TackleTour

I am new to carolina rig so I am a little confused about this rig.
The lure is supposed to suspend above the bottom right? So I was looking for some floating soft bait but there are tons of brands and baits, some do not mark their bait as floating or sinking.
Any recommendations will be really helpful.
My ideal plastic is 4 to 6 inches, worm or swimbait shape(like Keitech).
Thank you guys

I'm not sure if this is going to be the answer you were looking for...but I think the bait suspending off the bottom is a big misconception about a Carolina Rig. Reality is, you can Carolina Rig with just about any soft plastic you can think of. Senkos, Trick Worms, Brush Hogs, Craws, Flukes, etc...This summer I even had a lot of success with a Missile Baits D Bomb in one outing. There are some soft plastic that are more buoyant than others, but I'd pick a couple of baits/colors you already have confidence in and give it a try.

papabassin wrote:I'm not sure if this is going to be the answer you were looking for...but I think the bait suspending off the bottom is a big misconception about a Carolina Rig. Reality is, you can Carolina Rig with just about any soft plastic you can think of. Senkos, Trick Worms, Brush Hogs, Craws, Flukes, etc...This summer I even had a lot of success with a Missile Baits D Bomb in one outing. There are some soft plastic that are more buoyant than others, but I'd pick a couple of baits/colors you already have confidence in and give it a try.

Thank you, I think you are right. My consideration is I am using fluorocarbon line and regular hooks(not thin finesse hooks). The location I am fishing is with grass at the bottom so I would like to let the bait suspend above or slow sinking and just lay on the top of the grass.
Maybe I should try to use other rig like no sinker with slow sinking worm to keep the dept of the bait.

Damiki Air Craw

Honestly other than a zoom lizard, my go to is a fluke.it works really well on Carolina rigs.

I hear of so many people throwing C-rigs, but I haven't done it much. Where d o you guys use Carolina rigs the most? I usually fish slow, maybe too slow sometimes, but this rig seems perfect for that kind of fishing. Curious if you guys could tell me the best situations or structure to fish it in.
Thanks!

Using a mono leader may help with floating your bait.

Leader line type doesn't matter much as the plastic your pulling will trail along the bottom behind the weight once you start reeling. That being said the "sinker" is actually the attractor. The bass noses down to investigate what is stirring up the bottom and will take the plastic being dragged. Yes it's a slow retrieve that seems to work best. You want the weight glued to the bottom.

stick a foam earplug in a tube

If you want something that floats, try an elaztex bait from ZMan or Strike King 3X. These materials are high floating plastic.

I have great results with a zoom mag trick worm.

My favorite floating baits on a c-rig are the old terminator and strike king 3x plastics. Z man makes some Baits currently out of the same floating plastic. As for non floating plastics a real sleeper is the 5" Yamamoto hula grub.That is my most productive c rig bait overall.

Strike King Rage Shrimp. Floats and elastec....

Focusing on a lure buoyant enough to float a hook is severely limiting, and I've honestly never found a situation where I want it to happen. In the situation you're talking about, I think the thing to do is throw a six foot leader. I do that pretty much all the time with C-rigs, but it will somewhat decouple the lure from the weight and let it ride higher in the grass...

I second the mono leader. Also a tube stuffed with an ear plug or Styrofoam will do the trick. Plus I've seen these bullet weight looking floats made to use on a C-rig. Too bad you can't find Owner Yuki-Bugs anymore. They have an air pocket in the tail that will float the whole bait if it's weightless.