[Andy Marquis]

well I got some more big SP's froom the lovely postie today, I say lovely but really he could have delivered tomorrow so the missus wasn't home to see them come...

Anyway, thought since I was trying out rigging them with 2 hooks I woul dtake some pics along the way.

10 inch hogy lures and a 9 inch sluggo, the line is 30lb fireline, can't think of any other use for it... the hooks are a mix of 7/0 wide gape and 6/0 stinger hooks which I use for bait fishing. I think it would be beneficial to find some short shank wide gape hooks for this.

I thread the back hook first, by hand, couldnt find my bait needle anywhere and I think it would have made a huge difference if I used one, it's hard threading a hook through the big lures and these are not perfect jobs, the lures and not quite straight but i'll give it a try and see. Bait needle on the shopping list!!

 

[Gary A]

Looking good Andy, seriously big sp's those.

 

[Tim Griffin]

Andy, I think you've done a better job than I coukld hope to. I can't get the 6" lures straight on a single hook - LOL!

 

[Jeremy Taylor]

That looks seriously neat. I did a bodge job on a 3" slugo while out fishing.

Notice the eternal line to the second hook ;-)
I did then proceed to hook 3 on that hook so it does work,

 

[Andy Marquis]

I did them so I could keep the line internal as I figured it would get caught on all sorts externally. It's hard to keep a true line threading them, up/down and side/side line needs to be good and once you lose the hook inside the lure it gets very tricky, will be much easier the proper way which is to use a needle to thread the line internally and insert the rear hook backwards through the lures arse so to speak and it will end up much better, you can then tie the line on the hooks after it's inside, bending the lure to get hooks in the right place. The missus sewing kit didn't have a needle long enough. Should have one coming soon as my mate emailed form a Bass-Pro shop in the US the other day asking what I wanted!!

 

[Mark Sleep]

I ordered a carp fishermans baiting needle for this kind of thing Andy. A 'stringer needle' is made for putting multiple boillies/baits onto PVA string, so should be long enough for most big plastics. I am also going to experiment with variations of the knotless knot, used for hair rigging baits, for using stingers.

 

[fin c]

I rigged some sluggo 9" in the same way, I bodged up a needle from a piece of wire slightly thinner than a coat hanger bent over into a tight loop at one end and flattened down with a hammer so it was reasonably neat, this then pushed through the lure nice and true.....

 

[kevin white]

looking good andy, the only thing is that sluggo may want to turn over on it's side because of the way you've rigged the hooks, we normally rig them hooks down to give a keel weight effect, try them out though, they may be just fine mate.

kev

 

[Andy Marquis]

I saw that they are always rigged hook on the underside in the US examples BUT, I am nearly always fishing heavy cover and I felt it would be an issue hook down. Any solutions?

 

[Keith White]

Yes, tandem weedless Andy.
Harder to set up but, well worth it.

 

[Andy Marquis]

tandem weedless should technically be a little easier as you have to thread through the body of the lure for less distance. Might try it with 2 texan hooks and see.

I tried using s standard baiting needle used for worms last night and that's a non starter, the lures are too stiff to work it round correctly and they are also rather hard to push the needle through for any distance, it just bends. Might work better with the tandem texan hooks though, less internals involved.

 

[fin c]

finally got round to taking a pic of the texposer rigged 9" slug. i used some old braid to connect the rear hook to the front hook

 

[Keith White]

Nice job, and neat. Just like I like em.

Are you making relief cuts for the hooks too ?
I do, especially on sluggo's.

 

[Andy Marquis]

That's seriously neat and tidy. Would you be so kind to do a step by step of how you connected the two hooks together with the braid and made it all line up?

 

[fin c]

Its dead easy
front hook connection - pass braid through eye twice, leave a small loop wrap round the shank just behind eye 7 ish times pass back through loop and through the loop u just made ( like a normal clinch knot but round the shank).

decide where you want the second hook and tie it on using a clinch knot.

I then get out a fine tip marker pen and offer the hook rig up to the slug, mark off 4 points (top and bottom of each hook)

thread the rear hook from the front right through the lure till you get to the 3rd mark (front of rear hook exit point) and push the point of the hook out of the slug (dead centre bottom)

then thread the front hook as normal once this is done the rear hook should pull through and can be rigged, everything should line up and look straight.

If this is a bit confusing I will put together a step by step when i get a chance

 

[Andy Marquis]

Makes sense. I had a go last ngiht and did it a bit different. Threaded the top hook on, then tied some braid to the bend with a uni knot, tied the second hook on (about an inch of line inbetween seemed about right) then threaded the second hook from the back of the first hook to it's exit point then did the norm for the texas weedless style rigging. Much less distance to try and thread a hook straight!!

 

[Martin Barnard]

I've tried the Sluggo 7.5 weedless using Textposer hooks and the action looks deadly, in calm water, after a bit of practice. I was wondering if adding weight to it would spoil the action and if i did how should i do it? Or is a weight further up the line the best way to go when fishing rougher conditions or just wanting to get down deeper? These SP's are very new to me so i'm after any tips on how to use them really! Cheers..

 

[Keith White]

Best to use insert weights with the hook exposed downwards rig.

You can easily rig Carolina with slug baits and put a slight bend, very slight bend like a shallow banana (tip and tail UP).

Use a heavy weight 1/2oz or more. 1oz better over sand and gravel. 3ft rig leader.

Then, pull in 3ft sweeps.

What happens is great.

Weight drags bottom, creates a disturbance. This draws fish in.
The bent sluggo lifts, or planes off the bottom and falls slowly in the disturbance zone.

Hold tight.

 

[Martin Barnard]

Excellent Keith Thanks! Any advantage/disadvantage in using barrel weights on the carolina rig as opposed to ball weights, in terms of getting snagged and also casting distance?

 

[Andy Marquis]

Ball weights tend not to snag as much as they roll in any direction where barrels don't.