The humble hair rig! It doesn't matter what your chosen angling discipline is, the hair rig will feature at some point. Match anglers, river anglers, carp anglers, all use the hair rig and despite its age, in some situations it is still the best way to present your bait. We asked our rig tying expert Wayne Box 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. Firstly, the items you will need to make the rig;
- sharp scissors (always get an adult to help if need be)
- 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
Step 1 Cut your braid to size
We are looking for about 12 inches of braid, if you don't have a measuring device then 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 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 then 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 bit of hooklink material that 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 in case the loop slips slightly. Now you should have a length of braid with a small loop in 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 a whole lot easier. Simply 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 being pulled off on the cast or once its 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 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. It should now look like this.
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. It should now look like this.
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 exactly 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 fishes 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! Give it a try.......... 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 [email protected]