sabiki rigs?

[papacoolbreeze]

for those of you who use them to catch bait (shad,bluebacks,crappie) in freshwater what size hook do you use the common sizes are 3,6 and 8. 3 is the smallest right thats what im thinking im gonna need. and how do you use your sabiki rig jig em or just let em sit? thanks this sight has become very convinient to me.

[BARON49_Northern NY]

We use them to jig up herring when Striper fishing the Hudson and use all the size hooks you mention, just depends on what works best that day.

I use a medium 6'6'' spinning rod with and x-fast tip, 10 lb fireline as the mainline to a small ball bearing snap swivel. The Sabiki rig is fastened to the snap and then a bell weight is attached to the other end. Depending on the depth and current, 1/2 oz should be enough.

Then watch your depth sound for the depth the schools of bait fish are running at and drop the rig so the sinker is just at the bottom of the school of fish. Jig up and down and vary how fast until you start catching them.

On a slow day catching bait is better then catching nothing at all.

[CWB]

Don't know if it will help but we used them in Cost Rica to catch bait for Tarpon every morning. they were rigged pretty similar to a drop-shot set-up. Jigged them and caught enough bait for the day in 5 minutes.

[SirSnookalot]

I see them used every day and used them myself scores of times, they are very effective.  It's a chicken rig with 6 hooks.

My suggestion if you have never used it before, put it on a dedicated bait rod and do it before you leave home out of the wind.  It isn't very difficult but just takes a bit of practice to do it on a windy day.  You can use it several times before you need to put a fresh one on.

Most people use light or ultra reels 4# test and light rod, sinker weight depends on current 1/2 oz usually ok.  I have a walmart combo for about 20 bucks that is perfect for sabikis.  Just toss it out and jig it slow.  If there is bait around, it's a can't miss.

[roadwarrior]

We use them for catching skipjack on the Tennessee River (striper bait).

Cast across current or downstream and work it like a jerkbait:

jerk-jerk-quick pause-jerk-jerk-quick pause...all the way back to the boat.

Generally we catch them near the surface, but some days you have to

fish deeper.

The key to landing the bait is bringing them in with a steady,

moderately fast retrieve and lifting them immediately into the boat.

For whatever reason, a fresh rig always produces better, but I really

don't know why.

8-)

[SimonSays]

I see people use these all the time when the white perch run on the james...they put a 1-1/2oz wait on it and toss it out and let it sit...on hot days during the run you can get 6 fish at once!