Nick Drakes, a Trolling Lure manufacturer and owner of Sekard Technology resumes his new four part series on the ins and outs of rigging big game trolling lures. In Part 3 of this series we looked at the essential tools you need. In part 4 Nick shows you how to bring everything together and build the final rig.

ONE HOOK OR TWO?
The IGFA regulations allow us to use either one or two hooks when rigging trolling lures. There are some quite specific rules regarding the positioning and spacing of the hooks within the lure skirts and anybody who intends to chase world record fish, or who is planning to enter a tournament, must be familiar with the IGFA regulations. I won't go into the full details here but I would recommend that you take a look at the IGFA website (www.igfa.org) where the rule books can be viewed or downloaded.

I would guess that the most popular rigs used around the world still include two hooks, rigged in tandem - one behind the other. The reason for this is quite simple; common sense tells us that two hooks will give us a much better chance of successfully hooking the fish than a single hook.

Surprisingly, there is little evidence to suggest that this is the case and a lure rigged correctly with a single hook will achieve just as many positive hook-ups as a twin hooked rig.

This is borne out by the fact that many of the world's top big game crews regularly use single hooks when rigging lures. I won't name any names but you only have to read the international big game fishing journals and keep your eyes and ears open within the big game fishing scene to know that single hook rigs are the preferred choice for many top crews and teams. I would also point out that these people are those who chase world records and compete in the worlds biggest money tournaments. If single hooks were inferior, compared with twin hooks, they would not choose to use them! Many of these crews use a very specific type of single hook rig and I will explain this particular rig in more detail later within this article.

From, my own point of view I have preferred single hook rigs for many years on the basis of safety and conservation. If you intend to unhook and/or release a fish at boat side it is much safer if you only have to deal with one hook. Believe me; twin hook rigs have hooked nearly as many anglers and crew men as they have fish!!

Secondly, let's think of the fish. We have to stick a hook into the fish in order to catch it but after that I do not want to injure the fish any more than is necessary. Two hooks will definitely provide more opportunity to cause trauma to the fish than a single hook and, if you are conservation minded, this must be of utmost importance. Also, if a fish breaks free, or has to be cut loose with the hooks still in, it is much better for the fish if it only has to carry one hook, rather than two. Two hooks could result in the fish being left with its jaws wired together and unable to feed.

Okay, you will realise that I prefer to use singe hooks for my trolling lure and natural bait rigs. I think this is safer for me, safer for the crew, safer for the fish and provides me with at least as good, if not better, hook up ratios than twin hook rigs. You may not agree, and some professional crews will now be laughing at my advice. All I ask is that you think about your priorities and, if you are safety and conservation minded, please consider single hook rigs. For those of you who are not yet fully persuaded towards the merits of a single hook, I will still explain the process of making the most popular type of twin hook rig.

STIFF OR LOOSE?
This is one of the long running topics of discussion in the world of big game rigging. What we mean is whether the hooks are rigged so as to be held straight and stiff within the lure skirts or allowed to move and swing freely in an uninhibited fashion.

It would be possible to argue all day about whether stiff or free swinging hook rigs provide the most consistent hook-ups when running trolling lures. I certainly could not provide any substantial statistics to prove the case one way or the other. However, there is one thing that I am pretty sure about and, for me, this strengthens the case in favour of stiff hook rigs. A free swinging hook will tend to produce more foul-hooked fish than a stiff rigged hook and foul-hooked fish are something that I prefer to avoid. In the old world of big game fishing a large free swinging hook was often called a gaffer, because it is intended to catch the fish in any way that it can, in the head, eye, or anywhere it can get a hold! This is not good for fish welfare and conservation; what we really want is a good hook hold on the inside or outside of the fish's mouth on the majority of occasions, not random head shots.

Stiff rigged hook

Free swinging hook

I much prefer to use the stiff rigging techniques for both single and double hook rigs. As always, there is much controversy regarding this opinion, but you must make up your own mind and search your conscience regarding your position on fish welfare and conservation. I doubt there is much difference in the overall number of fish hooked, but stiff rigs will tend to give you more clean hook-ups with fewer hooks in nasty' places.

