No confidence in zig rigs

[DubVader]

Hello everyone, was hoping for some advice on zig rigs. I'm going to be fishing a hard lake soon that I have only ever caught off the top from but they have recently banned surface fishing so was planning to give a zig a go. 

I know the basics of zigs on how to tie them and to find the depth of the swim and start at 2/3rd depth and then adjust from there. Was just wondering what colours of foam should I try? I was going to go with black as its been bright and very hot out, should I loose feed hemp over the top of the zig or would that just get the birds to bother me? the other thing is that there is a part of the lake that is around 12ft deep, if i fish a 10 foot zig how hard is it to net the fish once its hooked? (if i nab a fish at all) one last thing would be the lead set up, should i go with a heavy lead or a lighter one using a lead clip or an inline with a ring swivel or a normal swivel?

I would appreciate any and all advice with zig fishing as I have never fished with them before thanks all

[The_Viking_Angler]

Hi Mate,

In terms of which colour foam to use, it's all down to preference but my rule of thumb is if your fishing in the upper half of the water, then i use black foam and if your fishing in the lower half, then use a brighter colour.

My thinking behind this is that when the carp are looking up, black will stand out against the bright sky, when they look down, a bright colour like yellow will stand out against the dark bed of the lake. This isn't a stead fast rule however, as any colour will work in any situation but its just a rough guide to work from.

The easiest way to net the fish with a long hooklink is to drop the lead, which will allow you to wind in further, or use a zig float. 

If i am fishing with a zig float, then i use the lead set up the float packaging suggests but if i am using "fixed zigs" then i always use a lead clip with heavy leads. That way i can make sure if i am fishing super long hook links, then i can put the pin in the lead clip and fish drop off style or take the pin out if i dont need to drop the lead.

I would also always use a ball swivel as it gives max movement and prevent line twists. Fox do a great little kit's which comes with everything you need to fish zigs, i will post a link below.

Fixed Zigs

https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/fox-edges-zig-lead-clip-kit

Adjustable Zigs

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fox-Edges-Zig-Float-cac753/dp/B07T5RJB7D

 

Also they have a couple great short videos on their youtube page which demonstrates both types of zig fishing, which i found really useful, if you just search for fox zig fishing, you should find them

Sorry for some of the grammar, i wrote this in a rush just before a online work meeting :')

 

[salokcinnodrog]

3 hours ago, The_Viking_Angler said:

Hi Mate,

In terms of which colour foam to use, it's all down to preference but my rule of thumb is if your fishing in the upper half of the water, then i use black foam and if your fishing in the lower half, then use a brighter colour.

My thinking behind this is that when the carp are looking up, black will stand out against the bright sky, when they look down, a bright colour like yellow will stand out against the dark bed of the lake. This isn't a stead fast rule however, as any colour will work in any situation but its just a rough guide to work from.

The easiest way to net the fish with a long hooklink is to drop the lead, which will allow you to wind in further, or use a zig float. 

If i am fishing with a zig float, then i use the lead set up the float packaging suggests but if i am using "fixed zigs" then i always use a lead clip with heavy leads. That way i can make sure if i am fishing super long hook links, then i can put the pin in the lead clip and fish drop off style or take the pin out if i dont need to drop the lead.

I would also always use a ball swivel as it gives max movement and prevent line twists. Fox do a great little kit's which comes with everything you need to fish zigs, i will post a link below.

Fixed Zigs

https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/fox-edges-zig-lead-clip-kit

Adjustable Zigs

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fox-Edges-Zig-Float-cac753/dp/B07T5RJB7D

 

Also they have a couple great short videos on their youtube page which demonstrates both types of zig fishing, which i found really useful, if you just search for fox zig fishing, you should find them

Sorry for some of the grammar, i wrote this in a rush just before a online work meeting :')

 

Something else that works as a zig bait is real or fake maggots on the hook or foam, but real can be a pain if you have loads of silver fish in the water.

 

Using real maggots is not that hard but can be fiddly. Using a needle thread them onto a length of dental floss or fine mono, and then attach that to the foam or cork on the hook.

Spraying a few maggots over it with a catty, or even floating maggots in groundbait...

You get some real hits on that!

 

 

I do prefer using adjustable zigs to keep the hooklink length shorter.

 

With the adjustable zig I work from surface down rather than bottom to top.

 

 

[DubVader]

8 hours ago, The_Viking_Angler said:

Hi Mate,

In terms of which colour foam to use, it's all down to preference but my rule of thumb is if your fishing in the upper half of the water, then i use black foam and if your fishing in the lower half, then use a brighter colour.

