Zig Rig

The zig rig is a floating hook bait attached to a long hook. It is ideal for presenting a hookbait at a level or depth where the carp are foraging for food.

To make a zip rig, use a long hooklink and add your bait to the floating end. The zig rig was originally designed to catch carp that spend most of their time swimming in the mid-depths of the water. Pop-up boilies work well with this rig, as do hookbaits that look and act like hatching insects.

Zig Rig

Many anglers use little foam pieces as hookbaits for this rig because they float very well. You can also shape or color these foam pieces to look like the insect hatch of choice. The most popular colors to use are yellow, black, and red.

When making the zig rig, you’ll want to play with the length of the hooklink to ensure that your bait is getting to just the right depth. Anglers will often use several different rods with zig rigs set at various depths. They’ll then wait to see which depth gets the most bites. This helps them determine the most effective rig set-up. You can start off at a three-quarter depth, then move to a mid-depth until you discover where the fish are sitting.

These rigs work great no matter what the season, though they tend to work especially well in the spring when insects are hatching.