How To: Carp Fishing - Basic Hair Rig

There are many variations on the carp hair rig.  The following tutorial will show you how to tie your basic hair rig.  This is the very "bare bones" hair rig without any fancy twists to it.

What You Need: 

-Hook link material - several are available and mono, fluorocarbon, and braid are all acceptable but somewhat different.  My preference is braid.

-Hook - Sizes 2 - 8 are common sizes.  For the basic hair rig my preference would be a long shank with a down turned eye like used in this example.

-Swivel - Should be able to withstand the pressure you're going to put on it.  Usually a size 12 or 8.

-Bait Needle - Used for threading bait on the hair

-Bait - Can pretty much be anything from store bought to home made to maize etc.  The list goes on.

-Bait Stopper - Holds the bait on the hair.  Easiest is to buy at one of the carp stores on my blog.

How To Tie A Basic Hair Rig

To make your basic hair rig, you will need a hook link material, hook, and swivel.  In this case I have 50lb Powerpro, a Daiichi 2571 Boss Steelhead Hook size 6 and a size 12 swivel. 

Double over one end of the line.

Tie an overhand knot leaving a small loop at the end.

Leave a small loop at the end.  This is a little big actually for my taste.

Go to the other side of the line and thread it through the hook eye from the back to the front.

Slide the hook all the way down and hold it so the bend of the hook is towards the hair/loop you just made.

Starting away from the break in the hook eye, wrap around the shank of the hook 5+ times

Push the line back through the back of the hook eye and out the front

This is how the finished product should look on the hook side.  Notice the line coming through the hook eye comes in through the back and out through the front of the eye.  This is the most important part!

Double over the other side of the line and pass through one eye of the swivel to start the palomar knot.

Tie an over hand knot with the line that you just stuck through the loop.

Take the loop coming out of the overhand knot you just tied and pass it completely over the entire swivel

Pull both the tag end and the hook link end tight to cinch the knot tight.

Here is a picture of the finished rig before you put bait on.

Now that you've got the rig, you will need a bait needle, bait stoppers, and bait. Bait stoppers can be found at many of the carp fishing stores in my links section.  The bait in this case is two pieces of Enterprise fake maize for illustrative purposes.

Pierce through your selected bait with your bait needle.

  Use the hook in the end of the bait needle to hook the loop of the hair and push your bait down towards the hook.  Then unhook the hair from the bait needle.

Next you insert the bait stopper.  In this case they come in a section with several on a string.  Insert one section and then cut to fit. 

Slide the bait down to the bait stop to lock everything in place.

Here is the finished rig with the bait attached.  Normally I would look to have a little less room between the hook and the bait by adding a third piece of fake maize.  But you get the idea.