Adjustable Zig Rig

[KABBYCHRIS]

I always look forward to reading Crafty Carper,and this month there was an artical in there by Raimon Hartley, which was about alternative zig fishing.

I won't type up all the article but some of it so you can get the jist.
"These are relatively easy to set up and have many advantages over the traditional set zig. You can alter the depth at which you are fishing in an instant to find feeding carp, rather than having to constantly shorten/retie hooklengths, so therefore you dont have to recast and potentially disturb your swim. When you hook a fish, if using multiple rods on zigs, you can wind down the others to avoid any tangles and then return them to their original position very easily. They are simple to cast and for playing carp, as you are only effectively then using a short link, and tight swims with overhangs can be fished with ease. Casting the adjustable zig You can pretty much cast this in the same style as you would your marker rod and use it in the same fashion, When casting out, in order to avoid tangels, feather the end tackle down so the hooklink lies out straight, then let the lead and float sink to the bottom on a tight line, Engage the free spool on your reel and play out line as you would with a marker rod. You should then see the float, and finally your hookbait, rise to the surface. If you have let our 6ft of line simply add 2ft (or the length of your hooklink) to this to establish the depth. A good starting point is to fish 1ft below the surface, so with free spool still engaged, simply wind a foot of line back onto the spool and you are angling!
BUT after trying this method and feathering the line down i was getting tangled up on the cast or raising the rig, i could not work out why so with a lot of thought (cogs banging in brain) i came up with the fact that the float can slide up and down the line so it was causing it to tangle so here is my version which after a bit of banging and puffing it worked!




As you will see from my masterpieces I got an inline pike float and carefully took the centre out, reamed the top of the float to fit a swivel snuggly (a slight pull and it will come out of the float) I threaded a bead onto the main line then silicone tubing 2cm longer than the float onto line, then threaded through the float, attached main line to swivel and pulled through tubing over half of the swivel. At the bottom of the float i pushed the bead onto the tubing so it wouldn't slide up and down, but would eject if main line snapped.
Thanks to my wife for being very patience and typing this up!