How to Fish a Carolina Rig

Author: Sean Snover
Sean Snover with Bass

A Carolina Rig is a plastic bait rig most commonly used to target bass – knowing when and where to fish it is important to success.  

It is a perfect technique to use when fish are feeling lethargic and are sitting down deep – hugging tight to the bottom or suspended a few feet off of it. Utilizing a Carolina Rig will help you get down to the fish with an enticing presentation they want to see.  

Angler fishing a Carolina Rig

Fishing Carolina Rig 

First off – what is a Carolina rig?  A Carolina rig is typically setup up with larger, soft plastic baits with weight fixed above the hook and is often presented in a slower, more tantalizing way. 

The idea is to slowly drag the weight along the bottom, getting a feel for every rock bed, ledge, shoal or grass flat you’re fishing with your bait slowly trailing behind. After a long and slow drag, reel up your slack and give your rod a pop or two, before dragging it again. Longer casts come in handy as they allow you to place your bait beyond the fish you’re targeting to make a subtle, finesse entrance in their zone.  

Texas Rig vs Carolina Rig

A Carolina Rig is similar to a Texas Rig, but the main difference in Texas Rig vs Carolina Rig is how the weights are set up and the presentation that is used. Carolina Rigs are a better option for fishing deeper, more open-water. Whereas a Texas Rig is more suited flipping your bait around structure. 

When to Use a Carolina Rig 

When trying to decide when use a Carolina Rig there are a few things to consider, such as: 

  • Weather 
  • Water temperature 
  • Water depth  
  • Time of year  

When the weather gets hot and the sun beats down, it raises the surface temperature. Fish will often head deeper to find cooler water. By the time the fish find cooler water, they are often exhausted and less active – a slow moving, easy meal is just what they need. 

There are a variety of factors that may cause fish to sit deeper, but the most common is seeking cooler water during the hot summer months. Fishing a Carolina Rig often means being on the water when the sun is fierce and the temperature is high.  

Be sure to protect your skin from the sun while fishing. Our hooded fishing shirts will keep you cool and safe from the sun! 

Another key component is utilizing your electronics. A Carolina Rig a perfect option for when the bite is slow and bass are just not hitting moving baits. Using your graphs to find fish will put you in the right spot so you can concentrate slowing down your presentation – not on covering a bunch of water.  

When bass are down in deeper water, they will often group up on the bottom of a ledge, brush pile, or any other structure they can find. Using your graphs is crucial for finding fish around structure. 

Carolina Rig Setup 

Before you can start throwing a Carolina Rig, you have to know how to set one up first. Here is everything you need to have for a Carolina Rig setup. 

  • A heavy bullet weight – typically between 1/2 oz to 1 1/2 oz, bobber stopped or not. 
  • A plastic bead. 
  • A swivel. 
  • A leader line – 1’ to 3’ of 12-15lbs of mono is recommended. 
  • A wide gap hook anywhere from 3/0 to a 5/0 depending on the size of your soft plastic bait. 
  • Main line – this can be a personal preference. Most prefer braid for castability and strength while others would argue a heavy 17-20lb even 25lb Fluorocarbon for better hooksets.  
  • Soft plastic baits – Creature Baits are the most common for this setup, but big Ribbon Tail Worms will work as well. 

How to Rig a Carolina Rig 

Now that you have everything you need, this is how you want to rig it up. 

  • Slide your bullet wait onto your main line, you can choose to peg it with a bobber-stopper or not, up to you. 
  • Next, you’re going to slide on your bead. Color isn’t too important, but a lot of anglers use red. The reason for the bead is 1) the noise it creates from knocking against your weight as well as the rocks or whatever is on the bottom. And 2) it will protect your knot that connects your main line to the swivel.  
  • Once you have your weight and bead on, tie off your main-line to the swivel. 
  • Tie your leader line up to the opposite side of the swivel. 
  • Tie on your hook and rig your preferred soft plastic bait up like you would a Texas Rig. 

The Best Carolina Rig Rod 

We recommend using a 7’5” or 7’8”, medium to medium-heavy, fast-action rod when fishing a Carolina Rig. Here’s why: 

  • Using a 7’5” or 7’8” casting rod helps you make longer casts with the intent of slowly moving the bait in front of more fish. The length also helps with long, sweeping hooksets when you’re trying to hook a fish. 
  • A medium to medium-heavy rod is the best option as you will need something little stronger and with good backbone in order to feel comfortable making those long cast. It also helps when setting the hook and fighting fish when there is a considerable amount of line out.  
  • The fast action only adds to the hookup strength being so far away while catching up to your line. A good fast tip will also help in keeping these fish on as the rod will bend into it letting you keep the tension you’ll need. 

