Keep it Simple Stupid

Rigging game lures can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it. Anglers are inventive creatures and if they think they can create a way of rigging a lure to give them a hook-up advantage, they will do it.

When I first started gamefishing with Dave Arrell, his lures were all snooded to the hooks and there wasn’t a crimp in sight. Capt. Steve Campbell, who I’ve fished with chasing blues and other pelagics out of Vava’u, Tonga, prefers to include a section of stainless wire set into the rig that holds the hooks rigidly in position.

Those who have read Capt. Steve’s informative book Blue Marlin Magic will appreciate he was an accurate record keeper, detailing each bite and subsequent catch as to lure type, position in spread and rig, so he has the numbers to back up his theories.

Fishing with the late Bill Hall, often credited as the person who introduced lure fishing to New Zealand after spending time in Hawaii, I learned that the bite would be different at various stages through the season. I recall Bill ringing me in the office one season to discuss his latest article and was lamenting the fact he had had ‘a hundred bites but I can’t get a bloody hook to stick into one of the bastards’- Bill didn’t mince his words! He had tried stiff rigs, chain rigs, double-hook rigs – you name it, Bill had run it. Ironically, he was reaching out to me, a gamefishing novice by his lofty standards, for advice. I had been fishing in his Bay of islands waters and had just returned from a successful tournament where we tagged the first marlin on our new project boat, a Ramco 580.

Bill asked what we had caught it on – I gave him the info, saying the lure had been very simply rigged with a single 8/0 hook, following advice from another well-known BoI skipper Bruce Martin who had said he often reduced his hook size early in the season as the fish were smaller and less aggressive on the bite. Two days later I got a call from Bill who said he had thought about what I had told time and went back to a single hook rig and had put two stripies on the deck that day. Simple is often best.

With that in mind and armed with some new rigging componentry from Edge, Burnsco’s in-store brand, and with some help from fishing buddy Tony Orton, I photographed an uncomplicated rigging option that has put me in good stead over many years, both here and overseas. This is far from the only way to rig a game lure, but it is one that works for me and follows the KISS theory – keep it simple stupid!

Step 1:Assemble all the bits and pieces you will need for the job – crimpers, heat gun (a lighter would have done the trick), moto cutters, crimps (either metal or alloy, depending on your preference), sleeves, leader protector, beads, precut trace (the length will depend on whether you are running conventional full length or wind-on traces), shrink wrap tube and hooks. Keep them close at hand.

Step 2: Thread the leader material through the shrink wrap, two crimps, followed by the hook and leader protector before returning it back through the crimps and the shrink wrap. Leave enough of a tag end to comfortably reach the back of the lure head.

Step 3: Snub the bottom crimp firmly up against the lure protector and crimp off.

Step 4: Lay the two leader lines along the skirt of the lure, leaving the hook in a position you want it running at in the skirt, and cut the tag end off.

Step 5: Securing the hook to prevent it twisting – some people have a loop secured to their workshop wall to do this job – take the leader in one hand and the tag end in the other and go right over left, then left over right for the length of the tag end, before crimping it off. This has effectively stiffened the rig and it ensures the hook runs perfectly in the skirt.

Step 6: Lay the rigged section out – if done right it should lay nice and flat on the work bench – and push the shrink wrap down to the hook end then over it.

Step 7: Using a heat source – gun or cigarette/barbecue lighter – shrink the wrap over the hook and protector to further help stiffen the rig as well as protect the leader/head connection. Heat the end of the tag end as added security, creating a ‘blob’ that when cooled cannot be pulled through the crimp

Step 8: Using a metal trace protector this time and a crimp, create a loop in the end of the leader through which the swivel will eventual connect everything to the main line. ‘Blob’ the end of the leader with your heat source before pulling everything up firmly around the protector.