Bolt rig

[Odyssey]

Anyone use a bolt rig? For uptiding? Or just plain running ledger? 
 

If you do, what swivel set up do you use? 

[suzook12]

We normally use straight forward paternoster, which is pretty much a bolt rig as you are looking for the fish to trip the lead.

 

[jonnyswamp]

Always use running ledger, whether down or uptiding

I can see the advantage of the bolt rig, it may stop me watching my lead soar over the horizon, with my baited snood trying to catch it up

I seem to put the lead on the wrong snap at least once per trip

[Dicky]

I use one for uptiding. Basically i use a short Portland rig around a foot long with the trace swivel trapped between 2 beads about 3 inches above the lead clip.

[Saintly Fish]

What is a bolt rig?

[Andy135]

13 minutes ago, JonC said:

Basically a lead that’s rigged with little or no movement on the line as opposed to sliding. Popular for carp, the fish hooks Itself then bolts. 

So a fixed leger, rather than a running leger?

[suzook12]

1 hour ago, Andy135 said:

So a fixed leger, rather than a running leger?

Bit more to it than that, but yeah, with very short hook lengths........ Not sure there is much use for a true bolt rig in sea fishing. I know a few anglers use what the carp boys call a helicopter rig

[suzook12]

2 hours ago, JonC said:

I think a three way swivel would work well with a breakout lead, using the trip to spot the bites, but I use fixed Geminis for most fishing and it would be hard  for a fish to break them out.

Surely thats just a paternoster? The idea of a bolt rig, is the fish pricks its mouth on the bare hook, which makes the carp bolt and the fixed lead sets the hook. The important part is the bare hook with hair rigged bait etc. Bare in mind this is designed for use in lakes, hence the short hooklength. Where you have tide holding the bait down and a baited hook, it really is just a paternoster, and as you know, the bite is hopefully a dropback as the lead is dislodged.... (uptide).

 

[Saintly Fish]

6 minutes ago, suzook12 said:

Surely thats just a paternoster? The idea of a bolt rig, is the fish pricks its mouth on the bare hook, which makes the carp bolt and the fixed lead sets the hook. The important part is the bare hook with hair rigged bait etc. Bare in mind this is designed for use in lakes, hence the short hooklength. Where you have tide holding the bait down and a baited hook, it really is just a paternoster, and as you know, the bite is hopefully a dropback as the lead is dislodged.... (uptide).

 

So what’s the advantage of a bolt rig in sea fishing?

[suzook12]

7 minutes ago, Saintly Fish said:

So what’s the advantage of a bolt rig in sea fishing?

I dont see one and I  don't know anyone that uses a true bolt rig. But hey, for all we know it could be killer........ Do I have the patience for tying hair rigs and trying to use fish baits on the hair, no.... But short or any other length paternoster on a grip lead? Yup, every time.

In fact, I only use a running leger on downtide, with the exception of a pulley rig....

 

Edited December 14, 2020 by suzook12

[Saintly Fish]

22 minutes ago, suzook12 said:

, I only use a running leger on downtide

Me too, or a 3 hook flapper for bream. 

[Scotch_Egg2012]

On my Uptider I tend to use a running leger.  I have it set up on a tube boom that only allows maybe 9-10 inches of run before it butts up against another swivel and then sets the hook.

I use a similar rig when I leger for Mullet and it works really well,  very short hook length on a running leger with a stop maybe an inch or two above the hook link swivel. Allows the fish to pick up the bait and move off with little resistance but very quickly sets the hook.

Saintly Fish, have you tried pop ups on your Bream rigs?

[Saintly Fish]

5 minutes ago, Scotch_Egg2012 said:

Saintly Fish, have you tried pop ups on your Bream rigs?

No Scott I have not. Normally when I catch bream they are on the lowest hook. The upper two seem pretty redundant. What’s the advantage pop ups on a bream rig? 
I do use them occasionally on a flounder rig from the shore, it slows the crabs down a bit. 

[Scotch_Egg2012]

The pop ups give your bait a more neutral buoyancy if set up right.  I ran a side by side test of two identical rigs on the Bream one with yellow pop ups and one without.   The pop up rig out-fished the other rig by a considerable margin.  Usually set with 1 or 2 yellow (Seems to be the colour for Bream) pop up beads just above the hook.

I have been using them on all my scratching rigs and you'd be surprised what you catch on them.  I took my niece out for the Bream early this year set her up on a pop up rig, she caught a small Tope, a fair few Smoothound amongst the Bream again I was fishing a non popped rig for a test and she out-fished me massively.

You'd also be surprised by the amount of Ray's I have had on it.

[Saintly Fish]

1 minute ago, Scotch_Egg2012 said:

The pop ups give your bait a more neutral buoyancy if set up right.  I ran a side by side test of two identical rigs on the Bream one with yellow pop ups and one without.   The pop up rig out-fished the other rig by a considerable margin.  Usually set with 1 or 2 yellow (Seems to be the colour for Bream) pop up beads just above the hook.

I have been using them on all my scratching rigs and you'd be surprised what you catch on them.  I took my niece out for the Bream early this year set her up on a pop up rig, she caught a small Tope, a fair few Smoothound amongst the Bream again I was fishing a non popped rig for a test and she out-fished me massively.

You'd also be surprised by the amount of Ray's I have had on it.

Well that’s certainly worth a try. Doubt @Andy135 will bother, he catches enough dogs without extra help. 

[Scotch_Egg2012]

4 minutes ago, JonC said:

I’ve never tried pop ups, always been obsessed with pinning it hard on the bottom. Maybe I’ll try different tactics. 

I read about it for the Bream somewhere that I cant remember so I tried it,  the piece specifically mentioned yellow pops ups and when I went into Rover in Fareham to stock up on them Mark who used to work in there said "Making Bream rigs are we?"  so I thought there must be something in it.

Give them ago you maybe pleasantly suprised

[Saintly Fish]

2 minutes ago, Scotch_Egg2012 said:

I read about it for the Bream somewhere that I cant remember so I tried it,  the piece specifically mentioned yellow pops ups and when I went into Rover in Fareham to stock up on them Mark who used to work in there said "Making Bream rigs are we?"  so I thought there must be something in it.

Give them ago you maybe pleasantly suprised

What size in mm do you use?

[Scotch_Egg2012]

8mm for the small stuff

[suzook12]

What kind of tide are you talking about for using pop ups?

[Scotch_Egg2012]

It works in the Western Solent on the smaller tides, but to be fair I had them work in all but the biggest springs around Nab.  I don't use them to properly pop a bait up but more as an offset of the weight of the hook and line so the bait flutters enticingly

[Saintly Fish]

2 minutes ago, Scotch_Egg2012 said:

It works in the Western Solent on the smaller tides, but to be fair I had them work in all but the biggest springs around Nab.  I don't use them to properly pop a bait up but more as an offset of the weight of the hook and line so the bait flutters enticingly

How long do you keep the squid past the hook?

[Scotch_Egg2012]

1 minute ago, Saintly Fish said:

How long do you keep the squid past the hook?

just so it goes over the eye to hold it in place then I slide the pop ups down just above the bait.

[Saintly Fish]

7 minutes ago, Scotch_Egg2012 said:

just so it goes over the eye to hold it in place then I slide the pop ups down just above the bait.

Yeah I meant at the pointy end. I normally have about an inch hanging off the hook point.

[Scotch_Egg2012]

Depends what i'm fishing for,  I don't like to give Bream too much to tug at else they rip a squid strip off.

[suzook12]

We have strong tides around our area and other than the last/first of the tide, your bait will only ever be hard on the bottom. The norm for uptiding is 10oz fixed wire leads