The Turbo German Rig

The simplicity controlled positioning on the original German Rig ensured that the final hooking mechanism worked extremely well with almost any type of balanced bottom baits. It offers consistent presentation and nice solid hook holds when the rig is tied in conjunction with a Covert Dark Mugga.

Life was good and there seemed little that would need to change – at least until the Ronnie came along and suddenly the way we looked at rigs, and in particular alternative hook attachment, radically changed. What was extraordinary before suddenly became mainstream, with the swivel on the eye (not on the shank 360 style) offering greatly enhanced speed of response, no matter which direction that the carp approached the hookbait.

With a slow sinking ‘balanced’ hookbait, combined with the rotational freedom that using a Covert Hook Swivel (to mount the hookbait) and a sleeved C-Lok mounting the hook, you end up with a super fast reacting, aggressive hooking mechanism with all the benefits of the original ‘German’, plus the advantages of the hook swivel.

I firmly believe that incorporating an XT Kwik-Lok or C-Lok without a flexi-ring essentially offers ‘just enough’ rigidity to the arrangement so that the hook/hookbait lays in a controlled manner. Of course this is with mono (Invisi-link or Trick-link) or skinned hooklinks with no portions stripped. Whereas having the hinge point (flexi ring) in place with what is essentially a bottom bait rig means that as the lead impacts the lakebed and then the rig follows, the hook can’t lay back on itself, lying awkwardly next to the hooklink.

Thinking about this now, there is a really easy (obvious) way of controlling the orientation of hook and hooklink (keeping it straight) and that is by sliding a small PVA Stick bag down the hooklink, locking the hook/hooklink in place. One thing worth considering at is this time of the year, when water temperatures are rock bottom, is the baseline melt-rate of PVA may be inhibited (especially if the crumbed bait has any significant oil content).

One last detail that I’ve mentioned before, but I’ll reiterate now, is the use of a small, plain size 20 swivel over the Flexi Hook Swivel. The small swivel allows the necessary rolling movement – but just enough rigidity to avoid tangles. With a pop-up rig, like the Ronnie or Hinged Stiff Link, the Flexi Hook Swivel will naturally reset after being disturbed, but on a balanced rig like The German where the weight of the hook is the counterbalance to the hookbait’s buoyancy, the bait may not be buoyant enough to lift the hook and correct any twist. The size 20 Hook Swivel keeps everything untangled and ready to snare the first carp that dares to suck up the wrong bait – the one with a Turbo German attached…

How To Tie The Turbo German Rig

The items you need…

1. Take around 12mm of large Covert Shrink Tube like so.

2. Thread it onto a sharp size 4 Covert Dark Mugga hook.

3. Take a C-Lok Swivel and pass the crook through the eye.

4. Pass the Shrink Tube over the crook of the C-Lok Swivel.

5. Now take a lighter and shrink the tubing down as shown.

6. Pass the point through the swivel eye of a Hook Swivel.

7. Thread on a Hook Stop and position opposite the barb.

8. Tie on your chosen hooklength; we’re using 25lb Stiff Ultra Skin.