Pop-up rigs: ronnie and chod without the tangles
Course pack: Pop-up rig choice card and balancing checklist. Coach Willy, our virtual AI coach, can explain each step, set you a practice task and check your understanding.
Who it's for
You've done the basics and want to tighten things up. Aimed at carp.
Where and when
Mostly done at home before you go. Best in: all.
What you'll work through
- 1Know when a pop-up beats a bottom bait
- 2Tie a ronnie and balance the hookbait
- 3Tie a chod for weed and soft bottoms
- 4Fish pop-ups safely and judge the results
Step 1: Know when a pop-up beats a bottom bait
Alright mate, let's get stuck into pop-up rigs: ronnie and chod without the tangles. I'll walk you through what to look for, what to try and how to tell whether it helped. We'll start with know when a pop-up beats a bottom bait, then work through a proper practice job at each step. Take it at your own pace and keep a few notes so you've got a useful plan for next time.
By the end of this step
Have a go at: know when a pop-up beats a bottom bait.
Willy’s take
Before you tie either rig, work out whether a pop-up actually beats a bottom bait today. Pop-ups shine where the bottom is soft silt, light weed or leaf litter that would bury or hide a bottom bait, and also where carp are feeding confidently just off the deck rather than flat on it.
If you've found clean gravel, sand or clay with carp clearly grubbing right on the bottom, a simple bottom bait is often the easier, more reliable choice and doesn't need the extra balancing work a pop-up demands.
Feel the lead down on the drop and note how it lands: a soft, mushy stop usually means silt, while a solid knock means firmer ground.
Kit I'd start with
- Moving on to pop-ups means a slightly bigger kit list than a basic hair rig, mostly because you're now balancing buoyancy rather than just mounting a sinking bait.
- You'll want a tub of pop-ups in a couple of sizes plus some zig-style foam cut into small cylinders, a reel of stiff chod filament and a reel of softer coated braid for Ronnie booms, purpose-made spinner swivels with matching kickers for the Ronnie, chod beads and out-turned-eye hooks for the chod, a small tub of tungsten-loaded putty for fine buoyancy adjustments, and a clear bucket of water deep enough to properly test how a finished rig sinks.
- Keep your lead arrangement the same releasing clip or helicopter setup you'd use on any hair rig, since safety doesn't change just because the hookbait floats.
- Don't feel you need both a Ronnie and a chod set-up from day one; pick whichever suits the venue you fish most and get confident with that before adding the second rig type, since trying to learn both at once usually means neither gets tied properly.
On the bank
Worked example
Say you cast around and the lead comes back caked in black silt every time. Rather than forcing a bottom bait that'll sink into that silt and vanish from view, that's exactly the situation where a low pop-up on a Ronnie makes more sense.
Your turn: Know when a pop-up beats a bottom bait
- 1
Feel the lead down and note how firm or soft the bottom feels.
- 2
Choose a pop-up where silt, weed or litter would bury a bottom bait.
That's the free sample — this is where it stops
The full step keeps going with the rest of the practice job, common mistakes and fixes, a check-your-understanding quiz and your Pop-up rig choice card and balancing checklist. Then 3 more steps, each with its own task, and Coach Willy on hand to talk it through.
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