Feeder Rigs Explained (With Diagrams)

By Alex Clayton · Updated 23 October 2026

Feeder fishing rigs hold a feeder (a weighted bait carrier) on your mainline with a separate hooklength, so the hookbait settles beside the loose feed. Of the common feeder rigs used on UK waters, three are worth learning first: the helicopter, the running paternoster and the simple running rig.

The helicopter resists tangles and suits silt, weed and long range. The paternoster gives the most direct bite indication. The running rig is the simplest to set up. Below you’ll find each rig’s component order from top to bottom (read it like a diagram), tying steps, starting specs and a tangle-fix table. For other set-ups, browse our rigs section.

Step 1: Match the Rig to Your Feeder and Water

The wrong rig shows itself fast: a tangle on every retrieve, or bites you never see. Choose by bottom, distance and bite indication.

Rig	How it works	Best for	Watch out for
Helicopter	Hooklength swivel spins round the mainline between two stops	Silt, weed or debris on the bottom; long range	You strike through the feeder
Running paternoster	Feeder on a link running on the mainline, above a fixed hooklength boom	Bite detection, playing fish direct, quick feeder or hooklength changes	Tangles in wind unless built tangle-free (Step 4)
Running rig	Feeder slides freely on the mainline	Plastic or cage feeders on busy venues	Fewer anti-tangle refinements than the two above
Captive running rig	As the running rig, with a stop on the mainline	Times you can’t strike straight away	One extra component to set
Method rig	Delivers a compact parcel of bait	Fish competing for food	See our method feeder rig guide

Then match the feeder:

Block-end (maggot) feeder: running water. See maggot feeder fishing.
Open-end cage feeder: groundbait. A cage feeder rig works on either the helicopter or the paternoster. See cage feeder fishing.
Method feeder: fish competing for food.

For a plain lead instead, see ledger rigs. Feeder fishing for bream on Windermere, I’ve found an anti-tangle rig saves time on the cast.

New to the feeder? Start with the helicopter. If bites are shy and conditions are calm, try the paternoster.

Step 2: Set Up the Mainline and Pick a Feeder Weight

A feeder that’s too light or a mainline that’s too thick causes problems that look like rig faults. Take this spec block to a tackle shop as your starting point.

Item	Starting point
Rod	10 to 11ft feeder rod rated to about 50g
Reel	3000 to 4000 size
Mainline	6 to 8lb mono
Feeder	Open-end or method, 20 to 30g

These figures come from Angling Times’ beginners’ advice. They are a starting point, not a rule: deeper water, wind or flow can call for a heavier feeder, so keep the rod’s casting rating in mind when you go up.

Build two points from feeder angler Steve Ringer in from day one. First, use a feeder heavy enough to reach your spot comfortably, because an underweight feeder spins on the cast and drags the rig with it. Second, thinner mainline gives less resistance through the rod rings, so the cast loses less to friction.

For rods, swims and feeding in more detail, read how to start feeder fishing.

With the tackle sorted, the next four steps deal with the rig itself and the cast.

Step 3: Tie a Helicopter Feeder Rig

An anti-tangle rig can still tangle. The helicopter feeder rig works because the hooklength rotates freely round the mainline during the cast. Push the two stops too close together and it can’t rotate, so it wraps round the line instead.

Diagram, top to bottom: mainline > top line stop > hooklength swivel > bottom line stop > twizzled loop of about 6in > snap link swivel > feeder.

Thread a small line stop, a medium hooklength swivel and then a second line stop onto the mainline.
Tie a twizzled loop of about 6in in the end of the line, with a snap link swivel on it. As an alternative, Tackle Guru’s method ties the snap link straight on with a palomar knot and trims the tag to 8 to 10mm.
Slide the lower stop down onto the knot. Set the top stop so there’s about half an inch between the two.
Clip the feeder to the snap link and attach your hooklength to the swivel.

Once it’s built, the stops are your tuning dial. Set them closer together for more precise presentation, or wider to give the hooklength more freedom. An anti-tangle sleeve over the swivel cuts tangles further still.

The trade-off: with a helicopter you strike through the feeder when you get a bite. That can cause problems with small fish, which is where the paternoster in Step 4 earns its place.

Best for: silt, weed and long range. Skip if: you want the most direct bite indication. Go to Step 4.

