Excellent article I just finished reading on rig mechanics. If you want to catch more and bigger Carp this is a must read!

https://www.cherrycarp.com/understanding-rig-mechanics-martin-crackoff/

Very interesting article.

Skimmed the article, but there seems to be one central point the author makes regarding hair rigs; they only fall into two categories - separation vs control rigs, the first being quite simple and the second more elaborate. Further, the first should be used where carp are not significantly pressured; the second when they are. My question: here in the US, are any carp significantly "pressured" anywhere? If not, the article reduces to there being no need for elaborate hair rigs in the US. Beyond that, since in many cases buffalo are an important part of our quarry, the length from the hook to the sinker may be more important because buffs expel through their gills, and if too long, the hook can find its way even outside the gill plate. I wonder if there are articles/methods that include this consideration? That feature would seem to drive our rig designs more significantly.

Spot on on the first point Bob! Although I will say that rigs for pressured vs. unpressured carp isn't exactly the right way to look at it. Even in the article it does not necessarily mention pressured vs. unpressured fish as being the only factors. Here's the relevant quote.

Rigs are designed for function, or specific circumstances. Take the chod rig for example - it's made to fish over weeds. How it accomplishes this is by having the lead at the far end of the line and the hook sliding up and down a set length of the line on a swivel. When you cast, the lead gets buried into the weed and the hook gently falls down (with a critically balanced hookbait) onto the top of the weeds.

Gotta add - I'm with you 100% on your last bit. We definitely need to experiment with Buffalo and design rigs that hook them effectively and efficiently - and with the fish's safety in mind of course! There are a few guys I know who have played around with this, might need to ask 'em a few questions ...

So the combination of your two replies is what I'm trying to noodle. The most straightforward way to deal with weeds, it seems to me, would be to increase the length from swivel/weight to hook, and perhaps increase the buoyancy of the bait. But after catching a buff where the hook actually got through the gill, I shortened back to about 4 inches (per your advice). But I'm pulling up weeds. Given the fish is, by name, small mouthed, I wonder if some fairly large buoyant object...not sure what exactly...a sideways wine cork?...could be added between the hook and the sinker to get the bait more off the bottom without increasing the probability of the fish swallowing the whole length. I'm gonna try that...

Alternatively just use a very buoyant bait to get your rig up off the bottom! There are plenty of options out there, floating plastic corn, floating plastic dumbells, pop-up boilies. You could even use the wine cork trimmed down and soaked in flavor as your hookbait. You can test it in shallow water or a fish tank at home to see how high each rig will sit in the water with your buoyant bait. Add split shot at a point in the hooklink if you want it to sit a bit lower or use a more buoyant hookbait to raise it higher. Since you're fishing off the back of your boat you can drop a bait down straight vertically and raise it up by a few turns of the reel handle to get it off the bottom.

Don't worry about combining my replies - essentially all of the rigs out there now are specifically designed for Carp. They'll work for Buffalo without issue but there could definitely be some changes or complete overhauls to work better with the feeding habits and biology of the Buffalo.

For reference this is a chod rig. The hooklink is allowed to slide freely in between two stops, you set these to the height of weed in front of you and you'll be fishing directly on top of them rather than in them!

Your chod rig is instructive. I bait with boiled deer corn or sweet corn, and that's not something I'll change right now. But because of the "T", I can see how the chod design could prevent gill expulsion if kept short enough. I do personally think the "jerk" that sets the hook should come from the weight below with slack in the "feeding" leader. I've tried suspending...the rig is too tight for my liking...I still want to use packbait. I'm pretty adept with various knots...I'm sure I can make a chod-like design without the need for any ancillary hardware. I guess given the premise of the original article, I'll start with a separation hair rig (no D loop and ring), but will employ the terminal sinker, etc. Thanks.

First prototype. The red knot is a nail knot...can be slid up and down. Will it hold? Well, 25 # test, and similar to a knotless, so we shall see...

Interesting! Let us know how it performs

So, for context, I fish straight down in 20 + ft of water on Ray Hubbard. Found an interesting older thread...proper rigging for buffalo. Similar rig...weight on the bottom. One other interesting item was hook set...picking up the line by hand on gentle bites...easy for me to do as my rods are in rod holders. Out to the boat today before it's get nasty cold again.

Good luck Bob! Catch some bigguns out there for us at work

No buffs yet, but the rig works fine on carp...sliding nail knot held up fine. I think this is a better design for vertical fishing rather than having the hook link below the sinker. And I feel the short 4 in hook link T'd off the leader will prevent buffs from expelling the hook passed their gills.