I am sure that by now every person in the world and their dog, cat, budgie, hamster, etc have heard of the Chod rig - even if they are not anglers! With lots of companies claiming that their products are the best available and all that is needed to construct the perfect Chod rig, I have decided to put these claims to the test, with the first company's products under the spotlight being Gardner Tackle.
I am going to break down the components into sections - leader and hook link. Both of these sections of the rig are critical to making the Chod rig work properly, and if you get one wrong, then you may as well be not casting a rig out. To perform the construction, I am going to be following the manufacturers instructions to the letter as this would be the way that a novice angler would carry out the construction rather than constructing it in my tried & tested way.
Without further ado, lets get on with it.
Leader Construction.
To make the traditional Chod rig, a leadcore leader is essential. There has been a lot of negative press regarding leadcore over the years, and if used incorrectly, it can be a high risk to the fish of tethering should a crack off occur.
Gardner have developed a leadcore that does as it says on the packaging. Plummet leadcore is available in three different colours - green, brown and sand, to suit whatever substrate you are fishing over. Plummet is available in breaking strains of 25lb (standard Plummet) and 45lb (Heavy Plummet) . I have chosen to use the 45lb Heavy Plummet as this is generally what other companies will be providing and like-for-like comparisons will be the fairest test. The 25lb Plummet though looks to be perfect for creating short stiff rig booms from that require little or no putty to balance a pop-up (great little trick to try if you haven't already done so). There is not a great deal of difference between the two breaking strains density's with the spool of 25lb Plummet weighing in at 68g and the 45lb Heavy Plummet coming in at 74g. Both are 20m spools. The main reason for using the thicker 45lb Plummet is so that the beads fit better onto the material. Using the thinner material requires the small pieces of silicone that the beads sit on during the cast need to be folded back over themselves to stop the bead flying up the leader on the cast.
Splicing Heavy Plummet is as easy as any other leadcore I have used. Standard sized splicing needles slide through the inner of the sheath after the lead has been removed easily, and pulling the material back through itself to create the loop is easy - requiring a couple if little wiggles to relax the sheathing slightly. Once the splice has been completed, Gardner recommend a drop of glue on the splice to secure.
On the lower end of the leader, when creating the spliced loop, I place a Covert Speed Link connector onto the loop before splicing it back throughthe main sheathing. This link allows quick and easy change of lead size. To cover the link up, a Covert Buffer Bead is used. The Buffer Bead is a rubber sleeve with a rubber bead blended into the sleeve. The Buffer Bead allows the bottom bead and swivel to rest against it when playing a fish. It also neatens the complete arrangement to minimise tangles.
On the leadcore itself, I then placed a 5mm length of 0.5mm Covert Silicone Tube and slid it down to aproximately 12" above the Buffer Bead. This piece of silicone allows a Covert Safety Bead to be placed snugly over it to secure. The Covert Safety Bead has a tapered bore and for the bottom bead, I always place it onto the leader so the larger bore is towards the lead. This alows the bead to sit on the silicone without moving under light pressure. When a fish is hooked, the bead and silicone can move still.
The tied Chod rig hooklink is then placed onto the leader and another 5mm piece of silicone tube is slid onto the leader and moved down so that there is around 12" gap between the mainline end of the leader and the silicone. Another Covert Safety Bead is threaded on to the leader (larger bore towards the lead arrangement) and placed snugly onto the silicone. Moistening the silicone allows a better bond between the two rubber components but allows the bead to pop off should the leader be lost. The soft rubber compound used in the Safety Beads allows them to flex over leader knots and small pieces of weed that may have gathered over the end of the leader connection.
Hooklink Section Construction
There has been many ways published in the media to tie the "perfect" Chod Rig hook section, and every angler seems to have their own way of doing so. I don't feel I am qualified to say who is right or who is wrong, but I have my favoured way of presenting this rig. Obviously the way I construct my Chod Rigs bears no relation to how Gardner recommend the angler ties the Chod Rig using their range of components, and to keep in with my opening statement, I followed their recommendations to the letter.
A lot of anglers feel that the hook is the most important part of a Chod Rig, but I differ there as depending on the way the knot is tied, you can actually use any pattern of hook effectively. Gardner have developed what they feel is the ultimate in hooks for the Chod Rig and is strangely enough called the Covert Chod Hook.
The Covert Chod hook is very similar to the de facto typical pattern that is commonly associated to this rig. With a straight point that has been angled slightly in at the bend towards the shank, hook holds should be very good. The eye of the hook has been out-turned by 15 degrees which when tied with any knot used for connecting the hook will give a perfect continuation of the hooklink material. The wire guage used is not the thinnest nor the thickest I have seen in a hook of this pattern, and has been forged to give extra strength. I have had a good play with the hooks and they are very strong for the wire guage, as well as being super sharp. Gardner have given the hook a coating which they call Stealth Technology. This coating is not like most of the coatings used in todays hooks, and you could be forgiven in thinking that the hooks are not coated at all. The coating minimises glare when under water and offers some concealment due to reflection when submerged. The eye of the hook (I used a size 4 in this case) is larger enough to allow the hooklink material to be passed through the required number of times.
