17 Types Of BOTTOM FISHING RIGS (That Catch Fish Anywhere)
PUBLISHED 16 AUGUST 2023
by Robert Ceran
Are you planning to throw a bottom fishing rig, but aren’t sure which setup is best for your purposes?
In order to leverage the full power of bottom fishing to catch more fish, it’s essential to use the right bottom fishing setup for your fishery and for the fish species that you want to target.
In this article I’ll walk you through the best bottom fishing rigs, and will also cover their advantages, and how to choose the ideal setup for your purposes.
What are the different types of bottom fishing rigs?
The 17 most effective bottom fishing rigs are:
- Carolina rig
- Texas rig
- Drop shot rig
- Fish finder rig
- Pompano rig
- Lindy rig
- Santee Cooper rig
- High low rig
- Knocker rig
- Split shot rig
- Slip sinker rig
- Dropper loop rig
- 3 way swivel rig
- Paternoster rig
- Double drop bottom rig
- Running ledger rig
- Flapper rig
We’ll go over the strengths of each of these bottom fishing rigs below, so you can decide which one is best for you.
Carolina rig
This is one of the most popular and versatile bottom rigs, period. And while the Carolina fishing rig is predominantly used for bass fishing, it works equally well for catching a wide variety of fish in virtually all settings.
The Carolina rig consists of a slip sinker and bead on the main line, as well as a barrel swivel that connects to a leader with a hook tied to the end of it.
The strength of this versatile rig is that it can be fished from either a boat or the bank, thrown in saltwater and freshwater, and used with either live bait, artificial lures, or cut bait.
Texas rig
Right after the Carolina rig, the Texas rig is one of the most popular bass fishing rigs, and is both simple to set up and easy to fish.
The Texas rig consists of a sliding bullet sinker in front of a worm hook, which is weedlessly rigged with a soft plastic bait.
The weedless rigging and the heavy sinker make the Texas rig ideal for penetrating heavy vegetation, and for catching bass around dense grass, laydowns, and other cover. But it also works well in open water, and can be fished at any depth.
Drop shot rig
The drop shot rig is another popular bottom fishing setup for bass that is mostly used as a finesse rig.
It consists of a drop shot weight attached to the end of the line, as well as a hook tied to the line above the weight, and is usually baited with a soft plastic bait.
The drop shot rig can be fished from the bank or from a boat, and works well for both smallmouth and largemouth bass, as well as a range of other species that feed near the bottom.
Fish finder rig
The fish finder rig is a popular surf fishing setup that consists of a pyramid sinker and slide riding on the main line, as well as a barrel swivel connected to a single leader with a snelled hook.
The pyramid weight is ideal for holding the rig in place in the strong currents and tide of the surf, which makes it the go-to choice for many beach anglers.
The fish finder rig is usually baited with cut bait, and works well for catching a wide variety of saltwater fish that can be caught from shore.
Pompano rig
The Pompano rig is a surf fishing rig that was specifically designed for catching pompano from the beach, but also works for other species that can be caught in the surf.
Unlike the fish finder rig, it comes with the weight attached to the end of the line, as well as 2 to 3 hooks tied on snoods above the weight.
Each hook is rigged with a small, brightly colored float, which not only serves to lift the bait above the bottom, but also attracts pompano to the baited hooks.
Lindy rig
The Lindy rig was originally designed as a bottom fishing rig for walleye, and consists of a Lindy no-snag sinker on the main line, as well as a swivel attached to a leader with a snelled hook.
There are many variations of this rig, such as the floatingLindy rig, which resembles the Santee Cooper rig (see below).
In addition to walleye, the Lindy rig also catches bass, catfish, perch, and trout (as well as any other fish that feed just above the bottom).
The great thing about the Lindy rig is that it can be used either as a static bottom fishing rig, or as a fishing rig for trolling.
Santee Cooper rig
The Santee Cooper rig is one of the most popular and effective catfish rigs, and consists of a slip sinker on the main line, as well as a swivel attached to a leader with a hook and a small peg float, which keeps the bait off the bottom.
The success of the Santee Cooper rig is largely due to the peg float, which lifts the bait over any weeds or cover on the bottom, and thus helps catfish to find it.
A variant of this rig is built with a no-snag weight, which makes it ideal for drift fishing or trolling for catfish.
High low rig
The high low rig is a popular sea fishing setup that consists of a sinker attached to the end of the line, as well as 2 hooks tied to the leader above the weight with T-knots.