Douglas makes exceptional casting rods perfect for this type of fishing. The best rods in our lineup for Carolina rig fishing are the DXC 755F and DXC 784F in the XMatrix series, and LRS C784F in the LRS series.  

Find Douglas Fishing Rods Near Me  

Ready to try a Douglas casting rod? Find a rod dealer near you to cast and purchase one of our rods, or get one shipped to your door by shopping through an online dealer. If you have any questions give us a call at (315) 695-2000 or fill out a contact form


Additional Resources:  

The Difference Between Spinning and Casting Rods 
Striper Fishing Tips – How to Fish For Stripers
Perch Fishing Rig

Sean Snover with Bass

My first choice for cold water bass fishing will always be a jig. I prefer a finesse football jig like the OW Sniper from Beast Coast Fishing in MB Pumpkin, or the Hustler Hybrid Finesse Jig which is also from Beast Coast Fishing, in their Dirt Bag or Bruised colors. For the OW Sniper jig, it earned its keep as my go-to jig because of its unique combination of features. It has a lower than normal 22 strand skirt that is cut to be shorter than a traditional jig, a stout 2/0 BKK hook capable of withstanding the abuse of over 100 angry pre-spawn smallmouth bass on Lake Champlain in a single day, and no brush guard. When paired with a small swimbait or craw type trailer, it becomes subtly bulky, which I find bass prefer often in cold water. Small enough to be easy pickings for them, but big enough to be a meal that warrants the energy expenditure to swim for. On days that I can’t get a bite on this jig, I downsize to the ¼ oz Hustler Hybrid Finesse jig as it provides an even smaller profile, and it has the added benefit of marabou hair to make it more tantalizingly desirable. For me, fishing a football jig is the easiest bait to fish slowly for three reasons. Primarily, the football shaped jig head does a phenomenal job of standing up, presenting your trailer as an easy to find target. Secondly, there’s no guess work as to what the jig is doing. I don’t have to worry or wonder about it like a suspended jerkbait, it just sits on the bottom, waiting to be eaten. Lastly, with a tungsten jig I can feel the bottom composition much more easily, so I know exactly what I’m working the jig through, whether it’s sand, mud, or rocks. Knowing what kind of structure, you are dragging your jig through before you catch a fish greatly helps you to understand the successful pattern for that particular day.

For the OW Sniper in 3/8 oz or ½ oz, I prefer a casting setup, using the Douglas Outdoors XMATRIX DXC 715F casting rod paired with a high gear ratio real and 11.6-15.5 lb Defiant Fishing Heavy Cover fluorocarbon. The DXC 715F to me is like the ultimate boxer, light on their feet but packs a mean uppercut. The fast action has the perfect deflection point that I can cast the lighter 3/8 oz jig a long distance, or sidearm cast a ½ oz jig low with pinpoint accuracy to a spot very close to the boat. But it also has the power that I can confidently set the hook on a fish at the end of a 200-foot cast that’s in 50 feet of water, even with straight fluorocarbon, and keep that fish pinned. It has the perfect balance of finesse and power that I look for in a jig rod that is perfect for year-round fishing, not just the cold-water months.

When it comes to the Hustler Hybrid Finesse jig, I tend to throw the ¼ oz more often than the 3/8 oz, and the Douglas Outdoors XMATRIX DXS 724XF spinning rod is perfect for throwing both. I like this rod for all the same reasons I like the DXC 715F. It’s supple enough to drop this small jig on a dime when I see the perfect boulder at the break of a steep bank, but strong enough to pin and hold big fish from down deep on the longest casts. I will always opt for a braid to leader combination for my spinning setup, starting with Defiant Fishing’s 18 lb. Smooth Casting braid to a 10-15 ft. long leader of Defiant Fishing’s 9.2-11.6 lb. Heavy Cover fluorocarbon.

