This useful presentation is ideal for avoiding smaller fish on the pole when bigger specimens are your target
Rig school
ONE OF the most important pole rigs in recent years, especially when targeting bream and big roach, is the reverse taper shotting pattern.
This rig is designed to get the hookbait through the upper water layers quickly, past any small fish that may be sat there, before slowing the bait’s decent to a more natural-looking pace when it reaches the larger fish sat close to the bottom.
These larger fish often need a bit longer to intercept the bait and will watch it as it settles on the bottom.
Use No10 split shot or Styls on this rig. The first is placed six inches from the hook, and then each additional one is set at decreasing intervals above it. So, the second shot is at five inches, the third at four, and so on, until the shot are just an inch apart. If fishing pegs deeper than about six feet, or those where there is an undertow, use a larger float and increase the size of the bulk to help stabilise the rig.
It’s a rig that works really well with maggots, casters and soft 6mm pellets on the hook, alongside matching feed.
A size 16 or 18 hook can be used to match the size of the bait. Don’t fish too light – the bream and even big roach won’t mind if you use a 0.12mm hooklength, but if you hook a rogue carp then this extra margin for error will come in useful.
If you haven’t used this rig before, give it a try. It works great at the bottom of the margin drop-off where often the lakebed is a little firmer. Plumb-up accurately and fish either dead-depth or an inch or two over. It’s a brill
