Make versatile bottom rigs with a single piece of monofilament leader.
Hook has been tied to a dropper formed in the main stem of the leader.
Give me a spool of 60-pound-test mono, some bank sinkers, a few barrel swivels and a box of circle hooks and I’ll soon have enough triggerfish and seabass coming over the rail to feed a high school football team. For catching numbers of these fish and other ocean panfish, nothing beats a dropper rig, with the sinker at the bottom and baits spaced evenly on the leader above.
One of my latest rigging methods I borrowed from Florida Sportsman Expo seminar speaker Larry Finch. An expert surf fisherman, Larry built a rigging board that can spit out a double-hook pompano rig in under 60 seconds. I got him to build me an offshore version. The finished rigs are economical and sneaky—no 3-way swivels or heavy line to alert my quarry that something’s up. You might recognize the knot as a dropper loop knot.
How many hooks you put on a leader is up to you. I’ve made rigs with as many as five hooks, but generally two or three are more than enough to get the job done.
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- Step 1 – Place spool of monofilament (colorful braid shown below for illustration purposes) on peg at one end of board, and run the line through adjacent eyelet. Tie line to swivel with uni-knot, and place swivel on first hook (in foreground below).
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- Step 2 – Starting with lower peg of triangle, make a wrap around all three pegs, doubling the line between the two bottom pegs.
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- Step 3 – Weave the two lines on the bottom of the triangle, making seven wraps.
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- Step 4 – Remove line from top of triangle, place through center of the seven wraps.
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- Step 5 – Drop the loop over a peg, as you remove line from bottom two pegs and release the swivel.
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- Step 6 – Pull both lines simultaneously to tighten down what should be a perfect loop.
Final Steps: Place newly formed loop over hook at opposite end of board from spool and repeat steps 1-6 for as many hooks as desired. Cut at least 16 inches off after last loop, and tie overhand loop knot for sinker. Thread loop through the eye of strong 6/0 circle hook, such as the Eagle Claw L2004f, or for longer leaders cut one end and tie the hook on. FS
First Published Florida Sportsman Sep. 2012
© 2011 InterMedia Outdoors