Adam Penning's Bottom-Bait Chod Rig

Let’s start with the fundamentals; what’s the thinking behind this set-up?
“To provide a super-short, super-stiff rig that never ever tangles, one that you can cast anywhere and fish over any kind of lakebed. Because it’s so different to anything else the carp might come across, it’s very, very difficult for them to deal with. That’s the thinking behind it, really, just to provide something that is an effective a hooking arrangement as you can possibly achieve. It brings the lead into play as soon as possible, and with the stiff hooklink and supple Hair, you have movement of the bait. The length of hooklink, though, makes it very, very difficult for the fish to deal with.

“One of the biggest rig edges out there isn’t a bead, a sliding this or that, or some gadgety gizmo, it’s the length of the rig. In the right situation, super-short rigs are absolutely deadly.”

How and when did you come up with it?
“I came up with it by accident, in 2009 or thereabouts. It literally came about because I put a bottom bait—a slow sinker it was, actually—on my Chod Rigs, because I was in a rush. I made an error of judgement and selected the wrong tub. I put the ‘wrong’ hookbait on, and caught a fish quite quickly from a tricky lake. Then, the penny started to drop as to how effective it could be. I used it subsequently, more and more, to the point that I caught my UK PB at the time on it. It caught me a lot of fish from a lot of different waters, from Linear through to tough syndicate lakes.”

Does it have to be fished with a bottom bait, or have you tried it with a balanced hookbait?
“I only fish it with a bottom bait. I don’t use wafters; I just think they’re ridiculous! So there we go, I just fish it with a bottom bait.”

What lead arrangement do you use with this set-up?
“You have to use it with a Helicopter Rig. With any rig that has a super-short hooklink, in my opinion, you can only really use a Helicopter Rig. That’s just to get the rig to sit and lay nicely, so yeah, it has to be a Helicopter Rig.”

Could you run through what components you use: hook pattern and size, hooklink material, etc?
“I use a size 6 Thinking Anglers Curve Point. I straighten the eye with pliers, so a straight-eyed hook, effectively, and usually a size 6. I tend to use the rig with smaller baits, up to about 16mm, so I don’t need to go any bigger. I wouldn’t really like the look of a 20mm hookbait on such a short rig.

“Hooklink material is 25lb Tint Link, or a similar fluorocarbon that’s 0.45–0.50mmm diameter.

“I obviously have a hook bead on the shank, and use soft, supple braid for the Hair. I have a Figure-of-Eight Loop Knot at the other end of the hooklink, to give me lots of movement, and place an anti-tangle sleeve over that. I attach the hooklink via a quick-change heli-swivel, so that I don’t have to worry about the security of it, and obviously the lack of movement with the anti-tangle sleeve. I just use those little crook beads, which slide on there. I make sure that I still have plenty of movement from the loop, from a nice, tidy, streamlined little set-up.”

Finally, have you any tips/advice for tying it, i.e. the number of wraps around the hook shank, optimum length, how you mount the hookbait, etc?
“To get the best out of it, you need to learn to tie the Whipping Knot or Domhoff Knot. That’s absolutely imperative, and there’s loads of information online. There’s no optimum number of whipping turns, because there’s no ‘D’ or anything attached. Four turns will give you complete security, and then trim it off. I don’t like to go down any more than four turns, because that will reduce how far the rig ring can slide up towards the hook eye. I want that to slide up quite well and three to four turns are fine.

“You want a supple Hair, and again, that’s imperative, I think. I try and keep the bead sort of at the bottom of the shank, just before where it starts to curve round. The Hair doesn’t have loads of travel; it’s trapped on that straight bit of the shank, really. The key is, when you pick up the hookbait, does the hook point drop? The further you push that bead around the bend, the more the hook comes up the wrong way, when you lift the bait. It won’t hang right, and I want it to drop down like a claw. For it to do that, you need to keep the Hair and the bait up near the eye, on the straight bit of the shank.

“Optimum overall length is 3.5–4.5 inches. I don’t go any longer than that because it then just becomes something else.

“They’re the key things to consider. Just use it with a bottom bait, with no frills or titivating. I keep it short, and it’s got to be on a Helicopter Rig. I think that’s it.”