Thread: Spider rig ?

You didn't say how fast you were going. May try speeding up or slowing down. If your going too fast they may not be getting a good hold on it. If your going too slow they may have too much time to look at it (see light bite above) or just lipping your minnow. Just a thought. I sometimes have some trouble with that. You can feel them on it when you pick the pole up but no fish. They're jerking the skirt down but not grabbing the jig/hook. Usually changing speeds will fix it, some times faster, sometimes slower.

I have driftmaster style rod holders Any way, in hindsight I think that some of my problems were related to the position of the rod within the holder. Up until now the bulk of my experience using rod holders has been with catfish where pulling the rod overboard is a valid concern. After your comments and thinking about it I think I should have put my rods further out in the rod holder, probably so the butt was just held by the back of the holder. I played around with positioning the rod in the holder and taking it out in the driveway yesterday and I think that positioning the rods in that way would allow me to get the rod out of the holder with less horizontal movement (slack) than I was before.

As far as speed, I'm not really sure. I wasn't monitoring that, I know it was slow, I was monitoring speed to keep the lines as vertical as possible and ended up using the motor to position more than propel. My equipment is pretty low tech so speed monitoring will be pretty hard for me.

I know when I first started I missed a bunch of fish because I got excited and wanted to see whats on the line. Now when I hook one I dont care how big he feels I dont pull him to the surface without a net on standby. Have lost some good fish right on top of the water. When I get a bite I always make sure to be quick and to come straight up with my pole but not to hard. I guess it takes missing a few and catching a few to really get the hang of it. Rod holder height does have alot to do it.

The hook set and removing the rod from the holder should all be in one motion. I use baitcasters so I grab right at the reel but if you are using spinning reels then grab the rod in front of the reel and lift with a quick snap... Like it has already been said more times than not you are going to hook them in the roof of the mouth so it takes a good hookset. Once you get the hang of it your catch ratio will go up. Also like has been said make sure that you keep your net ready... having a fish come off is one thing but having a hawg come unhooked because you are trying to lift the fish in the boat is a whole other ball game... it will have you saying things that will make a sailor blush HAHA... Good luck to you and remember that the best advice is experience. Nothing is better than learning spidder rigging with time, time, and more time on the water!

Blake

Originally Posted by bc1448

Nothing is better than learning spidder rigging with time, time, and more time on the water!

Blake

If I can get my wife to buy into this idea I'll really be in business!:p

Use your minnow on the back of a jig with sickle hooks. The slack thing is really big too, but with sickles you will not lose as many.

I just started pushing double minnow rigs last year and never had any problems hooking up or losing fish. Last year I tied Kentucky rigs with the weight on the bottom. This year I'm trying out the Capps and Coleman rigs with the weight in the middle. Yesterday evening I was getting bit good but many times missing them or losing them on the way in. I'm starting to think it's the difference of where the weight is in the whole thing. Any body have any similar experiences?

Hello: As was said earlier sharp hooks and no slack. Also if you have all the rods at the same height off the water you can keep a closer tab on them. If you should get more than 1 on quickly decide which one is bigger and try to boat that one first. Good Luck. O - R