TO THE
a B r o o t o h k N ie o ’s r ® t r h et & ur S n outh
Summer 2022
CAROLINA RIG
By Pete Robbins
page
14
T
hree years ago, Jonathan Kelley, now an Elite
Series rookie, was in college and Carolina rigging
wasn’t in the curriculum. “I’d forgotten about it,” he said, and it’s hard to blame
him. With newer techniques like dropshotting, free rigging,
and the Tokyo-rig getting lots of attention, it would’ve been
easy to overlook the old ball and chain. Fortunately for the
young pro, he put it back in the rotation in time to win the
2021 Bassmaster Northern Opens points title, providing
him with a berth in the Elite Series. Once recovered, he’s not
likely to forget about it again.
On the final day of last year’s Open on the St. Lawrence,
en route to a 9th place finish, he had a camera in the boat
and the BASS Live team reveled in the fact that he’d glued
a baitcaster in his hand in what is traditionally spinning rod
territory and was boat flipping four-pounders. “But it’s not just a northern technique,” he insisted. “I use it anywhere that I want to power fish with a finesse technique.”
Indeed, the C-Rig was a critical component of his ability to earn a check in his first Elite event, 1200 miles due south of the St. Lawrence, at Florida’s St. Johns River. He pre- practiced with fellow Elite Jamie Hartman.
“It’s so fast and so efficient,” he recalled. “We’d idle around looking for shell beds. When we’d see something on the graph, he would get up and throw that one-ounce weight out there. I’d never even leave the seat. If he found hard bottom, we’d mark it, but if he said ‘It’s kind of mushy,” we’d move on to the next stop. We can target spots precisely, so we’re using a finesse presentation as a search bait.”