Hook Stops and Swivels.
Recommended hooklink.
Step 1. Start by cutting a 1cm length of Large Covert Shrink Tube.
Step 2. Position the shrink tube onto the hook shank before mounting the size 12 Kwik Lok Flexi-Ring Swivel onto the hook eye**.
Step 3. Pull the hook eye onto the Kwik Lok crook (*see end of sequence for details).
Step 4. As you pull the hook onto swivel the Kwik Lok crook will distort slightly.
Step 5. When pulled in fully just squeeze the crook closed with some pliers.
Step 6. Now position the Shrink Tube as shown, ready to shrink.
Step 7. Shrink over a kettle of boiling water (be careful not to burn yourself).
Step 8. Now you can slide a size 20 Target Swivel onto the hook (if you’re using corkballed pop ups substitute a Covert Rig Ring).
Step 9. Push a Covert Hook Stop onto the Mugga as shown.
Step 10. Position the Hook Stop opposite the point as shown.
Step 11. For easy bait mounting loop some floss through the swivel and pull through a pop up.
Step 12. Mould some Critical Mass Putty round the Shrink tubing so the pop up sinks slowly when tested.
Step 13. Tie your chosen hooklink material (in this case Trick-Link) to the Flexi Ring and attach the finished rig onto your preferred lead arrangement.
The Finished Rig.
What you need…
* 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.
** We recommend using either the size 4 Covert Dark Mugga or the size 6 Covert Dark Continental Mugga with this rig set up.
Can this rig be made with a size 10 curved shank hook? Are there flexi link swivels small enough?
Hi Ivor
The eyes on all the size 10 Gardner curved style patterns are too small to allow the crook on a size 12 Kwik-Lok to pass through.
We do a size 20 Kwik Lok (in the Target) range but these are very small and we would recommend checking that they are robust enough to cope with the rigours of whatever fishing you intend to do with them.
Hope that this helps,
Gardner Team
Hi I’m using pre made Gardner size 6 mugga but I’ve put a bait screw on it. However I’m using 12 mm nash citrez pop up but its not lifting the hook or poping it up at all. I’ve not even put any tungsten on there. Any ideas????
Hi Daniel,
The simple answer is you REALLY need to get more buoyant hookbaits…
There’s huge variation in the inherent buoyancy of many readymade pop ups. It’s really important in terms of rig function that pop-ups are buoyant enough for the duration of time they are likely to be in the water – whether that’s a couple of hours or a couple of days.
There are several companies that offer very good pop ups – it’s not our place to make individual company recommendations as such, but there’s loads of info on the web.
Hope this helps,
The Gardner Team
Does this rig work in a solid PVA bag? Cheers
Hi Aaron,
The hookbait presentation will work with a solid bag.
Perhaps fining down to the hookbait size and going down to size 6 hook version (rather than the 4) would help, especially if you’re filling the bag with small items.
Using a very short soft braided hooklink instead of the Ultra Skin / Invisi-Link that we often recommend is probably the single most essential adjustment you’ll need to make to the rig – simply emulate the standard solid bag rig but with a Ronnie on the end.
Hope this helps,
The Gardner Team
Hi, can you fish a bottom bait with this rig?
Hi Steve,
We recommend using the Ronnie Rig with a decent buoyant pop up. It needs to be able hold the hook upright for the duration that the rig is out there…
If you want to use a similar style hooking arrangement with a balanced bottom bait, then the MkII German is a better option. Essentially, the lack of the flexi ring ‘hinge’ maintains a level of consistency in the way the baited rig lays out.
Link here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k72Whf8jQSk
Hope this helps
On steps 3&4 does it matter on the position of the kwik Lok?
Can it go anyway round?
The short piece of metal is facing down on the kwik lok.
Hi Kris
The orientation shown in the step by step is the right way IMHO.
As you don’t need to muck about and rotate the swivel around on the axis of the eye to get it to sit in its ‘natural’ position.
Hope this helps
how would you fish this meaning inline or bolt rig ?
Hi Dan
Have you watched the video’s about this rig on our YouTube channel?
Links are here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2Z8flDlaCg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_Hx0jbN1h0
*they may be useful if you haven’t seen them before.
