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Any good fisherman knows, 'If it works, use it!' Pacific Northwest Bass fishermen have learned that many Southern tactics work well on Largemouth and Smallmouth in our lakes and rivers. Like the Texas Rig, the Carolina Rig can certainly be an excellent choice for presenting your soft plastics, under right conditions.

The rig itself is simple enough: Slide a bullet sinker, egg sinker or barrel sinker up onto your main line. Then put on a bead or two and if you want, a brass 'clacker.' Then tie on a swivel, a 10 to 24 inch leader and a good 'weedless' soft plastic hook. Being a bit of a bumbler and a bit nervous about too much leader dangling around, I usually opt for about a 12 to 14 inch leader, and I think that works well. Choose the most seductive, prey-resembling soft bait you can think of, add a little scent and Presto! You have an excellent fish-getting Carolina Rig! The pictured rig shows a lizard, but a worm, tube, swim-bait or creature bait can be used just as well. Combine the weedless hook and soft plastic as described in last month's Texas-Rig article.

Another possibility is the 'pre-tied' Carolina-Rig {Pictured}. A wire holds the whole compact assembly together, it comes in an assortment of weights, and it's a fast way to get into action. Just tie your main line to one end and your leader and hook to the other, and you are ready to fish. Whether using the pre-tied or setting up your own rig, remember that one outstanding advantage of the Carolina-Rig is that without weight, your soft-plastic is free to drift, wave, rise, drop and slither seductively. Fish it with this action in mind and it will help with your presentation.

Most people use bullet sinkers for this rig, but other styles work, including tungsten instead of lead. The main thing is to separate the bait from the weight and add some fish-getting noise. I like to sweeten the pot by adding a glass rattle, inserted into the soft-plastic bait. Insert the pointy end of the glass straight into the thickest area of the bait, then run it parallel up inside the bait, backing the blunt end back inside the plastic so the rattle doesn't cast out or shake out. This is effective on Texas Rig plastics as well. Unless you are among spooky fish in a highly-pressured area, it helps to have that extra little bit of 'clicking' sound to bring in curious Bass.

Both the Carolina and the Texas Rig are great for fishing weedless soft-plastics, but the Carolina really shines when fishing in a less snaggy, more open area with sparser weeds and a cleaner bottom. In this situation, your Carolina is actually functioning as a softer version of a 'searchbait,' efficiently sectioning off a larger area and calling up Bass that happen to be in the vicinity of each cast. This is classic Carolina territory, and stirring up a commotion over the bottom, rattling, clicking, clacking, then pulling a tasty looking morsel right into the area where the noise is attracting fish…..Get ready to set the hook! Avoid being too twitchy, though. Don't rear back on the first 'tick' or nibble on your line. Let the fish set up a good pull before you stick him. Otherwise, you can easily take the bait out of the strike zone and change the fish's mind.

While the open-water approach is great, giving the Bass a maximum opportunity to locate, stalk and examine your Carolina offering, there is another tactic that can be deadly as well. It's the old 'Bump the Stump' ploy. Sure, you can do the bump by hustling along with a spinnerbait, crankbait or Texas-Rigged plastic, but the Carolina Rig gives you one more advantage: Lag time.

If you know where there is a likely stump, small rockpile or other underwater structure, the Carolina can be perfect for delivering a 'thump,' then allowing a little hesitation before moving the bait itself into the object or into the fish's view, then showing the Bass an 'escape' action that requires a quick commitment. A less active – or larger Bass with more efficient feeding habits! – fish might still be considering what the noise and flash was all about, as your crankbait or spinnerbait is disappearing off into the murk. But that same fish may well decide to take advantage of a strong hint that something good is coming!

Once you have made first contact with the stump, you can also add a series of short, sharp 'jerks' to activate the bait and make more noise and commotion before your whole set-up leaves the area. Another tactic is to make that first thump, then delay any action. Pause and allow the bait to just sit for a couple of beats before moving it again. Often the initial movement after resting the bait will trigger the fish to bite.

Unless you have become 'expert' at interpreting your electronics (A skill worth working on!), or have one of the newer 'high-definition' fish-finders, you can view your display without actually seeing some subtle features that could be important to a Bass. Or you could be on smaller water and fishing from a craft that does not have electronics. Either way, it's easy to miss a good, fish-holding feature. Here is where the 'search-bait' capability of a Carolina-Rig can come into play. Say you're in a new area or fishing in water of low-visibility. Allow your rig to slide along, telling you when it finds a stump, rotted-off piling, brush-pile, submerged log, limb or partially-buried boulder.

Once you know where these sunken treasures are, use your Carolina to call up some fish. Or say you know you're on a scattered stump flat, but you're not entirely clear on specific locations of good stumps. Fish for them with your Carolina-Rig. Use a little patience, feel around, present that bait in those prime spots that you or other fishermen might otherwise have missed, and you might just be glad you included this tactic in your arsenal!

Whether you want to go after Bass exclusively with just soft-plastics, or whether you want to use everything in your tackle box and explore the entire water-column, using options from hyper top-waters to slow mud-dragging jigs…..Don't neglect the Carolina-Rig. It might must be the one thing that trips Mr. Big's trigger!

The Carolina-Rig moves the weight along well ahead of the unweighted bait. Under circumstances we have discussed above, this might be the perfect presentation. But what might happen if we drop or drag the weight behind the bait? Ah! We might be talking about the Drop-Shot rig! Let's consider this technique next time. Until then, keep your dry side up, your wet side down….And make one more cast!

Your fellow Big Bass-hunting maniac,

Bob Larimer

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