So, I am finally gearing up to go fishing my favorite venue, not a long session, just few hours or maybe a quick overnight. For me it’s really important to have any possible rig and or presentation inside my tackle box, depending on how the situation on the bank looks like or just depending on my mood and if I that day I feel confident with this or that rig. Here is where the “problem” begin...Well of course it’s not a real problem but if you like to go fishing with as less gear as possible like I do, than you can imagine that to have all the components needed to have nearly infinite options of rigs with you is not really an easy match.
Than we have another important point to consider, during a short session, how much time are you willing to spend with your rod out of the water while tying up a new rig ? Personally none-zero-nada-rien-nessuno !! This mean I need to have with me a large amount of ready rigs….Quite a few fellow carp anglers consider this as being lazy, but hey, if I don’t make the rig while fishing that mean I did it before, it didn’t get ready by itself for sure !! During the winter season I still go fishing but not that much, and to be honest I can’t stand sitting on the sofa watching TV, so once the little one goes to bed it’s rig making time for me ! Tying rigs for me is a bit like doing crosswords, I could do it non stop for hours !!
Every rig made during the winter means that my hook will stay in the water few more minutes, and this is something that makes me feel better, makes me feel more efficient and give me more confidence.
Does it make any difference at the end ? Who knows, maybe in most cases no, it doesn’t make any difference but we all know, it only takes one bite, and in a matter of few seconds the all world could turn upside down and our dream carp is pulling on the other side of the line ! For me every minute, every second count !
Over the last couple of years, fishing mostly here in Bled, I switched completely to in-line set up. Almost impossible to tangle your rig, cast pretty well, easy and quick to set up, brilliant !! There was only one problem : being a big fan of stiff and semi-stiff rigs, how the hell can I change the rig without having to make knots and stuff ?? To work properly a stiff rig need to be connected with a loop to a ring swivel (at least this is how I like them) this mean that having the swivel already fitted at the end of the leadcore doesn’t work for my purpose.
In all honesty i’ve been melting my brain one evening thinking about this, it was looking impossible to have a quick change solution to use stiff rigs with inline set up !! But as it happen most of the times, the solution was right in front of me and it was simple, very simple. I just have to use a quick change ringed swivel upside down !
These kind of swivels are used mostly for helicopter or running rig set up, but I realized they are perfect for my purpose as well if I close the rig with a loop on the metallic ring ! The only difference is that when I have to change the rig I will unclip the swivel from the loop of the leadcore, simple as that ! So this is how my presentation looks like : spliced loop leadcore without any swivels, with a stringer needle I slide the lead in, clip the quick change ringed swivel (already connected with a loop to my stiff rig) and i’m ready to go, 20 seconds and I have a full set up ready to fish.
Yes of course this solution mean that for every rig you need one swivel, probably not the cheapest way but I don’t think few packs of swivels will effect anyone’s budget that much ! Unless you only use Prada and Gucci braded swivels but that’s none of my business.
With this solution I can travel and fish basically everywhere and i’m sure I have all I need inside my medium sized tackle box. A bunch of ready leaders, as many ready rigs as I want, few accessories and still, I also have a couple of spools and hooks if it ever happen than what I need is not already in my rig board !