My thinking behind this is that when the carp are looking up, black will stand out against the bright sky, when they look down, a bright colour like yellow will stand out against the dark bed of the lake. This isn't a stead fast rule however, as any colour will work in any situation but its just a rough guide to work from.

The easiest way to net the fish with a long hooklink is to drop the lead, which will allow you to wind in further, or use a zig float. 

If i am fishing with a zig float, then i use the lead set up the float packaging suggests but if i am using "fixed zigs" then i always use a lead clip with heavy leads. That way i can make sure if i am fishing super long hook links, then i can put the pin in the lead clip and fish drop off style or take the pin out if i dont need to drop the lead.

I would also always use a ball swivel as it gives max movement and prevent line twists. Fox do a great little kit's which comes with everything you need to fish zigs, i will post a link below.

Fixed Zigs

https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/fox-edges-zig-lead-clip-kit

Adjustable Zigs

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fox-Edges-Zig-Float-cac753/dp/B07T5RJB7D

 

Also they have a couple great short videos on their youtube page which demonstrates both types of zig fishing, which i found really useful, if you just search for fox zig fishing, you should find them

Sorry for some of the grammar, i wrote this in a rush just before a online work meeting :')

 

Cheers mate, will definitely give the adjustable zigs a go seems a bit better than having to tie up new ones when I fancy changing the depth, I've watched a few vids on zigs and it was always the netting portion I couldn't wrap my head around but fishing a drop off makes a lot of sense I dont usually go for heavy leads but I do have a few 3.5oz pears kicking about I think so I'll give those a go.

[DubVader]

5 hours ago, salokcinnodrog said:

Something else that works as a zig bait is real or fake maggots on the hook or foam, but real can be a pain if you have loads of silver fish in the water.

 

Using real maggots is not that hard but can be fiddly. Using a needle thread them onto a length of dental floss or fine mono, and then attach that to the foam or cork on the hook.

Spraying a few maggots over it with a catty, or even floating maggots in groundbait...

You get some real hits on that!

 

 

I do prefer using adjustable zigs to keep the hooklink length shorter.

 

With the adjustable zig I work from surface down rather than bottom to top.

 

 

I was thinking of giving the maggots a go tied to a slice of cork as I've had some pretty good success on another lake fishing maggot clips and a big bunch of maggots tied up to the hook using a mini swivel (medusa rig?)

The only thing that is making me think twice about that method is the huge number of silvers I've seen in the lake I'm going to next. do you think a larger size hook and a bigger bunch of maggots will keep the silvers for pestering me too much?

Thanks for the reply 

[commonly]

54 minutes ago, DubVader said:

do you think a larger size hook and a bigger bunch of maggots will keep the silvers for pestering me too much?

Whenever I've tried it I get silly little liners & find a small perch has gobbled them up. Very frustrating.

Stick to foam or a pop up in waters with mixed coarse fish would be my advice mate. 

I am still waiting for my red letter day on zigs, but I plan to persist.

There's some very interesting previous threads on this subject, just use the search function. 

Be lucky

[DubVader]

4 minutes ago, commonly said:

Whenever I've tried it I get silly little liners & find a small perch has gobbled them up. Very frustrating.

Stick to foam or a pop up in waters with mixed coarse fish would be my advice mate. 

I am still waiting for my red letter day on zigs, but I plan to persist.

There's some very interesting previous threads on this subject, just use the search function. 

Be lucky

Ok I'll stick with some foam, cheers fella I will have a search and read through

[The_Viking_Angler]

1 hour ago, DubVader said:

Cheers mate, will definitely give the adjustable zigs a go seems a bit better than having to tie up new ones when I fancy changing the depth, I've watched a few vids on zigs and it was always the netting portion I couldn't wrap my head around but fishing a drop off makes a lot of sense I dont usually go for heavy leads but I do have a few 3.5oz pears kicking about I think so I'll give those a go.

Both fixed and adjustable have their different pros and cons mate, just about using the best one for your situation. Again, fox have two recent videos which covers both set ups and the different advantages they offer.

3.5oz will be fine mate, I usually use 3oz.

 

[pablo7uk]

Hey all, I appreciate there may be threads about zigs already but today I used an adjustable zig rig for the first time and will quite freely say I have no confidence in them. 

It's been baking hot so since this venue doesn't allow surface fishing I opted for an adjustable zig fished 6" - 1ft below the surface so I could still see the yellow pop up. I witnessed countless carp spook off it sometimes shoals or 3 or even 4 together each turning away from it one after another. Over the day I've seen perhaps 15+ fish turn their nose up at the pop up. One sucked it in paused for a moment and then just comfortably ejected it.

