How to Tie a Hair Rig: A Total Fishing Tackle Rig School

By Andy Grenfell
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20 February 2020

What is a hair rig?

A Hair Rig is one of the most important and widely used rigs in modern carp fishing. It revolutionized the sport when it was introduced in the 1980s because it dramatically increased catch rates by improving hooking efficiency and allowing fish to safely sample the bait without feeling resistance.

We asked our rig tying expert, Andy Grenfell, to run through the tying of the hair rig and give us a few tips and tricks! I still use the bog standard hair rig in a lot of my fishing, both for big carp using conventional carp angling tactics and also in my commercial match fishing set ups but for the benefit of this tutorial I will show you how to tie a standard hair rig on some un-coated braid, we will look at taking it onto the next levels later.

Materials you need for a hair rig

Sharp scissors
Braided hooklink material
Wide gape style hooks
a Standard baiting needle (useful for helping to pull knots through)
Hair stops
Tungsten putty
Hookbait of your choice

As you can see, the components for this rig are simple, but don't be fooled into thinking this rig is only for simple fishing, many big carp still get caught on this type of rig every day of the week!

Step 1: Cut your braid to size

We are looking for about 12 inches of braid. If you don't have a measuring device, it is roughly the length of your forearm. We are looking for an overall rig length of about 8 inches, but give yourself plenty to work with.

Step 2: Make the hair

This is the trickiest part, you need to form an overhand loop in one end of the braid, a top tip is to just wet the end of the last few inches of the braid in your mouth first, to help the braid fibres stick together and stop the fraying. The loop needs to be as small as you can get it, ideally, it will be slightly smaller than the size of the bait you are using. Take your time, and if you are struggling, use the baiting needle to pull the loop through the overhand knot.

Step 3: Trim the tag end off

When rig tying, the tag end is the hooklink material we don't need after we have tied a knot. So in this case, it is the short piece of braid left over when we formed our hair. Trim it down to leave a couple of millimetres, the loop slips slightly. Now you should have a length of braid with a small loop on one end.

Step 4: Add your hookbait

For those new to tying rigs, it is best to add your hookbait at this point, as it will make deciding the length that the hair needs to be easier. Slide your bait onto the baiting needle, ensuring the needle goes through the middle of the bait. Then, place the loop of the hair you just made onto the baiting needle and hook it into the catch at the end of the needle like this.

Simply slide the bait off the needle and onto the hair pulling it far enough along to expose a good few millimetres of the loop. Finally, slide a bait stop into the loop and pull the bait down so the stop sits snugly against your chosen bait. The stop will prevent the bait from being pulled off on the cast or once it's out there on the lake bed. You should now have a length of braid with your chosen bait attached to the loop and fixed in place with a hair stop.

Step 5: Attaching the hook

Take hold of your chosen hook and pass the end of the braid without the loop in it, through the eye of the hook from the back. It is vital to make sure the braid goes through the back of the hook (away from the hook point). You should now have the hook on the braid, but it is not fixed in position, so we need to tie what is called a knotless knot. Firstly, slide the hook down the braid until it is almost touching your hookbait; you should leave a 5mm gap so the bait can move freely.

Now, hold the hook in your left hand and wrap the braid around the hook starting at the top near the eye, always tie the know away from the point where the eye is formed, look closely and you will see there is a weld where the eye has been formed, we want to avoid tying the knot against it, you can see what I mean in the picture below. Tie 7 turns, then pass the braid back through the eye of the hook the same way you passed it through when putting the hook onto the braid at the beginning. Pull the knot tight and make sure the hair is coming off the back of the hook and hasn't twisted round.

Step 6: Attaching to your lead setup

You can tie the rig directly to your chosen lead but a far easier way is to use a quick link and a figure of 8 knot. You tie a figure-of-eight knot the same way as an overhand knot but just with an extra turn of the loop. Use a pulla tool to tighten the knot, always moisten your knots, don't forget! Again, trim the tag end, and that is the figure of eight loop done!

Step 7: Final Touch

Once the rig has been in the water a while, the braid takes on water and sinks perfectly, but to aid this process, I always add a piece of tungsten about an inch down from the hook; this helps to pull the hook down and catch in the fish's mouth. For added attraction, you can add at this stage a small golf ball-sized PVA mesh bag of matching pellets, nick the hook point through the bag, twist once, and then hook through again to ensure your bag stays on the hook. Once you have done that, the rig is finished and ready to cast out into the lake! Although this is a basic hair rig set up, it still catches thousands upon thousands of carp every year! We will look at incorporating the hair section into a few other rigs another time, but for now, get tying those rigs and don't forget practice makes perfect! You can email me with any rig questions andy grenfell@totalfishingtackle.com

Andy Grenfell

Senior Sales Advisor

Fishing for me has long been more than a hobby, but more of an obsession. Since as far back as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by water, and all that which lives below the surface, and subsequently, as soon as I was old enough to hold a fishing rod, my angling journey started.

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