The German Rig is a super simple rig to tie and a super effective rig for fishing bottom baits. The stiff boom of the hook link keeps tangling to a minimum and turns the rig well in the carp’s mouth. So, let’s take a look at making one.
My hook of choice for this (and many other rigs) is the Special Edition Continental Mugga from Gardner. Of course, other Mugga hooks will work, as will other patterns, but I’d stick to patterns that are similar to this one.
The Items you need are simple: Trick Link hooklink or other monofilament hook link like Amnesia, hook of choice as we have already discussed, size 12 rig swivel, and a hook stop.
To start the rig slide the swivel onto the hook followed by the stop. The stop has a small pilot hole in it. This is used to align the point of the hook while threading the stop onto the shank. This is likely the hardest part of making this rig!
After you have the stop on, slide it up over the barb and onto the bend. At this point it should look something like this.
Next cut about 12in of the hooklink and attach it to the hook with a knotless knot or any other snell knot you like.
I like to add a bit of shrink tube to get the angle I like. This is optional and many anglers don’t do this. I personally like the angle with the tube better as it catches on your palm better this way. It’s up to you and I’d recommend trying it both ways and finding out what you like better.
The tube has been shrunk. Again this it optional and is up to personal preference.
Next attach your bait. You can use any method you prefer but I am going to demo the “heavy mono” method. To do this use 5in of 30lb monofilament line. Put it through the swivel and double it over. Then start pulling the bait onto both ends until its about this far onto the swivel. Note: bottom bait is 20mm Rod Hutchinson Strawberry Cream Boilie .
In this example I am using a snowman arrangement. Notice the tag ends of the mono above the popup – these will be turned into the “hair stop”. I am a fan of the snowman arrangement of baits as I feel it gives the fish a bit more of a target. Note: popup is a 15mm Rod Hutchinson Fruit Frenzy.
Once you have the baits on the hair, simply blob the end with a lighter to keep the bait from sliding off. This method works well with boilies, tiger nuts, and plastic baits. Don’t overlook baits such as tiger nuts on this rig – it’s well suited to them!
After you have “blobbed” the mono with the lighter smash it down flat with your finger and it will form a stop that looks like this. As you can see it’s not very obvious and is also fairly large and really holds the bait on very well.
Since the bait is free to travel the length of the hook, I like to trap it down during the cast so it can’t get stuck on the point of the hook. I do this with a small PVA stick with a longer tag end which I wrap around the hook to lock everything down.
The final rig. If using boilies I like to use a small sick or bag of broken or crushed boilies of the same flavor that I am fishing with. Spraying the whole thing with a top quality attractor is never a bad idea either, but I have found it’s best to not go overboard with the flavor if you are looking for a quick bite.
And here is proof of concept! Not the biggest fish but it’s well hooked which shows the rig to be working well.
