The Best Carp Rigs for Pop Ups

Fishing with pop ups is a very effective method for catching Carp and some very big Carp at that!
It is essential you use the right rig to get the best presentation and reaction to a bite. Some rigs are dedicated to using pop ups and wafters, some are suitable for all bait types and some are just for bottom baits. So what Carp rig do you choose and why?

Ronnie/ Spinner rig

The most popular rig for pop ups at the moment has to be the Ronnie Rig or Spinner rig. This is essentially a rig which allows you to present a pop up just an inch or so off the bottom. The rig itself comprises of a stiff boom section (although a coated braid can be used) and then the hook is mounted on a specialist ronnie or spinner swivel. This rig is what is favoured by Tom Dove, Neil Spooner etc. and can come under many different names such as "the Ronnie boys" (OMC) The Spinner Rig (Korda) (they remove the large ring from the Ronnie swivel) The Rotator (Ridgemonkey) All of these are the same rig just the marketing is different.
The ideal presentation is for the boom to lay flat and then the hook to fall slowly through the water, this will ensure your rig is sitting on top of any leaves or debris that may be on the bottom. The hook should sit up right like a claw. With this rig you should test it prior to actually casting out and fishing.

With the Ronnie or Spinner rig the bait is mounted on the shank of the hook via a bait screw, micro flexi swivel or a rig ring.
This rig has had many adaptions in recent years from adding a hair to the shank to allow you to hair rig a bait, to combining the Fluorocarbon D rig style of presentation, this is achieved by creating a D section using a fluorocarbon.
Ronnie or spinner rigs can also be used very effectively in a PVA solid bag however, the rig should be made with a supple braid such as Fox Reflex, Korda Dark Matter (Uncoated) or Korda Super Natural.

The Chod Rig 

This is one of the classics, they are practically the same rig. The chod rig is a very short rig normally only a inch or so long and has a Flexi swivel on the end. This allows you to slide the chod rig on to your leader if you use them or your mainline if you are fishing the Naked Chod rig. This rig is perfect for when there is leaves and decaying weed on the bottom of the lake. The trick to using the Chod rig effectively is to get your chod beads in the right position, you don't want the bottom bead to near to the lead as this may cause the rig to bury itself in the debris, instead, you want it about 2 or 3 inches above the lead sometimes even more than that. The top chod bead can be set at what ever distance you would like however, if a fish picks up the bait and moves towards the rod you may not get an indication of a bite if the top bead is too far away. I find about 2 to 4 inches seems to work best for me on the waters I fish. Like all the other rigs you may find you need to add some rig putty to this rig to get the perfect presentation. The rig putty should be moulded around the bottom crimp. When you test this rig you want the rig to sit upright and the swivel to touch the bottom.

The Stiff Hinge Rig

The Hinged Stiff Rig is best suited to lakes where big carp are present as it may be abit cumbersome for small carp. The Hinged rig has a stiff boom and then what is in essence a chod rig attached at the bottom. This rig is more suited over shallow weed or silkweed on a helicopter setup or a helisafe system. I have found using pop ups bigger than 14mm to work best as this gives you the buoyancy required to make the hook section stand upright.

Multi Rig

The Multi Rig or combi multi rig are excellent rigs for presenting a pop up, the way the hook is attached via a slip D style means you can put a fresh hook on in seconds if required. The Multi rig also enables you to present even a small bait like 2 bits of fake corn effectively. This Carp rig can come in a few different types such as the Darrell Peck Style Multi combi rig - this has a stiff boom section and a supple hook section or the Adam Penning style pop up Multi combi rig - This has a coated braid boom and a fluorocarbon hook section. Both work fantastically well over shallow weed or clear patches. Due to the combination of still and supple materials it makes it almost impossible for a carp to eject your bait.