Hi. I am new to fishing and I keep hearing about carolina rigs. can someone please explain them to me. and how to set them up?

Thanks Cindy

Cindy, let me start by saying welcome to Bassin' USA, you have come to the right place! The basic Carolina rig consists of a weight, some prefer an egg type sinker and others prefer a bullet type, a glass or plastic bead, a barrell swivel, a length of leader and hook. Basically you put the weight and bead on the main line followed by the swivel. Then the leader can be pretty much the length you need to keep the bait above the bottom or cover you are fishing and add a soft plastic of your choice, lizard, worm, etc.

The idea is to keep contact with the bottom and fish it relatively slow. Hope this helps and good luck!

Welcome Cindy,
Bryan gave a good description of the C-Rig. The idea is for the weight to be heavy enough to maintain contact with the bottom, stirring up silt, bouncing off rocks or whatever. The plastic bead serves two purposes, it adds a little noise when the sinker bounces off of it and acts like a buffer between the sinker and the line knot at the swivel. The swivel affords freedom of movement for the bait and eliminates line twist. I suggest at first keeping the distance between the hook and swivel short. These rigs take a little getting used to when trying to cast. Use a lob cast, don't try to power cast for distance, the large sinker will carry the rig a long way. Don't expect bone jarring strikes with the C-Rig, you'll most like feel something mushy or heavy on the line, set the hook. If in doubt, you can stop the retrieve and give a littler line, with the sinker free sliding on the line, fish can pull out a little line without feeling you or the rod. Good luck, you'll catch on soon. Johnnie