I'm using a hair rigged pop up with a size 8 Nash fang hook (which is very small for an about 1ft of 10lb Fox camo soft steel mono tied to a mini swivel in a Fox bolt bubble float then down to a 1.5oz lead.

Any suggestions?

[salokcinnodrog]

39 minutes ago, pablo7uk said:

Hey all, I appreciate there may be threads about zigs already but today I used an adjustable zig rig for the first time and will quite freely say I have no confidence in them. 

It's been baking hot so since this venue doesn't allow surface fishing I opted for an adjustable zig fished 6" - 1ft below the surface so I could still see the yellow pop up. I witnessed countless carp spook off it sometimes shoals or 3 or even 4 together each turning away from it one after another. Over the day I've seen perhaps 15+ fish turn their nose up at the pop up. One sucked it in paused for a moment and then just comfortably ejected it.

I'm using a hair rigged pop up with a size 8 Nash fang hook (which is very small for an about 1ft of 10lb Fox camo soft steel mono tied to a mini swivel in a Fox bolt bubble float then down to a 1.5oz lead.

Any suggestions?

A pop-up is not always the best bait for a zig rig, especially a bright yellow one.

Looking up from the lakebed, any surface bait appears dark, black, whereas at the same level in the water you can see the colour.

I have seen carp regularly caught on sweetcorn and yellow pop-ups turn their noses up at them, they totally switched off yellow baits.  Also some flavours in high levels can be repellant, pop-ups can be in that level, or the flavour itself can be a switch off.

 

A lake I fish you can catch carp on any colour pop-up except yellow; orange, pink, white, brown will all catch, but stick a yellow pineapple or an aniseed and bunspice, nothing.

Another lake we used to fish over beds of sweetcorn, then the carp stopped getting caught over it, and totally switched off from Enervite Gold boilies. 

 

I suppose you can class a bait fished at mid depth on the marginal shelf in a metre (3ft)  as a zig rig. I caught a lot of fish on them two years ago, a piece of black foam with a few plastic maggots sewn to it, or even just a plain sliver of green or black foam whipped to the hook shank.

I even caught on 'zig bugs' fished on the surface with mixers around them.

 

 

[yonny]

Put some black foam on bro.

[pablo7uk]

Thanks appreciate the advice on the bait choice, I'll definitely give it another go. Better to improve than give up! 

Is the hooklength and hook size etc all ok? From what I can find on Google I would say so.

Something I've been wondering is that should a zig be set up as a running rig or is it self hooking like a lead clip? Using the Fox bolt bubble float I would think it should have some self hooking properties but then the lead is running.

 

Cheers

[yonny]

20 hours ago, pablo7uk said:

Is the hooklength and hook size etc all ok?

Sounds fine although a clear line is defo best.

20 hours ago, pablo7uk said:

should a zig be set up as a running rig or is it self hooking like a lead clip?

An adjustable has to be set up running but it will have a degree of self hooking properties as you say mate.

On 30/05/2020 at 16:02, pablo7uk said:

It's been baking hot so since this venue doesn't allow surface fishing I opted for an adjustable zig fished 6" - 1ft below the surface

One thing I would add is that when it gets REALLY warm zigs are not always the magic answer. You still need to feed, and feed, and feed, to get their confidence up (same as you would on the surface).

Zigs are at their best when it's warm with a real decent wind imo. When it's hot with no wind the carp just want to sunbathe unless you can get them going with prolonged feeding of mixers (and sometimes even that doesn't work).

[salokcinnodrog]

3 hours ago, yonny said:

Sounds fine although a clear line is defo best.

An adjustable has to be set up running but it will have a degree of self hooking properties as you say mate.

One thing I would add is that when it gets REALLY warm zigs are not always the magic answer. You still need to feed, and feed, and feed, to get their confidence up (same as you would on the surface).

Zigs are at their best when it's warm with a real decent wind imo. When it's hot with no wind the carp just want to sunbathe unless you can get them going with prolonged feeding of mixers (and sometimes even that doesn't work).

I saw Dave Lane fishing zig rigs with dog biscuits on Suffolk Water Park in swim 1. The swim is at the extreme left of the far arm, and he was casting to the left side of the swim, next to the rushes, and continually firing in mixers. The little wind and drift there was was pushing the floaters to the left towards the rushes. 

 

He had a number of takes from there, including the biggest fish in the lake close to 40lb.

[pablo7uk]

Thanks both, I'll keep that in mind and might tie up a new zig with some clear line.