Mr Carpy Mark Pitchers give you a step-by-step guide on how to tie his slightly tweaked version of the Hinged Stiff Rig...

I have long since been a fan of the Hinged Stiff Rig as it offers so many of the features that I look for when it comes to presenting pop-up hookbaits. Firstly the hook sits at an aggressive angle, in prime position for taking hold of a carp's bottom lip, meaning it is very hard to eject. Secondly on the rare occasions that a carp does manage to eject the rig it has the ability to re-set itself meaning it is ready and waiting for the next time a fish sucks it in. Furthermore the rig can be presented over all manners of different lakebeds including light weed and 'chod' and also has great anti-tangle properties too. 

I am, however, always looking at ways I can tweak my rig to make it even more effective, in recent times I have been able to change the hook from the old Arma Point SR to the new upgraded Edges Stiff Rig hooks, which are even stronger and sharper. Another tweak I have made is to the hook section of the rig. By taking the already very stiff 30lb Rigidity and doubling it over like a Multi Rig I am able to make it twice as stiff! This results in a rig that is even harder for the carp to eject, which means I get to turn more pick ups into fish on the bank. 

HOW TO TIE: MARK'S HINGED STIFF RIG

Pic 1: Below are the items Mark uses to construct his rig.

Pic 2: Start by cutting 8ins of 30lb Rigidity

Pic 3: Next double over the Rigidity as show below.

Pic 4: Now push the two tag ends of Rigidity through the back of the eye of your hook.

Pic 5: Leave a small loop sticking out of the back of the eye of the hook and thread a Mini Hook Ring Swivel onto this loop.

Pic 6: Now pass the hook through the centre of the loop like so...

Pic 7: The next step is to pull the loop down tight to the eye of the hook, as shown.

Pic 8: Now take a size 11 Flexi Ring Swivel and place the two tags of Rigidity through the small eye.

Pic 9: Slide the swivel to 1ins from the eye of the hook and bend the Rigidity over.

Pic 10: You then need to twist the tag ends of Rigidity around the main hook section like you would with a blood knot.

Pic 11: Twist the tag ends around the hook section twice and then push them through the gap as illustrated below.

Pic 12: Use two Multi Tools to pull the blood knot down nice and tight.

Pic 13: Take some scissors and carefully trim away the majority of the tags leaving just a couple of mm.

Pic 14: Carefully blob both tag end with a lighter.

Pic 15: Back up at the hook end you need to open out the loop of Rigidity to create a small D Rig.

Pic 16: Next up is to attach your chosen boom section, here Mark is using Camotex Semi-Stiff and prefers to have loops in both ends.

Pic 17: Now attach your pop-up of choice onto the Mini Hook Ring Swiveusing the 'Blob' method

Pic 18: Finally add some tungsten putty to the knot to counter balance your pop-up - you want the bait to sink nice and slowly through the water.

Pic 19: Below you can see the finished rig with a super-stiff hook section.

 Below: Mark poses with a stunning common that was tricked using the exact rig outlined in this article.