As much as I love throwing a jig, in my opinion the undisputed champion for cold water is the jerkbait. To be as effective as possible in your cold-water bass fishing endeavors, you really need to be comfortable and confident in fishing suspended jerkbait because of how consistently effective they are. Their ability to stay in place at a specific depth for an extended period is what makes them such excellent fish catchers. This is important for cold water bass as they are not always interested in expending a lot of energy on their meal. If your water temperature is still holding strong in the 30’s, then the bass will still be more lethargic, moving slowly, eventually nosing up to your bait before deciding if they will eat it or not. The subtle but erratic action of the jerkbait will get their attention, but its ability to stay perfectly still – or nearly so – is what ultimately helps you to catch these fish. Presenting itself as a struggling bait fish, it looks like an easy and hearty meal that more of than not, bass just can’t resist. My favorite jerkbait is the Megabass Vision OneTen because I never have to second guess if it’s going to suspend. Without fail, they have worked perfectly as they are right out of the box every time, and their color selections are second to none. Lastly, my go-to color choices for cold water bass fishing are the GP Pro Perch and the GP Pro Blue 2. There’s something about a darker blue jerkbait that always works in cold, stained water. And with perch being highly active in cold water as they are spring spawners, it’s an easy choice to mimic for their main forage.

Sean Snover with Bass

Douglas Outdoors offers several different rods that excel at throwing jerkbaits, whether it’s something smaller like the 3/8 oz. Megabass Vision OneTen Jr., or the bigger and heavier ½ oz. Megabass Vision OneTen+2. For my smaller and lighter jerkbaits, I will reach for the XMATRIX DXC 684F or the similar LRS C684F. I find that I have more control with this rod on lighter jerkbaits, especially if you’re dealing with a moderate amount of wind at most. The power and action lend itself to be ideally suited for a lighter bait. For the bigger and heavier jerkbaits, I opt for the XMATRIX DXC 704M or the similar LRS C704M. This model has a little bit more backbone for good, controlled casts with a heavier bait, but the moderate action has enough give to it that you’re not going to rip the smaller & thinner hooks free if you’re a little overzealous on your hook set. I keep it very simple with the reel & line choice on jerkbait setups, opting for a 6.3:1 gear ratio reel paired with Defiant Fishing’s Soft Casting 9.2 lb. fluorocarbon.

When the weather is in your favor on the day you finally get out on the water, and you’re finding the fish a little shallower or at least in a more active mood, a bladed jig is hard to beat. There’s a myriad variety of bladed jigs on the market, and they all have their pros and cons. For cold water bass fishing, the Z-man Evergreen Chatterbait Jack Hammer has been my top choice since it was released, for the primary reason that it starts vibrating very fast and with very little effort. This is extremely important in that early season cold water because I can achieve an erratic action out of the bait even when retrieving it very slowly. That matters when the weather is in your favor, and the baitfish and bass have pushed up closer to or on top of the shallow flats with the warmest water. With a 3/8 oz Jack Hammer, I can retrieve it slowly over the top of dead vegetation in shallow water where the bass are waiting to ambush, working in a pause to give them time to commit to the bait, without immediately sinking to the bottom. And after that brief pause, it will start vibrating immediately, continuing to keep the bait at the optimal position for the bass to strike.

There are two different ways to approach your rod choice when fishing a bladed jig. Some anglers prefer a rod like the Douglas Outdoors XMATRIX DXC 745F or the LRS C745F. It’s a slightly more supple rod that has some more give, which some argue can help impart even more action into your bladed jigs. Other anglers, such as I, prefer something with more backbone to really set the hook home on a long hook set and keep those fish pinned. My personal preference is the XMATRIX 746XF or the LRS C746XF for those very reasons. I like throwing a bladed jig on fluorocarbon, and because of that, I want a little more power than usual to ensure I’m getting a solid hook set even at the end of the furthest cast. And I have had plenty of days, even fishing in cold water, where a bass has bit within a few feet of hitting the water on an extra-long cast. There are some give and take with your rod choices for a bladed jig, and it all comes down to personal preference in the end. The easiest solution to decide which of the two is best for you? Buy both! Regardless of the rod choice, like my jerkbait setup, I keep my bladed jig setup very simple. I pair a 6.3:1 gear ratio reel with Defiant Fishing’s 18.4 lb. Heavy Cover Fluorocarbon.

Sean Snover with Bass
These three techniques and rod suggestions are just one small portion of the incredible options we have for cold water bass fishing. It’s impossible to capture everything without writing an entire book on the subject. Rather than overwhelm anglers looking to dive into the cold-water season, I did my best to keep your potential choices to a minimum, while still providing information backed by many years of consistent success from myself and many other anglers in the northeast. Ultimately, every angler must find what works best for them, and the only way to do that is to spend every opportunity that you have on the water and go through some trial and error. This information will absolutely help to narrow down that search though, and not only maximize your time on the water, but save you money, knowing you’re getting great gear for these applications. I certainly hope you found the information helpful, and I wish you all the best of luck this spring. Dress warmly, use the buddy system, wear your PFD’s, and remember to have fun!