The basic split on the lead arrangement would be dictated by that the type of boom material you choose. A good starting point would be lead clip arrangements (or inline lead arrangements) with a supple skinned hooklink boom Heli rigs with a monofilament ‘boom’.
Hope this helps,
The Gardner Team
Hi,
Can this rig be scaled down for wary winter carp. i.e. size 10 or 8 hook on a 10mm pop up? Would the quik lok swivel need to be smaller also to fit the hook/balance better?
Many Thanks
Hi Jamie – thank you for the enquiry,
If you want to scale down you would need to find and alternative means of attaching a swivel to the smaller hook (as the eye will be too small to fit the Kwik Lok crook through).
The Ronnie’s not a rig that lends itself easily to scaling down – and I think that there are genuinely better options for this purpose. Rigs like the ‘Multi Rig’, that have less metal work attached to them, are probably a better option with 10mm hook baits.
If you are using a highly buoyant hookbait you can still get the crook through a size 6 Conti Mugga – any smaller than that in terms of hook size and I think the effectiveness of the Ronnie is undermined. Most pop up rigs generally work better/more effectively with a decent size hook…
Hope this helps,
The Gardner Team
Can you attach a pva bag to this rig or is that a no no thanks again and could you just use a ring instead of a swivel to attach the bait or like a chod rig I’m not a fan of piercing my pops up if out there a while thanks again
It’s a nice simple ‘yes’ to both of those questions!
I often attach a small PVA mesh bag (if range allows) and haven’t noticed any detrimental effect to the rig/hook arrangement if you feather the cast in nicely.
the shrink tube affectively locks everything in position OK so it doesn’t make a lot of difference! You can double that layer up to for extra rigidity (just a thought).
Regards the rig ring instead of swivel with cork-balled hookbaits – again 100% an option. For many years I have also had the same preference (tying on Cork balled hookbaits and when I do go back to them I often use a rig ring even though I think the swivel offers slightly better mechanics).
Hope this helps,
Lewis Read
What size pop up sits the best using size 4 hook and what is the best rig set up ie helicopter set up or lead clip ?? Thanks!!
Hi Mark
The key, as with any pop up rig is the hookbaits inherent buoyancy, not just size of the hookbait.
The rig needs to sink very slowly – or hold up before the addition of any counter balance tungsten putty (Critical Mass) around the shrink tube to make it sink.
This ensures it sits up for the whole time it is out in the water and helps the rotational mechanics of the rig. The same as a Hinged Stiff Rig.
For hooklink and lead arrangement recommendations – the advice I offer anglers is simply to use longer supple skinned hooklinks (like Ultra Skin) on lead clip arrangements and monofilaments on Helicopters. This seems to be a good starting point as they offer consistent presentation across a variety of lakebeds and minimises tangles.
There’s a couple of videos on our YouTube channel that you may find helpful:
https://www.youtube.com/user/gardnertackle/
Hope this helps,
Lewis Read
I found you have to use a small pop up say size 10 any bigger the bait pulls the the rig off the floor. EVERY fish I have caught on this rig has been nailed.
Size 10 pop up mate what size hook 4 or 6 ?
Hi Guys Kiwi Coarse Tackle here… in the pictures you mention using floss for the “hair” but in the finished rig shot what is the bait stop and is this on the hair??? Cheers and look forward to stocking more Gardner Tackle right here in New Zealand… cheers Stephen.
Hi Stephen
There isn’t a hair stop, that is the dental floss that has been ‘blobbed’ back.
*Pulled through the ready-made pop up then a few granny knots in the end, then cut with 1-2cm of dental floss outside bait and burnt back with lighter.
Really simple and really fast way of attaching commercial pop ups.
Hope that helps.
Regards,
The Gardner Team
Hi gents I am from Czech R.. I will test it on our difficult rivers and lakes maybe it will be key of success. If you want ill let you know result.
THX
K.
Hi Kouba,
Glad to hear that yopu will be trying this rig out. We would love to hear about any success that you have using this rig. Pictures and details are always welcome. Tight Lines…
The Gardner Team
Brilliant looking rig im off to france in a week so will try it out and let you guys know how i get on, cheers
Thanks Micky,
We love to hear about these rigs in action. Hope you catch some whackers!
Cheers,
The Gardner Team