Chod Time Warp: When the Choddie was first revealed...

‘Chod’: The word ‘Chod’ is a term referred to by CARPologist as anything from dead leaves, dead weed, fresh weed, silkweed – anything that’s not a clean bottom in fact.
CARPology Dictionary, Vol. 2.

Nigel Sharp Q+A

“Why do you think this rig is so successful?”
“Two reason. One, you can get pretty presentation on any type of bottom really. Two, because it’s a short hooklink, with a lead a long way from it, it doesn’t give them any room.”

“Do you fish it on a tight line – so it almost acts like a bow?”
“I’d rather fish it on a slacker line myself, but it can be fished both ways.”

The Chod Rig: a common sight nowadays, but not so back in 2004

“Any particular areas that you really need to look at: hook pattern, bait, leadcore, length of leadcore, etc.?”
“I fish it with a standard 6ft length of leadcore myself. I’m still playing around the pop-up section. I’ve found shorter the better. I prefer the ESP Stiff Rigger hooks and their Stiff Bristle Filament for the actual hooklink material, fished ‘D Rig’ style. The hooks are perfect, simply because they were made for the actual ‘Stiff Rig’.”

“How do you know how far to fish the hooklink up the leadcore?”
“It depends on the depth of the chod really. On my marker float I have a link from the lead to the swivel that runs on the main line. If I’ve cast into chod, and my marker float is still coming up ok, then I know roughly the depth is less that 6”, so I gauge it around that. If I didn’t have a marker or didn’t want to cast one out because I thought fish were in the area, then I’d just pull it up the leadcore anything from a foot to two-foot. That’s the best about this rig. You can cast it anywhere and get presentation.”

The first picture of a Chod Rig to appear in CARPology way back in 2004

Nigel’s ‘Hand Tying’ Guide To His Chod Rig

01. Nigel starts by taking a length of ESP Stiff Bristle Filament and ties on size-11 Ring Swivel using a Four-Turn Grinner Knot.

02. Next he threads on a size-5 ESP Stiff Rigger. Note how close the hook is to the swivel.

03. He then forms a loop coming off the back of the shank.

04. Nigel then whips the hooklink material around the shank and the knot he has formed.

05. The hooklink material is whipped round five or six times before being passed back through the loop.

06. That’s how it should look.

07. Next take a small rig ring and pass it into the tag end.

08. Pass the tag end back through the eye of the hook, so it looks like this. Obviously the more you pull through, the smaller the loop becomes.

09. Once you’re happy with the size of the loop, use a pair of scissors to trim the end off.

10. A very arty picture of Nigel using a lighter to melt the end of the Bristle Filament. Why’s he doing that? To secure it! Like you don’t already know!

11. The hooklink is held in place via a small piece of silicone. Should, in the event of a crack off, the hooklink can be easily pulled past this and over the Needle Knot of the leadcore.

12. This is how the rig sits in the water. It’s that good, both Nigel and Terry Hearn haven’t been bothering with the complete Stiff Rig they’ve both made so famous. Get on it!

Early Chod Rig success for Sharpy