How to Tie a Zig Rig: Total Fishing Tackle Rig School

What is a Zig Rig?

A zig rig is a type of fishing rig used primarily in carp fishing. It’s designed to suspend the hook bait off the lake or river bed, at various depths in the water column, rather than presenting it on the bottom (as with most traditional carp rigs).

Zig Rigs can be a devastating method any time of the year, but especially in winter when the fish might be off the bottom in the warmer water. Here we have our resident rig tying expert, Andy Grenfell, talk you through how to tie a zig rig! I use zig rigs a lot when the situation dictates. In the summer, when the fish are cruising around in the upper layers, or in the winter when the carp are trying to find the thermocline of warm water, particularly in deeper lakes. I am a big fan of the zig aligna set up from Fox, and in this Total Fishing Rig School, I am going to show you how to tie a zig rig using one of the zig aligna kits.

Materials you need for a Zig Rig

• Sharp scissors
• Fox Edges Zig Aligna Kit (black, yellow and red)
• Fox Edges Zig Hooks
• Fox Edges Zig and Floater Hooklink
• Hook puller

The reason why I have decided to show you how to tie a zig with the Fox Zig Aligna Kit is purely that is what I use for 99% of all my fishing, the only exception being when a fishery doesn't allow artificial baits, and in that instance, I would switch to small trimmed down pop up.

Step 1: Tie on your hook

Pull out enough zig lines for the depth at which you want the zig rig to sit. If you want a 6ft zig in 8ft of water, then pull off just over 6ft to allow for trimming the knot tying. Take your chosen hook, tie it to the end of the zig line with your favourite knot, and trim the tag end. I have used a 5-turn Blood Knot, but you could use a Grinner Knot or the Palomar Knot.

Step 2: Slide on the zig aligna sleeve

Now this is where you need to get creative! In the Zig Aligna Kit, there are red, yellow, and black components. I have caught more fish on either plain black or black and yellow, but play around and see what the fish want on the day! For this tutorial, I am going to use a black sleeve with yellow foam, so on goes the zig aligna sleeve with the line passing through the loop end of the sleeve first and pulling down over the eye of the hook by about 5 or 6mm.

Step 3: Attaching the foam

So, as I said before, I am going to use yellow foam in my black zig align sleeve. Take the loading tool and insert one end of the yellow foam; don't force it in just as far as it will go with moderate pressure. Now, take the narrow end of the loading tool and slide it through the loop on the back of the zig aligna sleeve. You might need to give it a little wiggle or a twist. Once the loading tool has passed through the loop, the foam will now be secured in place by the sleeve, and you can slide the loading tool out of the way. You will be left with a great big bit of foam, which we need to trim down in the next step.

Step 4: Trim to size and finish off

With your sharp scissors, trim the foam so you are left with a piece roughly a centimetre in length. That end of the zig is now finished, you just need to tie a figure of eight loop in the other end of the zig line, attach it to your lead set up, and away you go!

Zig Fishing Top Tips!

I like to use a lead clip set up with no leader, I use a fairly heavy lead of at least 3oz more and fish to drop the lead when I am fishing zigs over 6ft to avoid the lead swinging about like a pendulum and working the hook out of the fishes mouth. If you decide to fish zig rigs, commit to it fully and put all your rods onto zig rigs (where rules allow). With three rods, you can choose 3 different depths to fish at, and when you find the depth where the fish are, you can switch all 3 zigs to that depth. Switch up the colour combinations until you find the best one. Sometimes it will be plain black, sometimes bright red.

It depends on the weather conditions and sunlight. I have done well in bright sunlight using black. If there is evidence of fish in your swim and the lake is fairly well stocked, then you can always spod some zig soup over the top of your zigs. I remember a session on a well-stocked day ticket water where it was roasting hot and I spodded over the top of my zig rigs, which were set 2 ft below the surface, and it was utter chaos, I landed 34 carp in a day session!

My zig soup was a dedicated zig groundbait style mix from CC Moore, which I made super wet and added a can or two of condensed milk and loads of small food items such as micro pellet and hemp that would fall through the water slowly. The consistency was like runny porridge, and the more I put in, the more fish I caught. Other weather conditions to watch out for are high-pressure sunny days in the winter and spring. The fish will generally be off the bottom, and if you can find the depth they are at, you could have a very good day fishing indeed! So there we have it, my way of zig fishing with the Fox Zig Aligna Kits, give it a go and you will be surprised how effective they can be!