Mendota Rig - Thoughts?

[Robeng]

Has anyone used the Mendota rig setup where the weight is down?  

How did it work for you?  What line did you use?  Please share your experience. 

Thanks. 

[Cgolf]

I used a rig from uncle josh a while back, I think it was the Okeechobee rig, same thing, and did ok with it. I also rigged up a tube with a bell sinker as the weight and that worked too. I have to say though that since it didn't seem to work that much better than anything else, I haven't gone back to it. I think I still have that tube in one of my prerigged bait boxes at home. If you want to try it out, suggest trying it with a bell sinker first, the weights aren't cheap. I happened to look them up today after seeing a post on twitter fly by.

[WRB]

Looks good for a punch type rig.

Tom

[Wayne P.]

1 minute ago, cgolf said:

I used a rig from uncle josh a while back, I think it was the Okeechobee rig, same thing, and did ok with it. I also rigged up a tube with a bell sinker as the weight and that worked too. I have to say though that since it didn't seem to work that much better than anything else, I haven't gone back to it. I think I still have that tube in one of my prerigged bait boxes at home. If you want to try it out, suggest trying it with a bell sinker first, the weights aren't cheap. I happened to look them up today after seeing a post on twitter fly by.

I have used the same rig in Florida. It's a fisherman catcher as much as a fish catcher.  I used 50# Stealth since I was fishing where that rig is the most appropriate punching through weed mats. It hangs up more pulling out of a mat than a TX rig or jig.

Good ideal for a presentation, but not retrieval.

[Robeng]

Thanks very much for the replies.  I wondered about retrieval and thought of making my own too.  Best to you all.  

[primetime]

I have always wondered how that word work after the initial drop? If the pull point is reversed then the craw is moving in reverse, but I think I am over thinking how fish react to soft baits in the slop...I doubt they would notice but I like to work baits back to the boat even when punching at times, or shake it, bang it on top of canopy etc..

I rig the Ika backwards so who knows...I guess if you can rig the bait and get more fish from it then it is cool, but I don't see why it wouldn't or would work better I guess. I just rig the normal way and kind of stuck in my ways with punching since it has taken me so long to just get proficient....

[Cgolf]

3 hours ago, Wayne P. said:

I have used the same rig in Florida. It's a fisherman catcher as much as a fish catcher.  I used 50# Stealth since I was fishing where that rig is the most appropriate punching through weed mats. It hangs up more pulling out of a mat than a TX rig or jig.

Good ideal for a presentation, but not retrieval.

I actually used it around reed beds where there really weren't any other weeds to hang up on. I may have to break it out again and give it a shot. If I find it I will post a picture of the tube rig I had. I agree the retrieval felt strange, almost like that flying lure thing that went backwards. 

[Cgolf]

Here is the tube I had rigged up. The hook is in it the normal way, so that the tube falls butt first instead of head first. If I remember hookup percentage was pretty good too. 

[MIbassyaker]

Huh. I like the look of that. I have rigged plastic craws backwards, but not with the weight down like that.