rig as the presentation will be much better and you can get your hook bait in position with fewer casts. This is especially important if you are casting at showing fish.
The chod pops up over the bottom detritus. Gardner offers chods and helicopter rigs ready tied. Stiff line should be used to create a chod rig to get a bend on the hook link that’s hard for carp to reject. The lead arrangement is basically a helicopter rig where the weight sits at the end of the main line and the hook link rotates around it. The bait on a chod holds off the back of a D-shape of line on the back of the hook. The top bead is adjustable so you can change the distance between the bait. The hook link and the lead.
runs via a ring on a swivel so that the hook link can move backwards on the cast
Lead-Clip Bolt Rig
Hugely popular, lead clips are used by many anglers mainly because of the ability to swap leads in the blink of an eye. The ribs on the lead-clip arm combined with how far the tail rubber is pushed on allow the angler to control the force required to discharge the lead – how hard you pull on the line against how easily the lead drops o# the clip leaving you with a straight, unencumbered line to the fish. Thanks to the ability to change lead size and shape, lead-clip systems can be used on almost any type of lake bed. By lengthening the hook link you can still maintain good presentation over light weed or silt, and on hard spots using a “at pear bomb will maximise the resistance, getting the most from your bolt rig.
I’m a big fan of uncoated braid in the right situation. It offers unsurpassed limpness that is said to give the hook bait a freedom of movement that can fool !sh into thinking the bait is a freebie. Whether it is this effect, or Lead-clip Bolt Rig simply that the supple nature of these materials feels different to monofilaments on the fish’s lip, or that the hook is free to twist uninhibited and take hold more effectively in the fish’s mouth is really uncertain. It’s probably a mix of all these attributes that makes braid so effective. The perfect hook-link braid should sink “flush to the lake bed, be smooth to the touch and ultra-limp, have a low diameter and be nicely camouflaged against a number of lake beds. The subtlety that braids o#er make them an extraordinarily effective hook-link option, and are the number-one choice for many anglers, especially when !shing with solid-PVA bags or small hook baits.
Hook choice is very much a personal thing; however, I favour a wide-gaped, beaked-point pattern when using this rig. The increased gape offers the benefit of increased hooking power by allowing the hook point to be set further away from the hook eye, and the hook to grip deeper and even more strongly. My preferred hook bait when using this rig is two pieces of imitation corn from EnterpriseTackle (one sinking and one buoyant), which negates the weight of the hook, or a whittled-down boilie hook bait. Combine this with a small micro-mesh or solid-PVA bag and watch those bobbins fly.
When Should I Use It?
The lead-clip bolt rig is a general-purpose rig you can use in most situations but it works best when you’ve got a clear swim where you want to present a bottom or poppedup bait. They’re brilliant for commercial venues when used with a PVA bag of feed.
A great presentation of bait on the leadclip bolt rig is a slightly poppedup arrangement. The use of a quick-change Q ring after the lead-clip swivel will help you change hook links a lot more efficiently. The shape of lead you use on your rig will be determined by the bottom make-up of the swim you’re targeting. You can use coated or uncoated braid for the hook link, but the best presentation comes from uncoated as it will sit flush on the bottom.
A lead clip is designed to hold the lead in place but drop it when there’s force pulling from the hook and the rod end.