The Combi Rig — The UK’s Most Popular Day-Ticket Carp Rig Explained

Ask any experienced UK day-ticket angler what rig they fish most often, and a large proportion will say some version of the Combi Rig. It combines two materials with different properties — stiff coated braid and supple stripped braid — to solve two different problems simultaneously: tangles during the cast and ejection on the take.

What Is the Combi Rig?

The Combi Rig uses a single length of coated hooklink braid. The majority of the hooklink (the upper section, nearest the swivel) remains coated and stiff. The bottom section (nearest the hook) has the coating stripped away, leaving a soft, supple braided core.

The stiff coated section pushes away from the mainline and lead on the cast, preventing the hooklink from wrapping around itself or the line. On the lakebed, it fans out stiffly so the rig cannot collapse into a tangle. The supple stripped section at the hook end allows the hook to rotate freely during the take — just like a fully supple hooklink — without the tangle risk of fishing supple braid end-to-end.

It’s the best of both worlds: anti-tangle properties of stiff material, anti-ejection properties of supple material.

When to Use the Combi Rig

The Combi Rig is suited to almost any situation:

• Bottom baits and wafters — this is its primary application
• Small pop-ups (1–2cm off the bottom) — with a small amount of putty near the hook
• Day-ticket, commercial, and syndicate waters
• Any lakebed from clean gravel to moderately firm silt
• Any range from margin to distance

It’s less suitable for very deep silt or heavy weed — the Chod Rig handles those conditions better. For mid-water fish, the Zig Rig is the correct choice.

What You Need

• Coated braid hooklink material — 15–20lb. Korda Mouth Trap Soft Coated, Drennan Carp Rig Braid, Thinking Anglers Sink Braid Coated, or similar. The coating should be strippable with your fingernails
• Wide-gape hook — size 4–8 to match hookbait size
• Small hooklink swivel at the top end
• Hookbait — 12–18mm boilie, wafter, or small pop-up

How to Tie the Combi Rig — Step by Step

1. Cut 25–30cm of coated braid
2. Strip the coating from one end — use your thumbnail or a stripping tool to remove the coating from 5–8cm at the hook end. Pull back slowly to avoid damaging the braid core
3. Tie a knotless knot at the hook using the stripped supple section. Set the hair length at 2.5–3.5cm from the hook eye to the hookbait. Make 6–8 wraps down the shank and bring the tag end back through the eye — wet and pull tight
4. Check the junction — the point where the coated and stripped sections meet should sit approximately 2–3cm up the hooklink from the hook eye. This is the “hinge” point where the suppleness transitions to stiffness
5. Tie a swivel at the top with a figure-of-eight loop knot. The swivel clips to your lead system
6. Tie on the hookbait — thread the hair through the hookbait and retain with a boilie stop

Adjusting the Strip Length

The length of stripped supple section near the hook determines how freely the hook can rotate. For highly pressured fish on a heavily fished day-ticket, a longer stripped section (7–8cm) gives the hook more rotation freedom. For less pressured fish, 4–5cm of stripped section provides a good balance of anti-tangle and anti-eject properties.

Combi Rig on the Lakebed

Cast to your spot and allow the rig to settle. The stiff coated section fans away from the lead in a curve; the stripped hooklink end sits close to the lakebed with the hookbait positioned naturally. Use a heavy in-line or lead clip system for the best bolt-rig effect — when the fish bolts away from the lakebed, the weight of the lead drives the hook home.

Combi Rig Variations

Long Combi: Total length 30–35cm with a longer stiff boom. Useful at range where the longer boom provides more anti-tangle security during a long cast. Also good on clean gravel where you want the hookbait presented further from the lead.

Short Combi: 15–18cm total with 3–4cm stripped section. For close-range margin fishing where anti-tangle properties are less critical and maximum hook rotation is needed.

Wafter Combi: Using a critically balanced wafter hookbait with a short strip creates a very natural-looking bottom presentation — one of the most effective combinations on wary, pressured carp.

Common Mistakes

Stripping too much coating: If more than half the hooklink is stripped, you lose the anti-tangle properties of the coated section. Keep the stripped section to 5–8cm near the hook.

Using fully stripped braid: This is a fully supple rig, which is different. The Combi Rig requires the contrast between coated and stripped sections.

Tight knots without wetting: Braid knots tighten with friction heat when pulled dry. Always wet the knot before pulling tight to preserve breaking strain.

See our complete guide to carp fishing rigs for every named rig and its best use case. For more on rig mechanics and how hooklink length affects presentation, our rig length guide is required reading before you finalise any setup.

Last Updated on June 11, 2026 by Shane