"give" rig

[jimmyjoe]

       Years ago, I was taught  a "give" rig. At that time, it was for live bait. But I also saw fishermen using the old pre-rigged Creme worms with this rig, to good results. The idea was to use a rig that got down fast in deeper water, but gave the fish no resistance from the weight. The rig used 2 crane swivels, and the baitline and dropper line were both about 18" long, maybe 2 feet for guys with longer rods. This picture shows something really similar, although this is for walleye. The dropper line was always lighter line, so if you hung up you could break it and get you worm back. The results seemed a lot better than using a 3-way swivel. The only downside was that the dropline crane swivel would wear on the main line above the mainline swivel. You had to check your line fairly often. That never seemed to be a problem.

     Can anyone tell me why I shouldn't use this for senko and worm lures? Is it inferior? Is there a weakness I don't see?  I'd like to hear your opinions.

 

   

  Thanks   jj

[snake95]

1 hour ago, jimmyjoe said:

Can anyone tell me why I shouldn't use this for senko and worm lures? Is it inferior? Is there a weakness I don't see?  I'd like to hear your opinions.

Great question.  From a bass fishing perspective, looks like you are combining features of a drop shot with a Carolina Rig, so you'd have some of the benefits of both.

[Team9nine]

That rig, along with a 3-way rig as used for walleyes, is designed to keep the bait up off the bottom and to avoid snagging (of the bait). It is primarily used in either river situations where you have a constant current, or with presentations like the spinner rig depicted where you are basically slow trolling, moving the boat constantly. In a typical bass fishing situation, you would never move that fast. As such, I don't necessarily see any benefit to using such a rig, plus in a cast and retrieve scenario, you might have the added negative of the lead weight on the dropper line wrapping and tangling with the main lure line. I would think a Carolina/mojo/splitshot setup might be better in most instances for bass.

[jimmyjoe]

   Yeah, I originally got it from river fishermen.  Thnx for the reminder about wrapping.  jj

[scaleface]

Sort of like Gapens Bait Walker . 

[jimmyjoe]

   Nah ... the Gapen had no "give". It didn't let line through.   jj

[Vilas15]

Thats for trolling a crawler harness/spinner. A regular Lindy rig might be a bit more castable. But even that is basically a carolina rig with a different shaped sinker.

[livin2fish]

Have used a rig like this for the twin fluke (donkey?) rig and didn't have much tangling.  Actually worked quite well.  If there is tangling, would think it would be exposed hooks catching on line.  Tex rigged baits would not have exposed hooks.  Why not try it?  No extra investment.  

[jimmyjoe]

29 minutes ago, livin2fish said:

Why not try it?  No extra investment. 

   Yes, or at least not much extra investment. I'm going to expand my soft plastic methods this coming year. I remembered this from long ago, and I immediately remembered how it let the mainline slide through and "give". I thought that might be an advantage, or maybe not. So I thought I'd ask. Like all things, the opinions of actual fishermen who have used some certain thing or technique is a lot more valuable than a theory.   jj

[Deleted account]

We use that for salt water fishing quite a bit. It works best for slow trolling or drifting. I wouldn't want to cast and retrieve that much. The diameter (stiffness actually)  of your legs is key to success. Flounder, weakfish, striped bass, and a host of other things fall for bait or lures fished this way in many places. 

[fin]

6 hours ago, Team9nine said:

I would think a Carolina/mojo/splitshot setup might be better in most instances for bass.

But none of those have as much "give", do they? I guess it would depend on the inside diameter of your sinkers, a larger diameter providing more give.

 

I could see this being very useful fishing worms weightless in a rocky river, allowing you to cast to one spot and then letting your worm drift downstream for several yards, retrieve back to sinker, then drift again, repeat.

 

I think even more give would be better. Something like this Mackeral rig:

 

 

There's no need for long leaders. 12" for each would be enough, and less likely to tangle. Type of sinker would be irrelevant, something cheap as possible with a very light weight leader.

 

I will definitely be trying this out if it ever warms up again.

[WRB]

We call this a halibut rig for drifting live anchovies.

The problem with this rig is tangling the dropper weight line with main line as mentioned earlier. 3 knots to fail. For bass fishing the slip shot rig elininates 2 knots and allows the main line with the hook to pass through the mojo (cylinder) weight without any drag. You rubber peg a glass bead or use a Carolina Keep for a weight stop.

Tom

 

[fin]

31 minutes ago, WRB said:

We call this a halibut rig for drifting live anchovies.

The problem with this rig is tangling the dropper weight line with main line as mentioned earlier. 3 knots to fail. For bass fishing the slip shot rig elininates 2 knots and allows the main line with the hook to pass through the mojo (cylinder) weight without any drag. You rubber peg a glass bead or use a Carolina Keep for a weight stop.

Tom

 

Now that you mention it, the swivel is unnecessary. Scrap the swivel, peg the bead. A bullet-shaped bead would be nice. I could just make one out of a piece of wood dowel. I don't know what a Carolina Keep is.

 

Maybe I'm not picturing the right kind of slip shot rig or mojo cylinder weight? The mojo sinkers I see have small holes, or drop-shot line clips. Also an unnecessary expense.

 

A break-away leader using a cheap weight that just clips onto the line with a duo-lock snap sounds better to me. It provides no resistance and is super simple to replace. You could even have a few pre-rigged, and just clip on as needed.

[WRB]

Go online and search Carolina Keeper, it's a plastic cyclinder about 1/4" dia. 1/4" long with a slot that opens up when sqweezed with a plier to put your line through, release thr plier pressure and the slot clamp tight enough to prevent the weight sliding down the line but not so tight the line can't slide down if weigh the gets snagged. Mojo Jo weights are a simple cylinder shape weight with a hole running down the center, no hardware. I use Top Brass Pro-Jo weights because the hole stays open, lead tends to pound closed easy on rocks or in your tackle box. Clips snapped onto your line tend to snag everything.

Tom

[fin]

Thanks for teaching me what a Carolina Keeper is. I think the rig I described is still worth trying and I already have everything I would need. If it fails, I will try your method.

[jimmyjoe]

   Split shot, slip shot, drop shot, mojo and more! I never dreamt there were so many different ways to rig a weight and a hook. But it looks like several of you have come up with the original reason for this rig - moving. Moving water or moving boat.     jj