Carolina rig

The Carolina rig starts with a light wire hook and a Texas-rigged floating soft plastic, but instead of no weight or a free-sliding weight that rides at the head of the lure, a sliding weight (and often a bead or two to provide a “clacking” sound) is a foot or more in front of the lure. This rig allows the soft plastic bait to swim freely just above the bottom.

How It’s Done: Thread an sliding weight on the line, then a bead or two if you choose. Then, tie on a barrel swivel. The swivel will stop the weight from sliding all the way to the bait and will make a little noise as it’s slowly retrieved. A 1- to 4-foot length of Fluorocarbon line is tied to the other end of the swivel, and the hook tied to the tag end. Texas rig a soft plastic to the hook. Make long casts across points, cover and structure and allow it to sink to the bottom, then slowly retrieve with slow pulls and light twitches, or simply slowly reeled at a constant speed. Slow is the key word here.

Soft Plastics For Carolina Rigging: All soft plastics can be Carolina rigged, but most popular are lizards, worms, minnows and craws.