By Carl Bullock;


It goes without saying that in the unfortunate event of a break off the less the fish is towing around the better, to that end I prefer to use a helicopter rig as theoretically all the fish should be left to tow around is the hooklink. I say theoretically as we can never be certain of all the underwater features/foliage that may hinder the hooklink from coming free. However in my eyes it is certainly a damn sight safer than the hooklink being tied directly onto the end of the mainline or leader etc, leaving the fish potentially towing 100+ yards of line or braid, whether the lead comes off or not.

There is no mistaking the effectiveness of the recently popular ‘Chod’ type rigs and the helicopter is a rig I have been using since I left the dark arts of match fishing around 17 years ago. But like all good things it does have its drawbacks, and one of those is in weedy waters, where ideally we want the lead to drop off very early on to give us a greater chance of landing our quarry. There are some recent ‘ready made’ rigs from the tackle manufacturers that do just that, but they also look like most ‘ready made’ rigs and in my opinion are way too obvious and obtrusive with bulky parts. So to that end a few friends of mine and I set about trying our own version with a less obvious profile (and a tidier one too).

The following rig was described by my mate Keith over the phone and I knew exactly what he was describing as I was thinking along similar lines myself. What you must take into mind though is this rig; although it has been tested from pillar to post by myself it has not yet been tried out in an actual fishing situation yet. I have yanked it hard to test its casting ability and it is firm. I have also put the leader and hooklink under a lot of pressure (as if imitating a hooked fish) and the lead remains in place as the tail end is trapped against the tail rubber, but as soon as the lead comes under resistance i.e. weed it comes away easily, perfect.

I will say this though before I start, in years gone by I have used lengths of leadcore up to around eight feet in length, but it goes without saying the longer the length of the leader (leadcore or silicone) the more potentially dangerous it is, as it is more likely to snag on something before the hooklink comes free. I now generally use no longer than 3ft, and just use small blobs of putty or short 2-3 inch sections of anchor rig tubing above the leader. The tubing tends to fly back slightly acting as a flying backlead; I don’t use them in weed though.

Firstly you will need the components pictured above.

Step 1. Remove around 6 inches of the lead and tie the rig ring (you can cut these from a flexi ring swivel) onto the leadcore using a fig of 8 knot (don’t use a granny knot) don’t over tighten it yet.

Step 2. Now splice a small loop into the tail end leaving approx a 1 inch tail in total including the loop. You can manipulate the fig of eight knot to get the right length then tighten the knot. (DO NOT super glue the splice, as it will not pass back through the tail rubber easily. It doesn’t matter if it comes undone whilst playing a fish as it is not under tension)

Step 3. Now thread on the tail rubber and the rest of your normal heli-rig setup. I prefer small sections of silicone tubing and the ESP heli beads.

Step 4. Now simply thread the lead onto the tail end and pass it back up through the tail rubber.

Step 5. All you are left to do now is pull the tail rubber down over the rig ring and eye of the lead, then simply tie the loop to the leader using PVA tape. It will withstand a decent cast to medium range. You can also use it to tie a small mesh bag onto should you wish.

As you can see the finished rig is almost identical in appearance to a normal helicopter rig, it is also a lot tidier and not as bulky as some of those in packets. I have to be honest though and say I haven’t even looked at the mechanics of those in the packets as they just don’t look appealing to me. It also comes from my match days of not trusting rigs that others have tied.

What I would add here is, if you are unsure then use the ready made ones and follow the instructions on the packet carefully. I will also remind you that I have as yet not tried it in the water but I am looking forward to it, I will let you know how I/it gets on.

Tight lines.

Carl

Related posts