Step 4: Tie a Tangle-Free Running Paternoster

Short bolt-style rigs are everywhere, so why does match angler Steve Ringer reach for a paternoster? He uses a running paternoster on natural waters for roach, skimmers and bream because it gives the most direct contact with a biting fish. Built his way, it’s an anti tangle feeder rig in its own right.

Diagram, top to bottom: mainline with running feeder link > four-turn water knot > 0.22mm fluorocarbon boom of about 16in > hooklength loop about 25cm from the knot > hooklength and hook.

Thread the feeder link onto the mainline.
Tie in an 8in loop of 0.22mm fluorocarbon using a four-turn water knot.
Cut one side of the loop, leaving a single strand of about 16in.
Tie a loop in that strand about 25cm from the knot, ready for the hooklength.
Attach the hooklength loop to loop, then clip on the feeder.

Ringer’s home-made feeder link uses about 4in of 0.47mm stiff filament, a size 14 or 16 snaplink swivel, 0.6mm crimps and a wide-bore bead, finished at 1 to 4in long (he prefers about 1.5in). Don’t use braid for feeder links: it collapses on the cast and tangles. If you’d rather not crimp your own, a shop-bought stiff link is fine.

Ringer also describes an alternative: an anti-tangle twizzled loop of about 4in, which holds the hooklength away from the feeder.

Paternoster vs helicopter: the paternoster gives better bite indication and lets you play fish direct. The helicopter is more forgiving on the cast and over weed.

Step 5: Add the Hooklength and Set Its Length

One guide says a few inches, another says a couple of feet. Both are right, because they’re describing different feeder fishing rigs.

Rig	Typical hooklength	Source
General feeder rigs	1 to 2ft, adjusted to conditions	Angling Direct
Helicopter	4 to 6in	Angling Times
Method feeder	Short	See the method feeder rig guide linked in Step 1

Read the table by rig. The 4 to 6in figure applies to the helicopter, while 1 to 2ft is Angling Direct’s general range, which you then shorten or lengthen to suit the day.

Breaking strain matters as much as length. Use a hooklength lighter than your mainline, so it becomes the designed weak point. If something gives on a snag or a hard-fighting fish, it should be the hooklength. The fish then swims off with a hook rather than towing a feeder and a length of mainline round the swim.

Start inside the ranges above and change one thing at a time, so you know which change made the difference.

Step 6: Cast Cleanly and Fix Tangles

A soft cast that doesn’t reach the line clip will drop even a well-tied rig in a heap. Once the rig is built correctly, the cast, the feeder weight and the wind cause plenty of tangles, and each symptom has a specific fix.

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
Hooklength wrapped round a helicopter rig	Stops too tight	Reset them about half an inch apart
Rig lands in a heap	Cast not hitting the clip firmly	Cast positively so the line hits the clip firmly
Feeder spins and falls short	Feeder too light	Go up in weight until it reaches comfortably
Tangles in a strong wind	Casting into a headwind	Pick a swim out of the headwind where you can
Paternoster tangles on the cast	Braid feeder link collapsing	Use a stiff mono or fluorocarbon link (Step 4)
Anti-tangle extras making it worse	Stiff add-ons catching the hooklength	Strip them off and keep the rig simple

Don’t skip the last row. Ringer has pointed out that the stiff bits anglers add to stop tangles are often what cause them. Ten minutes picking a bird’s nest out of a hooklength is ten minutes your feed is sitting out there with no hookbait on it.

Fix the cast first, then the rig.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best feeder rig for beginners?

The helicopter suits most beginners, because the hooklength spins round the mainline and resists tangles. Fish it on 6 to 8lb mono with a 20 to 30g feeder, stops about half an inch apart (Step 3).

What rig should I use with a cage feeder?

An open-end cage feeder, used for groundbait, works on either the helicopter or the running paternoster. Choose the helicopter over silt, weed or at range, and the paternoster when you want clearer bites in calm conditions. Step 1 has the rig chooser.

What is the difference between a running and a captive running feeder rig?

On a running rig the feeder slides freely on the mainline. A captive running rig adds a stop on the mainline that limits how far the feeder can run, which suits times when you can't strike straight away.

Do I need a licence to go feeder fishing?

In England, yes: you need an Environment Agency rod licence to fish for freshwater fish. Buy one on GOV.UK and check the current price there. Rules differ in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, so check for the nation you fish in. Our fishing licence guide covers the details.