Something Old, Nothing New, Something Borrowed, Something Plastic
Joe Cap
by Joe Cap
I have fished live bait. I am not opposed to it, I just don't like it on my small boat. Maybe I am just a victim of obsessive compulsive disorder or as some of my buddies say “ a clean freak”. Perhaps I just enjoy the challenge of using artificial bait., whatever, enough psycho-analysis.
The following is a rig that I use for bottom fishing with light and ultra light tackle that has proven to be very effective for perch, croaker, stripers, blue fish, and whatever else may be looking for an easy meal on any given day.
The heart and soul of the rig is a two inch twister tail grub. I use either the Kalines Triple threat Bumble Bee pattern or the Berkley Power Bait Pumkinseed. The mentioned baits are my favorites but others would also be worth a try. The grub is attached to a 1/0 or smaller circle hook which has shown to be easy to remove and has a good hook up rate. The key here is to use a hook size that will fit the fishes mouth. Some circle hooks, by design are very large and do not allow the smaller fish's mouth to surround the bait.
Next on the agenda is line. I attach the circle hook to about 3 feet of 20 lb mono. Why so heavy? The 20 lb mono allows for handling the terminal end to land the fish and is a bit more abrasion resistant over structure such as oyster beds. The 20 lb line is attached to a three way swivel. The opposite end of the three way is attached the line spooled on the reel. I use 6- 8 lb test on lite and ultra light rods. On the remaining end of the swivel I attach a snap or clasp to secure a weight. This setup allows for easy weight removal and switching to accommodate drift speed and depth.
I fish this setup with St Croix Ultralight 5 foot spinning rod and a Light action baitcaster. These rods have excellent sensitivity and more than enough backbone to get the job done. The drag is set on these rods prior to attaching the terminal rig. The lighter action rods make for great sport and screaming dargs with this type of fishing. I have used up to an ounce of weight to keep these rigs down in a quick drift but generally a ½ ounce weight will suffice under most conditions. I have also used this type of rig with 1/8 and ¼ ounce weights to nab fish in the mid water depth.
It is an easy and inexpensive rig and certainly worth a try.
