There’s rigs and there are RIGS…

Some stand the test of time and work year after year, others are more transient in nature, with tangible benefits being a figment of a twisted mind, but not offering any genuine advantage in terms of catching carp!

This one however is very special, and it’s a rig that’s been used successfully on the quiet (TOP SECRET) for a few years now, successfully being deployed as a tool pivotal in catching some phenomenally big fish from a number of waters. But now the word is out…

The Ronnie Rig offers the benefits of a super consistent low pop up presentation, fished the height of a hook and the swivel, but without the issues of a naked hook eye that has the potential for snaring landing net meshes and the problems that potentially occur to the 360 style rig.

It offers all the advantages of the rig mechanics of the Hinged Stiff Rig, but without the issues related to trying to fish them low (which isn’t the optimum arrangement). Tied right those of us that have used it extensively have pure unadulterated confidence because hook pulls are almost nonexistent (I can’t remember pulling out of a single fish with the rig in this form).

Luckily, it’s amazingly simple to construct thanks to the use of a size 12 Covert Kwik Lok Flexi-Ring Swivel* mounted on the eye of the hook, and when combined with one of our awesome Covert Dark Mugga Hooks offers a highly aggressive, fast reacting rig presentation that is ruthless!

*The size 12 Kwik Lok Flexi-Ring Swivel is not designed specifically for this purpose but does the job perfectly if pulled gently onto the hook eye as straight as possible and then closed up and sleeved with shrink tube (to stop flexing). We recommend customers use “common sense” and test the connection fully on a test rig to gauge final strength.

It’s also extremely versatile! I always have a number of pre-prepared hook sections and tailor the hook link material to suit the lake bed or the lead arrangement. For instance a lead clip with a long supple skinned hooklink like Ultra Skin in silt, or a helicopter style arrangement and Subterfuge fluorocarbon boom on clean sand and gravel.

Personally, I think balancing it like a Hinged Stiff Rig works best, so the hook bait is slow sinking whatever hooklink you use in conjunction with the hook arrangement. Why? If you overbalance the hook by moulding Critical Mass putty around the shrink tube the hook has a tendency to lie over further and this inhibits the hook from twisting and turning as quickly as it could (the same with a HSR).

Mounting the swivel through the eye realistically means you need to use a ‘nice’ sized hook and the size 4 Covert Dark Mugga or a size 6 Covert Dark Continental Mugga are both perfect for the job.

Some rigs work with some hooks better than others, and this is the one. The curved swept shank and the 20 degree in-turned eye of a Mugga compliment/enhance the mechanics lining up the shrink tube naturally in a way that gives the optimum ‘twistiness’.

Variants of some rigs come and go, but this is a rig that we know will stand the test of time. Like all presentations it isn’t the panacea of all things riggy; but what it is, is the best low pop up rig that we have used. It does the job AMAZINGLY.