ASK THE EXPERTS

Dear Panel

I haven't been fishing for that long and the other day I was talking to a man at the lake and he started talking about Anchor Rigs being very effective on our local lake. What is an Anchor Rig, and can you tell me how to tie them?

Many thanks,

Louise Read,
Steyning, West Sussex.

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Hi Louise

The Anchor Rig is an effective rig which has been around for years but seems to get forgotten about a little. Basically, the Anchor Rig has two main advantages to hooking carp. The first is that it makes the hookbait much harder to eject than a standard rig, and, secondly, it has a spooking effect once the carp mouths the bait.

Start by tying a normal Hair Rig and then slide approx 25-30mm of shrink tube over the eye of the hook.	Using a splicing needle, puncture the shrink tube at the point where you prefer the anchor section.
Now slide a length of stiff bristle filament such as 'Fox Rigidity' through the hole as shown above.	Trim the stiff bristle filament eithere side of the shrink tube using a pair of sharp scissors.
Finally, steam the shrink tube which will hold the stiff bristle filament in position, creating your 'anchor'. You can also add a slight curve to the shrink tube during steaming to help the hook turn in the carp's mouth.

The Anchor Rig is very easy to tie as it hardly differs from a standard hooklength setup. The best way to tie an Anchor Rig is to use a short section of shrink tube over the eye of the hook and knot as normal, but before you steam everything neat and tidy, insert a small length of stiff line or Bristle Filament with a needle or make a hole with a baiting needle and thread it through the shrink tube at a 90-degree angle to the shank of the hook about 2cm from the eye. As to the length of the anchor section, I like to have about 1cm either side of the tubing as shown in the picture. This is plenty to help turn the hook in the carp’s mouth or to make the fish spook with the hookbait.

Hope this helps.

Shaun