When it comes to bottom fishing with multi-hook rigs, the high low rig is one of the most popular options. It comes with the advantage that its T-knots make the snoods more stable, which helps to avoid the line tangles that often plague surf anglers.
The high low rig can be used either for surf fishing, or for vertical bottom fishing techniques from a boat, jetty or a pier.
Knocker rig for bottom fishing
The knocker rig is a saltwater bottom rig that consists of a circle hook tied to the end of the line, and a sliding egg sinker that rides on the leader just above the hook.
What sets this rig apart from other sliding sinker rigs, such as slip sinker rig and Carolina rig, is that the weight is rigged onto the leader, and not onto the braided main line.
The fact that the weight slides all the way down to the hook makes the knocker rig much more compact during casting. This helps to avoid line tangles almost entirely, making it the perfect bottom fishing rig for long distance casting.
Split shot rig
The split shot rig is a finesse fishing setup for bass and trout, and consists of a hook tied to the end of the line, as well as several split shot weights pinched onto the line above the hook.
This rig is most often fished with soft plastic baits, and works best in shallow water, as it sinks down slowly in the water column.
The split shot rig is mostly used for targeting finicky bass that don’t respond to more conventional setups.
Slip sinker rig
The slip sinker rig is a popular bottom fishing setup that consists of a sliding sinker on the main line, as well as a swivel tied to a leader with a hook attached to the end.
This basic bottom fishing rig can be used to catch almost any fish that feed close to the bottom, and is used by both freshwater and saltwater anglers.
The slip sinker rig can be fished with cut bait, live bait or artificial bait, and you can throw it from a boat or from the shore.
Dropper loop rig for bottom fishing
The dropper loop rig is a sea fishing rig that consists of a sinker tied to the end of the line, as well as a hook attached to a dropper loop knot on the line above the weight.
This single hook bottom fishing rig is often used with live bait to target big fish close to bottom structure in deep water, such as monster grouper, mangrove snapper, yellowtail, and halibut.
However, it works equally well with cut bait, and also catches smaller bottom species such as red snapper and sheepshead.
3 way swivel rig
The 3 way fishing rig is a popular bottom fishing rig that consists of a 3-way swivel tied to three different lines: a leader line with a hook attached to the end, a dropper line with a sinker, as well as the main fishing line.
The dropper line is usually significantly weaker than the other lines, which allows you to break off the weight without losing the rest of the rig, should it get snagged on the bottom.
This setup makes a great live bait rig, but can also be fished with cut bait or artificial bait. It can be either fished statically on the bottom, or it can be used for drift fishing or trolling.
Paternoster rig
The paternoster rig is a multi-hook saltwater rig that comes with a bank sinker tied to the end of the fishing line, as well as either two or three hooks tied to the line above the weight with dropper loop knots.
The advantage of using dropper loops to attach the hooks is that you can easily swap out the hooks by using a cow hitch.
The paternoster rig is usually fished vertically from a pier or boat, but can also be used for short distance casting from the beach.
Double drop bottom rig
The double drop bottom rig is similar to the paternoster rig, but differs in one key respect: it uses 3 way swivels to attach the snoods of the hooks, instead of dropper loops.
When used with sufficiently stiff leader line, 3 way swivels help the snoods to stand out at right angles from the shock leader, which helps to prevent line tangles during the casting process.
This makes the double drop rig great for surf fishing, but it also works very well for vertical inshore fishing from a jetty, harbor, or pier.
Running ledger rig
The running ledger rig is a saltwater setup that consists of a sliding ledger weight on the main line going to your rod and reel, as well as a swivel attached to a long leader line with either one or two hooks tied to it.
The strength of this rig is that a fish can swim with the bait without feeling resistance from the sliding weight, and you’ll be able to detect when you get a bite with the tip of your rod.
The running rig is most often used for surf fishing, but it also makes a great boat fishing rig for fishing with live bait or cut bait.
Flapper rig
The flapper rig is a sea fishing setup that consists of a sinker attached to the end of the line, as well as 2-3 crimped swivels along the leader above the weight, which are used to attach the snoods of the hooks.
The structure of the flapper rig is more stable than that of other multi-hook rigs, which helps to avoid tangles during the casting process.
Since line tangles are one of the biggest challenges for surf anglers, this makes the flapper rig ideal for fishing from the beach.