(Editor's note: Industry rep and Oklahoma resident Alan McGuckin is on the scene at Grand Lake this week for the second Elite Series tournament of the season. He passed along this story an old-school presentation that could return to prominence this week.)
Don’t be shocked if Florida pro Terry Scroggins makes a splash – actually a double splash – at the Grand Lake Elite Series this week.
"Double splash" is the nickname Scroggins and other serious anglers have given the Carolina rig based on its two-part componentry consisting of a heavy lead egg sinker and a Texas-rigged soft plastic lizard.
Two of the five B.A.S.S. wins Scroggins has logged in his career have come using the C-rig, but the once popular fish-catching rig seems to have fallen out of trend much the way “pegging” the pant legs of your late 80s acid-washed jeans.
“I guess it gets a bad wrap because people think it’s a lazy man’s way of fishing," Scroggins said. "But it weighs enough that just about anybody can cast it, even on a windy day. Plus, you can cover a lot of water with it, and it gets a ton of bites.
“It’s definitely considered an old-school technique that’s been put on the back burner and kind of forgotten. And part of the reason it’s been shelved is because we have lures now days like the 10XD crankbait that will get down to the bottom in 25 feet of water."
Scroggins said a 1-ounce Carolina rig was a go-to option in the 1980s and 90s, back before deep-diving crankbaits were mainstream. While some like a lighter weight for Carolina-rigging, Scroggins has always favored a 1-ounce egg sinker much like many anglers use for catfishing, and even saltwater fishing.
“I can throw that particular weight into 5 feet of water or 25 feet of water and it’ll come across the bottom without getting hung up because the egg-shape tends to roll really good. Especially if there’s any current at all,” he noted.
Grand Lake is ideally suited for a Carolina Rig due to its 45,000 acres of rocky shoreline where anglers have to explore a lot of flat rocky points holding pre-spawn bass in a short three-day practice period.
“I can make three casts with a Carolina rig for every one cast I’d make with a jig on a rocky point," Scroggins said. "And if you look at this egg sinker, you can tell by the way it’s scuffed up so bad that I’ve definitely been dragging it a ton in practice. It’s supposed to be a 1-ounce, but I think I’ve drug it around so much, it’s now ground-down to about a 3/4 ounce."
In addition to the heavy egg sinker, Scroggins typically spools up with 15-pound fluorocarbon, and uses a 4- to 5-foot long leader also made of fluorocarbon. His lure of choice is a green-pumpkin lizard, but he’ll often bump-up to the 8-inch magnum version in off-colored pre-spawn waters like he’s dealing with at Grand Lake.
