Total Carp Magazine

06 February, 2026

This month’s Total Carp is all about tightening things up at the sharp end. We’ve pulled together a monster rig special—or, as we’ve dubbed it, a full-blown Rig Clinic—designed to help you understand not just how rigs are tied, but why they work the way they do. At the heart of the issue are eight perfectly executed presentations in Why This Rig Is Perfect, before we revisit a modern classic that’s quietly slipped off many anglers’ radars: the Chod Rig. From casting it properly for optimum presentation to tying detail and the ever-present curve debate. The rig section goes further still. Our Opinion Poll asks whether three rigs really can cover every situation, Oli Davies breaks down hookbait attachments and their effect on rig mechanics, and Matt Eaton strips things right back with the four knots you genuinely need to master. Away from rigs, there’s New Year, New You, Adam Penning’s Head of the Class, and Julian Cundiff’s Anatomy Of…, this month turning the spotlight on PVA nuggets. Add in a couple of In-Session features, plus cover star Kev Hewitt reflecting on a very different 2025 spent on a syndicate rather than the big Oxford gravel pits, and you’ve got an issue built to sharpen thinking across the board.