Rigging Plastic for Big Blues

[Big Jay]

Over the past couple seasons i have accumulated some big plastic (moldcrafts, black bart, etc.) to drag for the man in the blue suit. Never got around to rigging them so i suppose its time.

I was wondering what are you guys rigging reccomendations for those lures?

1) What size leader? I was thinking anywhere from 250-400#?

2) What size hook?

3) What type of stiff rig are you guys using? Shrink tube? Doubled Mono? Beads?

Thanks in advance!

[WahooKing]

Over the past couple seasons i have accumulated some big plastic (moldcrafts, black bart, etc.) to drag for the man in the blue suit. Never got around to rigging them so i suppose its time.

I was wondering what are you guys rigging reccomendations for those lures?

1) What size leader? I was thinking anywhere from 250-400#?

I use 400#

2) What size hook?

Depends on the size of lure....The gap/bite on hook should fit the diameter of the lure head...Most of my marlin lures require 10/0...I use Hays hooks...Jabu shape in stainless steel...Them hooks are no joke...Stuck every fish in last seasons Bertram/Hatteras Shootout.

3) What type of stiff rig are you guys using? Shrink tube? Doubled Mono? Beads?

Single hook 900# cable stiffy...Hooks point just touches skirts end....Heat shrink is made by 3M...its the shrink w/ the inside glue.

[TROPHY SPORTFISHING]

Wahoo King is dead on the money single hook 10/0, 900 lb cable, nickle crimps, anchor or 3 m adhesive heat shrink 3/8 and 7691 or hays hooks and 400 lb leader.

[clt_capt]

Jason from Melton Tackle did a nice writeup with pictures -
http://www.sportfishermen.com/board/...igs-19353.html

[jwalker]

Just attended the TIFT and WMO and was able to sell and talk to people about what rigging they like/use for their big game lures.

I brought dozens of single and double stiff rigs from 7/0 - 14/0 Jobu's, Hays and Mustad 7691's.

By far and away most people still want/use the double Mustad 7691/7732 stiff rigs, I was able to turn some people on to the new Hays Hook's and also sold quite a few Jobu's.
I noticed the guys in the Gulf are using a fair amount of single stiff rigs but again the majority use the double's in the tournaments, think for most it's a comfort factor, not based on using both and determining what set-up gives them their best hook-up and catch rate.

Personally I'm going to give the single Hays stiff rigs allot of water time this year in So. Cal and Mexico and see how they do, I think the swimming action of the lure will be nice and having a direct pull on one hook if set right seems good to me..

Will post up some pics soon....

I will have the full set-up at Pirates Cove next week..Lures, Hook-Sets, Dredges, Spreader Bars etc....

[JimmyC]

Johnny,

Where will you be set up at Pirates Cove?

[deadbaiter]

I sometimes use liquid tape works great.

[jwalker]

Johnny,

Where will you be set up at Pirates Cove?

Jimmy,
We will have the Melton Booth in the Promenade, set up and be available Monday-Friday every night and whenever guys need something, if there is something specific give me a head's up and I will have it there.
Thanks

what boat you fishing?

[Big Jay]

Wow, once again, some awesome info. Thanks guys!

I think i am going to try and crimp up some single hook rigs of my own. unfortunately, i don't have access to alot of what was mentioned but now at least i can come up with something similar from what I have on hand.

[Captain Fred Archer]

I go along with what most seem to be saying here - 400 -600# leader, leaning more to the heavier side if the lure allows it. No question on the Hays hook - best, strongest damned hook I've ever used when it comes to J's.

I abandoned double hook rigs many years ago because of the damage I saw them do to too many released blues and blacks (we had a 100% billfish release policy - swords and spears excepted - for a lot of years) and the danger to crew taking the hooks out of fish. It's one thing if you're going to stick them, I suppose, but having myself been connected by an 11/0 Demon on aircraft cable thru the palm with the other Demon in a 400# blue lady who thank God just swam with us while we tried to cut the hook out and I finally put my whole 230# into literally ripping it out (amazing what you can do when a death ride attached to a blue marlin is the only other choice!). At the time I took the whole thing as number one, a gift from a great and good God and a warning not to mess with the fish and maybe people snagging double rigs and never allowed another one on my boats. Of course, what others choose to do is entirely their business, but please be careful around those things - they can nail you in a heartbeat!

That happened a lot of years ago and my many fish since then convinced me of what some in-depth studies confirmed over the years, that single hook rigs result in better hookup and landing ratios than the double hook snag rigs.

Some years ago down in Cabo I set out to try to come up with the best rigging that I could come up with for both hooking AND landing marlin. With its huge population of striped marlin and (then) very good numbers of blues and blacks in the heart of the summer heat, it was an ideal place to do that kind of experimentation. I'd have to consult my logs for the exact numbers, but I would pretty accurately estimate here that we probably averaged at least eight or ten shots a day over a 300+ year of fishing. That might sound like a lot, but it wasn't during Cabo's hay days.

Boiling it all down, it came down to what I call "The Scorpion" stiff rig that did by far the best job. The "Tail Gunner" stiff rig with the stiff rigged hook in the rear was second, but a distant second when it came to hookups and the even more important landing ratio. Scorpion hooked fish are rarely hooked anywhere but in the mouth and I suspect that the lack of face and bill wrapped fish were the primary reasons for that.

I came up with a whole system for fishing Scorpion rigged lures, including fishing them in full strike position for the line class that further enhanced how well they worked, but there isn't room to go into all of that here and besides, I doubt that many will even try it. It seems to be scary to many fishermen for some reason.

I am not saying that you will hook every marlin that hits a Scorpioned lure. Some (not many, though) will miss it, but they don't get stung by a hook like they do on doubles and Tail Gunners, the lure in effect becomes a teaser and blues in particular aren't used to having prey escape them and they usually thunder all over the lure when they come back with murder in their eye. Man, I LOVE those kinds of bites!

When it comes to safely handling marlin for release, IMO there is no finer tool than Roddy Hays' (same one who makes those great hooks) "Snooter". Grab a marlin bill with one of those babies and you can make him do anything that you want him to do with no damage to you or the fish. (Thanks for the photo, Freddy R....saved me from looking for one.)

You will find some Scorpy shots below, all from my book New Secrets of Modern Trolling. The lures are a Moldcraft Wide Range, Black Bart 1656, Roddy Hays (shudder!) Andromeda, Ron Arkana Big Reidee and one of my Cabo Tigers. They include my way of rigging the mono stiff rig that pulls into the lure heads, then pulls out when you're fighting a fish.

I repeat, I do not expect many to adopt my way of rigging marlin lures, but I personally have found it to be excellent and am offering it up here as an alternative that might be worth trying.