I have always used a Santee Cooper rig with a slip weight.
Or a Carolina Rig (Santee Cooper, no bobber).

I always thought there might be something to letting the fish slip the line through the weight.

When I went fishing with Tom, he uses many different setups, 3 ways, etc.
Most of them have fixed weights, and he has no problem with getting fish.
He seems more worried about bait presentation. I think this is one of the places where I am lacking.

I also use heavy clear leader. For abrasion, mostly, but I also felt like the fish might visually get spooked by the line.......
Well that makes no sense, because trotlines break all the above rules and haul in some of the biggest fish ever.

So I am running out of things to believe in. hahahhahahah
I am to the point where I believe if you had a good sharp hook and a fresh piece of shad on the end of a stick, the darn blues might bite it.

What are all of your experiences with this?
Have you varied your setups and had a major increase in success?

Not looking for secret tricks. I just don't want to place concern on issues that do not matter.

I personally haven't noticed a difference in rigs if the bait is on the bottom. I think the biggest difference is between bottom rigs and rigs with a float (santee, 3 way with float). I think if your bait is sitting on the bottom, it doesn't matter what rig you use.

I personally like a 3 way with no float just for castability.

Casting without a slip weight would be nice. So you have your weight on the bottom, 3 way swivel up a ways, then another line with hook.

No slip weight at all. Right?

Ive personally seen where a santee cooper out performed the 3 way rig. Myself and a couple others from tff fished a spot with all our rods mixed in together and the rods (21 rods total) with 3 way rigs got no action and the rods with santee rigs is what all the fish came on.

I still use 3 way on all my rods though.

From the bank i use a 3way rig. In the boat i use a sc rig

BP sells a clip that attaches to the swivel on a sc rig that also attaches to the weight so you dont have to use a slip weight on them

I was reading In-Fisherman last night and they had several interesting rigs for catfishing. Chad Ferguson was quoted on a few but the most interesting one was using a slip float, beads(noisemakers) and allowing the bait to float just below the surface. I've always wanted some top water catfish bite!

I like my sc rig. Very seldom do I use anything else. I vary my bait type and size more than I do the rig itself.

The experimentation with different rigs and presentations is part of the enjoyment of fishing. Different rigs and different presentations will have different results from time to time. I've tried santee cooper rigs, three way rigs (with and w/o floats) and Carolina rigs. I've had my best luck with the santee cooper rig. I like the way that you can adjust the distance of your bait off the bottom with the length of the leader and position of the float.
I've also begun using larger floats on santee cooper rigs. I've tried 1 1/2", 2" and 2 1/2 inch floats. I now only use the 2 1/2" floats. I feel like they hold the bait higher when drifting (may just be in my head).

I primarily use the Santee Cooper rig. I like the float keeping the bait off the bottom, especially while drift fishing. I also use sinker sliders, I believe this is what Tom was talking about, where I can just unclip one weight and clip on another, saves a little time and trouble. BP, Team Catfish, and others including us, carry these. I can be drifting with a snag-less weight, then decided to anchor up, unclip the snag-less and clip on a river sinker and keep fishing, or be using one size weight and decide I want to use another, same deal, unclip one, and clip on the other.

I don't use the sliders cause I don't like sliding sinkers. In a heavy wind when you can't keep the slack out of your line, you don't know where your bait is.

I have caught a few Blues, sandies and just last Sunday a gar while drifting a Sanger cooper rig without a sinker-I usually put a shad on it and drift one rig like this.
I've caught fish with float three to twelve inches from the hook.

Like a lot of times you can end up seeing you bobber on the top of the water, even when you thought you had the line tight. It has happened to me a lot, especially shallow.

Even if the weight does not slip, it is nice to clip different weights on.

That is pretty much word for word what I do right now. I can be pretty successful this way. But it was cool to watch Tom change it up. It makes me think I want to keep trying different things from time to time.

I like this conversation, I am learning a lot.
I probably drive you guys nuts with these details. But I see a few things that make the difference between the types of rigs and possibility for bites. Let me number them out as questions.

1) Do you think it is important to keep the bait of the lake bottom (like a peg float on a santee cooper, or lifting it with a 3 way rig).

2) Do you thing that the fish will shy away from the bait if the line does not move somewhat freely (as in a slip weight, or slider attachment).

3) Do you think that the fish will be less likely to bite if you do not use clear leader.

4) Would horizontal presentation of the hook make it more likely for the fish to get on? (hook horizontal, vs accidentally sitting almost vertical in the water)


I ask these questions, because each type of rig can address some of these issues. Just curious for experimentation.