Crawling corn cocktail rig for carp

This is a deadly little rig that’s just the ticket on busy waters. It’s a brilliant cocktail bait that catches fish out where tit-bit fishing with bags and sticks is the favourite approach.

I’m sure someone will take the time to pester the letters pages in disgust at it being a two hook rig. To me, common sense should prevail – the smaller hook is a bait retaining device, the point remains securely buried in the rubber of the corn even during a long scrap, and I’d suggest is less dangerous than the exposed, spiked ends of maggot clip style accessories… light the blue touch paper time?

You’ll need a small eyed match style hook, a size 14 holds three maggots nicely. Choose barbless so the maggots are less likely to burst. Some link materials are difficult to thread through such small eyes, Korda’s N-Trap soft is a doddle. Tie the size 14 to the end of the exposed braid in your combi-link material.

Now thread on a piece of plastic corn and slide down the link so it sits just below the small hook. I like the ESP buoyant corn. Coming in different sizes you can adjust the size of the corn to produce different size and buoyancy hook baits.

Now whip a knotless knot, leaving the hair around an inch and a half. It’s a tit-bit rig so a Korda Kurv 12 and the hair exiting KD style is a reliable combination. Needing no shrink tube it is also ideal for pulling into sticks and pellet bags.

Carefully nick three maggots on to the barbless match hook at the end of the hair. Because the hook is so small they shouldn’t suffer any damage and will remain wriggling enticingly for much longer than when threaded on nylon with a sewing needle or pushed on to a maggot clip.

Push the corn up to the end of the hair, ensuring the point of the match hook is buried inside the rubber.

With a standard size grain of corn you will need a No.4 or similar counter balance shot to peg the hook bait down. Mini rubber corn grains will tend to balance with the hook and maggots alone. The maggots waft the bait around and really catch a carp’s eye – just the job!

Read Colin Davidson every week only in Angler’s Mail magazine.