Rig up the safe way.

These days, with the amount of freely accessible info on hand to us anglers, there's no excuse for not having a safe rig. Fish safety should come as second nature when tying up any rigs we use after all we don't want to damage, harm or kill the fish we spend so much time and money trying to catch from tying and fishing with what's called a death rig.

so, what is a death rig?

If a rig becomes separated from you the angler through a crack off, a snag or the line parts after a take then there is a chance that this rig can continue to fish and catch.

Once the bait is taken, if a fish cannot separate itself from the lead then there is a chance that the lead could become tangled in a snag or some kind of debris and tethering a fish causing it to struggle, suffer, and eventually die. There is a chance that the fish could throw the hook and weight with a good head shake as we've all been done in this way at some point but should we take that chance? If we care about our quarry then no.

A good quality lead clip will drop a lead easily if set up properly and a helicopter rig when set up correctly should allow the hook link to slide off the leader without much resistance, an in line lead should be able to slide off a leader in the same way and anything fixed between the end of the leader and the mainline is a no no, especially quick change links and swivels, these may aid in a speedy setting up of tackle ready to fish but are not safe to use in this manner. In a similar way anything fixed to the mainline above anti tangle tubing such as a split shot or a twist of lead from leadcore can stop this from sliding free of the mainline.

I love to experiment with rigs and anything new that could give me the edge is always worth a try but the Carps safety has to be put first before the need to try the latest fashion in end gear. Something I always do is test my rigs safety, when was the last time you checked to see if the clip you use drops the lead as easily as it should?