How to Tie Simple Carp Rigs for Beginners

When you are a beginner carp angler it can be very overwhelming when it comes to carp rigs for beginners. There are so many overly complex rigs that I believe just confuse many carp anglers, not just beginners.

In this first post of a planned series, I will run you through simple carp rigs for beginners that will catch you carp and does not take much effort at all to tie.

Check out the second post in the series that goes into great details of each component that makes up a carp rig, including some must know knots.

Complete Guide to Carp Rigs for Beginners

I have used this carp rig for many years and still use to this day, in fact, it was this very carp rig that I caught my PB carp at Oxford Linear Fisheries. I clearly remember the fishing was very slow that day but I managed to land a stunning mirror carp over 30 lbs.

This is a great carp rig for beginners for weedy lakes as it will be critically balanced meaning the rig will sit perfectly on the heavy weed beds.

The beginner carp rig I am going to show you is known as the KD rig. As I have mentioned this carp rig is very simple to tie but has many other advantages. The way the rig is tied will ensure the hook sits in a very aggressive position ready to prick the carps mouth and once the carp is hooked the fish will struggle to dislodge it, you will often find the hook is secured in the bottom lip.

Carp Rigs for Beginners - How to tie a KD rig

You will need the following items to tie the KD rig. I have used mainly Korda end tackle but feel free to use any other manufacturer, I feel Korda provides excellent quality products and tend to use their products.

• Korda Kurv Shank Hooks
• Carp Scissors 
• Korda Strippa tool
• Korda Hybrid coated braid 
• Baiting tool
• Non-toxic fishing shots
• Mainline Cell popup boilies 

Optional but highly recommended

• Korda dark matter putty to pin down the rig

Step 1

Cut a piece of Korda Hybrid braid around 10 - 12 inches long

Step 2

Using the Korda strip tool, strip back around 3 - 4 inches of the coated braid and tie a simple overhand know to form a loop

The loop knot is a must-know knot that is used in many carp rigs and will help you in the future when you start to tie more advanced knots

Step 3

Attach a Mainline Cell popup boilie to the loop you have just tied using the Korda baiting tool

Step 4

Fix the Mainline Cell popup boilie in place using a bait stop

Step 5

Measure out the length of the hair against the hook and Mainline Cell popup boilie, leaving a small gap in between the two

Step 6

With the hair running along the shank of the hook, whip over twice. Pull the hair back, away from the shank and whip the hair another five times. Finally, feed the hooklink back through the eye of the hook.

Step 7

Attach a split shot to the hair which will ensure the hook is anchored to the bottom of the lake.

Step 8

Tie a loop in the other end of the hooklink ready to be attached to a lead clip system 

Step 9

I like to add some putting to the hooklink which will ensure the rig is pinned down and not spooking any carp in the area

Step 10

There you have it, a simple carp rig for beginners that will catch you carp at any venue. I would suggest you practice this at home before you next session to make sure the rig is solid.