Carolina Rig

Just wondering if anyone uses this rig very much on the river? I had an idea of using those Lindy No-snagg weights on a Carolina rig to drop a Fluke deeper on wing dams or rip rap, but it just seems like most fish are up on the wing dam. Is that generally true? Or do a fair amount of fish hang at the bottom? Does it vary by species?? i.e. walleyes sit deeper on the wing dam, bass higher, etc., etc.

Greg:

I had a lot of success late summer/early fall last year fishing points and drop-offs and rolling sand dunes with a Carolina Rig last year. When the water gets real low, I sometimes find the bass stacked up in areas like these near current, and the Carolina was a good way to catch them. Plus, it is very easy, tossit out, let it sink, and slowly drag it in. Caught both largemouths and smallmouth this way.

I also tried what you mentioned with the flukes, but never caught many. I think the sinker kills some of the fluke action. I didn’t experiment with it for very long though.

That’s another thing, points…are you referring to simply the big pieces of sand that come off the back of islands on the river? I haven’t seen too many points, other than wing dams if they count, that stick out into the current perpendicular to the shoreline as in a lake. I’d appreciate the info as I need to develop the deep water part of my game…I want to spend a lot of time exploring new places like that this summer.

I guess the points I am refering to are like where two channels of current come together in a Y shape. Backwater channels too, not necesarrily the main channel or real big side channels. The point is like a sand point that is shallow on the top and tapers down on each side, like at the end of an island I guess, but often the “island” is only a real shallow or weedy spot, not real big like the river islands, just happens to be where a couple of flowing channels run together and carve a point. Guess it is hard to describe with no pictures. The one I am thinking of right now is maybe 2-3 feet deep over the point, sloping to 10 or so feet on each side. Like you, I want to find more of these type structures.

I used carolina rigging with moderate success last year, i have 2-3 spots on the river that drop off with gravel and that lindy no-snag pulls well over them. caught some smallies and largemouth on 6″ lizard last summer down and parallel to the drop. since many of these spots are in or near current or channel intersections with current the heavy weight gets them down but the lure floats above much like the way many seem to fish ringworms. give it a try, especially with the low water like late last summer.