Nope, thats the only way. Remember you can also lengthen a rig again with some line. I wouldn’t with carp or big fish rigs, but have been known to put extra line on river rigs. Say if my mainline is .10mm I’ll add the required length of .12 or .14mm.

I never store rigs with hooklengths on, as I never know what I will require in any given situation. After a session I stick the whole lot on the winder and put it back in the tray the wrong way round to show it’s been used, and invariably I’ll remake rigs after two uses at most. Only tend to use them twice if I am visiting the same venue.

I have them tied 3ft, 4ft, 6ft and a few 8ft ones, this way if you know roughly the depth you should only be cutting a small amount of the rigg.

I do all mine:

Top 2
Top 4
Top 5 very rare i fish anywhere that deep anyway.

If the rig is too long then i’ll put it back on a winder and get the correct one out and the same if it’s too short. I don’t like cutting rigs up if i know theres one in my box thats closer to the depth thats needed.