Thread: Rigging & Line

What type line and weight do you use for rigging ? I've been using Spiderwire 10lb high vis yellow, not happy Suggestions?

I use Vicious 8 lb., but I'd like to find some full sinking 4 weight fly line that wasn't $80/ roll. I intend on switching all of my main line over to lead core metered line as soon as spring season winds down. I also like to use duck decoy weights as they can be cut to specific weights, they're cheaper, they go through brush easier and they store around the rods easier because they will roll around the rod handle real tight.

My rigging comes as a result of OCD syndrome and the desire to have 1 rig that does it all. I call it Fred's rig. I like to bottom bounce, but I may want to troll a single 1/4 oz. jig head if the conditions call for it. I also may want to utilize a Capps and Coleman rig, or I might even decide to push a crankbait or troll spoons. I have tried everything from the rubber stoppers used for slip floats, to split shot, etc. No matter what, I have to be able to quickly change all rods to the same color/bait/presentation.

Thank God I found Carolina Keepers.

I thread on a CK, then a barrell swivel, then another CK. I leave a 1/4 inch gap between the 2 CK so the barrel swivel can move up or down a bit. I do that again with a CK-BS-CK. Then I tie on a large snap swivel at the end of the main line for a total of 4 CK's, 2 barrell swivels and a large snap swivel. The only knot that is tied is the one attaching the large snap swivel to the terminal end of the main line.

I tie up snells out of 6 lb test clear mono. The idea is that the snell will break before the mainline does. The snell, 9 inches long total, has a loop knot on each end, and the business end is attached to one of the large Fas-Snap thinga-ma-jigs. Oh yeah, before I put the Fas-Snap on, I thread on a Bobby Garland Tickler for good measure, and sometimes I thread on a tube full of crappie nibblets just above the hook for added scent and also in case they are short striking.

I always keep a few packs of Mr. Crappie pre-tied snells just in case.

I do not tie pre-tied leaders with this rig, as they can encumber my ability to adjust the depth of each hook, plus they're cumbersome to deal with, to me at least, but in the rare event that I break off, in order to speed things up, I pre-rig several of the aforementioned rigs and hang them from my trolling rod holder. With a simple loop knot, I connect the pre-tied rig to my mainline. By squeezing and opening the CK's really wide, I can slide all 5 of them and their barrel swivels onto the main line. Then all I do is tie a knot to the large snap swivel. It's fast. If I break off a snell, I have several pre-tied ones ready to go.

With this rig I can bottom bounce with whatever weight I want or troll at any depth with whatever weight I want- All I do is unfasten the large snap swivel at the the bottom and attach a new weight. Alternatively, if I want to put a 1/4 oz jig head on the bottom and another hook up top, take the weight off, put a jig head on or a crankbait, telephone, dynamite, whatever.

I can also attach a weight at the 2nd barrell swivel to utilize a Capps and Coleman rig, if need be. Add a snell to the bottom snap swivel and a snell on the top barrel swivel to get the Capps and Coleman rig.

If I want to push cranks then everything is there.

The barrel swivels can rotate around the mainline 360* and, obviously, they allow the snell to rotate unencumbered byway of the barrel swivel allowing such. I get less hang-ups this way, and the bait has a more natural presentation. For some reason this rig catches more fish than my other conventional rigs, hands down. Best I can figure is the snell has absolute freedom to move as it needs to move without moving too much.

Take last Friday on Grenada where, if you were there you would probably agree it was slow. It was a prime example of where Fred's rig really shines:

I caught most of my fish in 12-14 FOW fishing 3.5 to 5 feet deep. Some may disagree, but I have never done much good when my rods are bouncing from wave action/ boat wake. (If you fish Ross Barnett you know what I mean when I speak of boat wake and rod bounce.)

The fish were finicky until that afternoon, and the only time I could get bit (until that afternoon) was when my minnows were sitting dead still, vertically speaking. It also probably had a lot to do with the muddy water and giving them ample opportunity to find the bait in front of them. What to do? Emulate what is on the depth finder screen, that's what.

Fish were suspended 10.5 to 9 feet off the bottom (3.5 to 5 feet deep in 12-14 FOW if you're not dyslexic like me). I take my rods and set the 3/4 oz egg weight on the bottom then lift each pole up for adjustment. I then take my CK's and slide them 11 to 8 feet away from the egg weight. Now my bait is presented exactly as the fish are holding, and they are sitting dead still, vertically speaking.

From there, all but the largest of boat wakes will not make my rigs budge. I was inching along, just barely ticking the egg weight on the bottom catching fish.

Later on that afternoon they had moved closer to the banks, but they were still holding shallow (4 feet deep) in relatively deep (8-11 feet) water. They wanted blue and white tipped with a minner and some crappie nibblets, and they wanted it fast. I mean fast like, "hitting the outside rods on a fall when swinging wide" fast. On all 4 rods, in about 45 seconds, I had un-clipped the bottom egg weight, attached a 1/4 oz. jig head, and left the top snell attached with a bare hook and Bobby Garland Stroller. I caught tons of...throwbacks, but it was still fun. I guess I wound up catching 25 or so with 7 good keepers.

That's why I love Fred's rig and why it's so versatile. If you ever use it, don't go callin' it nothin' else- it's Fred's rig. Named after my grandfather, who was the only person to love fishing more than I. Except maybe the folks reading this, I majin you like it too, but not like Fred liked it.