Gardner's own stiff link material is called Tripwire and has been available for a couple of seasons now. It is not one that a lot of anglers will be aware of as the majority of media publications tend to show only one or two materials that have been engraved into peoples minds as being the only material to use. Tripwire is actually quite a good material. It is clear in colouration which is what the vast majority of similar materials are, but where it comes into its own compared to similar materials is that it is easy to straighten straight off the spool. Tripwire has a very good memory which is essential when creating stiff rigs. When straightened, it stays straight and when curved, retains a curve even after a fish has been landed. As with any stiff rig, it is essential, regardless of material used, that the curve is correct and should be checked before casting out every time. When run through the fingers to warm up the material slightly, the naturalcurve of the material from the spool is removed and allows the rig to be tied easily. Knot strength is also very good for the diameters. Tripwire is available in 15lb, 20lb and now 25lb.
The last two components required may only be small items but still important. The first is the Covert Rig Ring that the bait is tied to. Gardner have 3 types in their portfolio - two round and one oval. The round rings are the ones that most anglers prefer to use for constructing Chod rigs. The Covert Rig Rings are coated to be anti-glare, although for this task the bait would mask the ring from the fish's view. The important factor is that the rig can move freely on the "D" but it is best to use the smallest that you can get away with. The second component is the swivel that the rig is connected to. With the way that rotary rigs (which the Chod is part of this family) work, the swivel must be able to rotate freely on the leader - both in flight and once in the water mainly for safety reasons so that the rig can come off the leader should a breakage occur. With this in mind, the Covert Flexi-Ring Swivel in size 12 is first choice. Because the movement is needed at the leader end, instead of tying the rig to the ring as is done in other types of rig, the ring is connection part to the leader. The reason that the smaller sized swivel is used is so that only the bare minimum of weight is constructed into the rig itself to balance the pop-up. This allows the weight of the leader to be the main counterbalance, and offers less resistance to the fish upon picking the bait up.
To tie the Chod Rig in the Gardner fashion, it is a little different to the more commonly published way, but still very easy to do.
Cut off a length of Tripwire long enough to comfortably work with. Although the finished rig will be usually 3" or less when tied, if you use too short of piece of line to start with, it makes it more difficult to work when tying knots.
Tie one end of the Tripwire to the end of the Flexi-Ring swiel that does not have the ring using a 3 turn Grinner Knot. Make sure that the knot is moistened before tightening slowly. Once the knot has completely bedded down, trim the tag end off and blob with a lighter for added security.
Place the other end of the Tripwire through the eye of your chosen size Covert Chod Hook making sure that the line enters from the point side of the eye to exit out of the back. Gardner recommend that the hook is tied on using the spade end knot (instructions are on the reverse of the Tripwire packaging). You should aim to a total length of hooklink of no more than 3".
Once the hook has been tied on, take a Covert Rig Ring and place over the tag end of the knot, and place the tag end back through the eye of the hook to create the "D". Pull the tag end so the "D" is flattened and trim the tag so it is approximately 10mm in length. Using a lighter and making sure that the knot and main part of the hooklink is away from the tag that needs to be burnt, place the tag end in to the flame to create a blob leaving approximately 5mm of the tag protruding. After a couple of seconds, place a baiting needle into the "D" and gently pull the "D" open so the blob is sitting against the eye of the hook. Tease the "D" so it is rounded rather than have kinked parts in it which could hinder bait movement.
Using your finger and thumb, gently rub them along the Tripwire section to create a smooth curve. This allows the rig to rotate should the fish pick up the bait from any angle.
Thats your completed Chod Rig using the Gardner Covert range. Quite simple really.
Final Thoughts
The Gardner Tackle Covert range have all been well thought out for the uses that they have been designed for. I did find a couple of small things that would not change the way I construct the Chod.
The first is the advocation of gluing the splices on the leadcore. Using glue on the splices hardens the sheath up and stops it constricting back on itself, which is where the strength comes from.
The second is the use of the spade end knot to tie the hook to the Tripwire. When I constructed the rig, no matter how I tightened the knot down - even when placed in a bowl of water and tightened slowly, I found that the first couple of centimetres of the line near the eye of the hook felt rough to the touch. I tied the rig using hooks in sizes 4, 6 & 8 using all 3 strains of Tripwire, and every knot felt rough. When tied using the Snell knot or the Knotless knot, the line was perfect on exiting the hook eye.We are not saying not to cast a Chod rig out tied with the spade end knot, but we feel there are better knots that can be used. The Snell knot is the knot I recommend and Gardner have made a video showing how to tie it which can be found below.
Other than the two minor niggles, I would not hesitate in recommending anglers to give the Covert range a go. I have used parts of the Covert range in my rigs since the launch of the range and continute to use them with confidence.
A lot of anglers feel that the hook is the most important part of a Chod Rig, but I differ there as depending on the way the knot is tied, you can actually use any pattern of hook effectively. Gardner have developed what they feel is the ultimate in hooks for the Chod Rig and is strangely enough called the Covert Chod Hook.