Using a Bolt Rig in Fishing

Where educated or nervous fish are giving tentative bites on normal legering tactics, often referred to as "twitch" bites, you have to find a way of accentuating the bites you are getting by encouraging the fish to move off with the bait in a more positive manner. The short hooklink paternoster encourages positive bites when used with a heavy lead and in fact this could be considered to be a type of bolt rig, as indeed can the carp angler's helicopter rig. The name originated because the purpose of the rigs is to make the fish bolt with the baits in their mouths, thereby giving unmistakable indications.

Pure bolt rigs, however, take that general principle one stage further in that they will normally feature the bait mounted on a hair rig with the hook itself being bare, so that the hook point pricking the fish further encourages it to bolt.

The standard bolt rig is very similar to the earliest leger arrangement of a running or semifixed lead on the main line above the hooklink, although the bolt features a much heavier lead than is actually needed for the cast, coupled with a very short hooklink of about 6 in (15 cm). It is fair to say that such rigs are mainly used by carp anglers, although they are becoming more in, vogue with barbel anglers fishing statically for bigger-than-average fish.

One adaptation, which is now the most often used rig by carp anglers, is to swap the normal bomb leger weight tor an in-line, drilled streamlined lead, which is very resistant to snagging. These leads are used with stiff tubing through the centre, through which the main line passes, this tubing being connected by silicon tubing to the hooklink swivel to make the lead semi-fixed.

Most anglers using bolt rigs will do so in combination with braided or dacron hooklinks, and if long casting is involved, a substantial problem exists as the limp hooklink materials will tangle around the main line. To overcome this, these rigs usually incorporate a length of rig tubing longer than the hooklink above the lead. During flight, the heavy lead obviously flies in advance, with the hooklink trailing behind. It is at this stage that the anti-tangle tube prevents the link curling around the main line. If you want to avoid tubing but still use braids, another solution is to use a setting gel that quickly dissolves in water. Some gels stiffen the link for casting, but revert to normal after a few minutes' immersion in the water.

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