The Mag-Aligner

Unlike other rigs mentioned in my current little technical series, the Mag-Aligner offers more of a complete package, its overall effect going well beyond the practical efficiencies of its highly effective hooking mechanism. Dare I be so bold as to say, that in any circumstances where maggots can be presented on a clean, weed-free lakebed, this presentation will nab you more than any other popular maggot presentations. It is simply superior in every way—no bollocks! It’s just amazing, and a veritable game-changer. 

I remember like it was yesterday, first using it. The prodigious big-fish hunter, Rob Maylin, had been using the rig to amazing effect, hauling some astonishing hits of carp from several local venues, including Swan Valley, Sandy and the beautiful Frimley complex. His results were just mad! He had multiple hits from all those lakes, and always in just a few hours’ fishing each morning. His version of Nernie Nonington’s original concept basically fine-tuned the hooklink and incorporated a means of attaching a big fine PVA mesh bag of maggots, without the rig being ruined when the whole lot crashed on to the lake’s surface. Rob is a prodigious caster too, and the size of his PVA maggot bags had to be seen to be believed—far bigger than I use, as my puny ‘office’ arms just can’t cope with the inertia whilst trying to cast them!

Anyway, I have digressed; sorry! I was due to take part in CARPology’s ‘Cricket Fishing’ match with James Willsmer, a partner with Simon at DT Baits during that time, fishing against the powerful ’Ology editorial crew. For preparatory purposes, I popped down to Pit 3 at Frimley to have a dabble with the Mag-Aligner Rig, and ended up next-door to Rob, who was fishing in the Double Boards at the time—and hauling again! There were a few carp bubbling subtly 40 to 50yds out in the Gravelly, so after I’d tied a couple of rigs up and tweaked my lead arrangements, I wandered down and asked ‘Mr. Mayhem’ to give them the once-over. Rob, being his usual affable and helpful self, pointed out a couple of small details that he suggested needed addressing, but said they were okay, and I wandered back and hurled them out. From memory, I snared a very pretty low-twenty mirror, and Rob smacked out the biggest carp in the lake, from virtually off my rod tips! Utterly unbelievable, Geoff!

Anyway, having got a grounding in the method, we went down to Elphicks and metaphorically annihilated the dynamic publishing duo of Bobby ‘fat George Clooney’ Bell and the mouse nest-haired editor-in-chief. The success was almost entirely down to the application of maggots in PVA bags and the Mag-Aligner. Even bait baron, James, ended up swapping to the wrigglers and rig before the end, just to contribute to the final tally.

Ever since those earliest days, I have fully understood the power of the Mag-Aligner trap when it is applied amongst carp on the correct venue. It’s not just carp that are powerless to resist the drawer of the ‘Germ-Aligner’ trap, so be prepared for some lesser-species therapy if you choose to use it on a venue that has significant stocks of ‘tincas’ and ‘brassams’. 

Talking of which, it’s also been an absolute game-changer for the speci-nods, proving uber-effective for chub and barbel alike when fished slightly longer than stillwater variants. Now, enough of talking about such things… it’s making me feel bilious!     

RIG BUSHCRAFT: How it’s put together 

So how is the rig constructed, how is it fished and what makes it oh-so special? It’s so much more than just a hooklink—as I said earlier, it’s the trap in its entirety that elevates it to ‘wow’ status and makes even mediocre anglers like me look like they know what they’re doing!

Rig-wise, the Mag-Aligner utilises an Enterprise Tackle rubber maggot, the Mag-Aligner Grub. This is perfect, and is threaded onto the hooklink using a needle. It is slid up the link and pushed onto the hook eye, so that the exit point of the hooklink is on the inside face of the maggot, and in alignment with the hook point. If you combine this with an inturned-eye hook like a curve point or curve shank, the effect is enhanced, as together they create the aggressive flip of the hook, which works in the same way as the classic Line-Aligner set-up. 

Hooks sizes can be varied, depending on the venue and fish size. Personally, I prefer 8s to 10s. I used to use 11s and 12s, but found stepping up didn’t reduce the pick-ups and was kinder on their mouths. Hooking on five to seven live maggots with the ‘plastic fantastic’ Mag-Aligner Grub seems about right, and creates a big enough ‘suck point’ without looking at all obvious.

Primed with a few maggots, it’s so fantastically simple and uncluttered… absolute genius! You need only lower a complete Mag-Aligner with a PVA bag into the edge and watch what happens when the PVA ruptures, to get a great insight into one of the rig’s amazing benefits, that being that the hookbait is indistinguishable from the rest of the bag’s contents. It’s not like a solid PVA bag-and-hookbait trap, which can look pretty obvious in terms of what is the hookbait—we all know how effective that arrangement is—but is far more subtle. The hookbait literally disappears amongst the spread of ‘germs’, in a patch that’s just about the perfect size, i.e. just enough bait, and not too much. 

Without a doubt, we have always done well combining the rig with a supple braided hooklink, or at the very least, a skinned hooklink with the portion nearest the hook stripped. This ensures that the movement of the hook is not inhibited and that it can react instantly as the hookbait is inhaled, the hooklink extends and tightens.

LEAD ARRANGEMENT: Heli-style works best

The classic Mag-Aligner lead arrangement that works for all but long-range work is a heli-style lead set-up. The weight is supplied by an inline lead held on the end of the heli by a ring swivel, instead of tying on a pendant lead. The mesh PVA bag of maggots that creates the ‘dinner plate of doom’ is tied to the large ring on that swivel and the hookbait is nicked onto the side, ensuring that the rig remains tangle-free. It’s that simple. At close-range, you can use as big a bag as you can cast. For longer-range work, it’s simply a case of reducing the diameter of the PVA bag from standard PVA to boilie size. Note: if your venue requires you to use a lead-clip arrangement, simply tie the PVA bag onto the lead swivel; it works just as well.

Hooklinks tend to be relatively short, defined by the lead arrangement you choose and the fact that the hook nicks into the bag. The neatest tangle-proof presentations avoid having loads of excess hooklink hanging around, tethered to the bag. Instead, and ideally, the hooklink should lay neatly along the side of the bag—but not so tightly that there’s no leeway.

Now, this may fly in the face of popular dogma, but there’s simply no need to spod in gallons of the maggots. Whilst Mag-Aligners will work over bait, the process is one of casting in individual traps and building the feeding response of the carp in the swim. The bag approach enables you to fish effectively right from the off. There’s no need to Spomb or spod the granny out of an area, and spooking any fish present. As a carp comes in, sucks up a good mouthful of maggots and then gets hooked, it will naturally cough them out as it hooks itself, and those ejected maggots spread across the area. 

THE RIGHT SPOT: Look for a clean bottom

As with most maggot rigs, the Mag-Aligner really needs to be fished on a clean bottom, otherwise the cheeky little wigglers can snare the hooklink and drag the hook into weed, rendering the presentation ineffectual. There are other rigs you can call upon to deal with the challenges of that angling scenario, and these normally involve a pop-up of some description to keep the hook point held up and unobstructed, but none of them are as amazing as the Mag-Aligner.

If you missed out on using this amazing rig when it first came to the fore, then you have been missing out big time! It really should be in every coarse angler’s armoury. It is a truly unique and extremely effective presentation. Next time you’re on a water that responds well to germs, why not give it a go? I’m confident that you will be very pleasantly surprised.