Rigging Outriggers for Gamefishing

Many years before he was a full-time fishing guide, Tony Orton was a yachtsman. Knots, rigging and fine tuning were all part of the gig back then, and he’s carried the same principles over to game-fishing. It’s all about preparation and making your life as easy as possible on game day, explains Tony…

I get asked all the time about how I rig my outriggers, and my new boat arriving provided the perfect time to snap a few photos of our setup.

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For as long as I can remember, I have always run/rigged my outriggers the same way on boats from 8m all the way up to large game boats 24m long.

Most of my gamefishing is bait fishing (either teaser style or live baiting) with some lure trolling mixed in, so I need an outrigger system that covers all my options.

My new 795SXT from Extreme Boats is 8m long and we have opted for the 19ft carbon adjustable poles and stainless steel bases from Oceanblue Outriggers. I love the 19ft pole – they are super stiff yet very light. In my eyes, when picking a set of game poles get the stiffest pair you can. Nothing beats minimal flex in an outrigger, as this results in a crisp release when your bait or lure gets bit.

The first thing I do is buy a good quality set of mini bearing blocks (yachtman’s talk for pulleys) like those made by Ronstan or Harken. I find the bearing blocks make moving your halyards in and out a breeze and much better on your mono halyard lines. Because I run a double set of halyards, I need a double block on the bottom eye of the rigger and then a single block shackled on the middle eye and a single block on the tip of the rigger.

A double ring pulley at the base of the rigger allows for two halyards.

A double ring pulley at the base of the rigger allows for two halyards.

For the halyards, I have always run with 400-500lb mono leader. The main reasons I use mono are that it’s easy on the hands when moving the halyards in or out, it’s easy to work with and crimping all the connections makes for a tidy job, and finally, it’s easy on the wallet and I can use the leftovers for leaders.

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For the return pulley where the halyard comes down on the boat, I like to use the Hal-Locks. These are such a great design, incorporating a jam cleat into the pulleys so you can lock off your halyards once you have your lures or baits in the right position to prevent your halyards slipping. Hal-Locks have been specifically designed for gamefishing outrigger setups.

Getting good tension on your halyards is key. Cranking down on your halyards takes the flex out of your poles, making them stiffer. With tight halyards, you also get a much more positive release on your clips.

To attach my Hal-Lock to the boat, I use a doubled up piece of rope and attach it to the handrail of my boat by wrapping it around twice and then back through itself. The double loop locks down on the handrail and allows me to adjust the tension of the rigger, and this also allows me to adjust the tension when I lift or lower the riggers. On some boats in the past, we have tied a rope to the bottom of the Hal-Lock and used jam cleats to adjust the tension.

The rigger clips sit on a separate section of mono, with crimps to stop them from sliding.

The rigger clips sit on a separate section of mono, with crimps to stop them from sliding.

So now it comes to the clips on the halyards. There are so many different options in the market and it can be hard to decide what to use – pegs, roller trollers, Blacks Clips, Nok-Out rigger clips, quick release clips and the list goes on. I have always used Blacks Clips – they’re simple, cheap and they last forever. I mainly use rubber bands for securing my main line to the rigger clips and I find the Blacks Clips work fine. They make it easy to adjust the tension and we get a good release on the bite.

When I make up my riggers, I keep the clips off the main halyard and make up a short length of mono that my clips get crimped onto. To stop the clip sliding around on this short length of mono (53cm long), I put a crimp on the inside of the clip. I then crimp on a small stainless-steel ring to the bottom of the mono and then a s/s swivel on the other end. Both the swivel and the ring can now be attached via crimps to the outrigger halyard.

To protect the Hal-Lock and top pulley, I put a small rubber sleeve over the crimp and mono to prevent the crimp going into the plastic pulley and scratching the surface.

A small plastic sleeve protects the line and prevents it from going into the pulleys.

A small plastic sleeve protects the line and prevents it from going into the pulleys.

When attaching the short length with the clip, ring and swivel to the halyard, I always crimp the swivel to the halyard first. This makes it a lot easier to adjust the tension (both the halyards need to have the same tension) by pulling down on the tag line that comes out of the crimp on the ring.

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I use the s/s ring for sliding our teaser lines through, or it can be used to attach another clip if required. Some people will run a clip for their teasers and the s/s ring is a good attaching point. The ring is also a good place to attach a flag if required.

The great thing about this system is that if you have damage on the main halyard line, it’s a lot easier to replace it without having to attach and re-rig clips, rings etc as you can still use the clip section. And if you damage the short piece where the clip is attached, you do not have to replace the entire halyard, making re-rigging a lot quicker and cost effective.

So, there you go – all those years rigging yachts was not a lost cause after all.


January 2022 - Tony Orton
New Zealand Fishing News Magazine.
Copyright: NZ Fishing Media Ltd.
Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited

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