The “Mini” Chod Rig

There are times when you want to use really small baits. Fishing during the winter comes to mind, as does targeting fish that have seen lots of fishing pressure. The chod rig is well known for it’s effective bait presentation over many different substrates, and hence a combination of small baits, such as a single grain of artificial sweet corn, with a chod rig may provide just that needed edge to put a fish on the bank. The problem I encountered was that a standard knot, such as the knotless knot, will not fit through the eye of such a small hook. In order to get around this problem I devised this method that I think gets the job done nicely.

The components for this rig the same as are needed for any other chod rig, with the exception of a smaller than normal hook, in this example a size 10 Ashima C820 Wide Gape.

I used Ashima components, and found them to be ideally suited for this rig. The Poltergeist fluorocarbon was just the ticket as it is softer than some stiff link material yet still held it’s chod shape.

In order to tie the nail knot I use a piece of shrink tube. It does the trick!

First make the nail knot, but do not tighten it down just yet.

Once you have it formed, slide a rig ring on the tag end, and tuck the tag and back under the loops of the knot.

After you tuck the tag under, tighten down the knot so it looks something like the picture above.

After that simply pull the tag until you achieve the correct size and blob the end of the tag with a lighter. Shape the hook link into the right shape and you are done! The single piece of corn provides plenty of flotation to keep the bait off the bottom and in the perfect position. I used an Ashima rig band to hold the bait and I was really impressed by how well they worked on artificial baits – I will be using them a lot more in the future!

All the Ashima products used can be found at Big Carp Tackle.