MAKING A SINGLE HOOK STIFF RIG
1. Firstly you must decide where you want the hook to ride within the lure's skirts. You can rig the hook so that it is tight behind the lure's head, way back at the end of the skirts, or at any point in between. The choice is yours, and please feel free to experiment, but I recommend that you position the hook so that it is well back in the skirts as this will give the most consistent hook up ratios in the long run. We will discuss this hook position in more detail a little later when I explain the special' single hook rigs now so popular with top international crews.

2. Once you know where you want your hook to run, cut a piece of multi strand wire cable of appropriate length to cover the distance from the hook eye to the back of the lure head. Don't forget to add an extra couple of inches to allow for the crimped loop connections that will be required at either end.

3. Crimp the wire cable to the eye of the hook, making sure to use the correct type and size of copper or nickel/copper crimp. Crimps used on wire cable must be fully compressed along their full length, right up to the ends. Also, remember that it is best to use a stainless steel thimble, or a short section of plastic rig tubing, to protect and reinforce the loop in the wire.

4. Form a loop at the other end of the piece of wire cable and secure using a crimp. Again, it is best to add a thimble or section or rig tubing to protect the loop. It is at this stage that you have the opportunity to double check and adjust the length of the hook rig before compressing the crimp.

5. Carefully check your workmanship to make sure that the crimps are correctly compressed, the thimbles are correctly positioned and there are no nicks or kinks in the wire.

6. Cut a piece of plastic heat shrink tubing that is long enough to cover the full length of the wire cable plus about half the length of the hook shank. Pick a diameter of tubing that is just large enough to push over the eye of the hook - too large and it will not shrink down snugly and too small and you will be unable to slide it into position.

7. Slide the heat shrink tubing into position along the wire cable. One end of the tubing should fully cover the crimp and the base of the loop or thimble and the other end should extend about half way along the hook shank. Check that the wire is nice and straight and that the hook shank and wire are held in line with each other and then heat the tubing to start the shrinking process. Different brands of tubing will require slightly different heating temperatures, but the epoxy adhesive lined tubing that I prefer requires quite high temperatures (120 to 150 C). Some people use a hot air gun to heat the tubing but I use the kitchen oven; just set to the required temperature, stretch the hook rig out on a baking tray and pop it in the oven for a few minutes. Leave to cool before handling.

Heat shrink tubing before heating

Heat shrink tube after heating

8. You will often find that a single layer of heat shrink tubing leaves the hook rig still feeling quite floppy'. This is common if the tubing has a thin wall section or if you are forming a particularly long hook rig. I usually add a second, or even a third, layer of shrink tubing to achieve the required level of stiffness. Bear in mind that you are not aiming to achieve total rigidity; we want to hold the hook straight, prevent it from swinging and remove any sense of floppiness'.

9. The basic single hook stiff rig is now complete and ready for rigging with the leader and lure.

THAT "SPECIAL" RIG
I keep on mentioning a special type of single hook rig that is becoming increasing popular for lure rigging. This was first brought to the attention of the mass public by the famous American captain, John Cochrane, who had developed lures and rigging methods that provided him with very good hook-up ratios when targeting Billfish.

In principle this method is just a basic single hook stiff rig, exactly as described in the previous section. The key features of this rig lie in its proportions, rather than the method used to construct it. Captain Cochrane fitted his lures with extra long skirts and then positioned a stiff rigged single hook as far back as the IGFA regulations would allow, with only the eye of the hook actually within the skirts. This looks weird and you really need a lot of confidence in the rig to use it, but I know many of the real Godfathers of our sport use this method, particularly for Billfish, so the proof is there.

I think the success of this rigging method probably comes down to the tendency for big game species (particularly Billfish) to miss or strike short when attacking the lure. If the fish is bang on target and it engulfs the whole lure it doesn't really matter where the hook is, we have a good chance of hooking it. If the fish strikes short then that single hook, way back at the end of the skirts, gives us the best possible chance of a sneaky hook-up.

MAKING A TWIN HOOK STIFF RIG
1. The basic procedure is exactly the same as described for rigging a single hook. With a twin hook rig the front hook runs tight behind the lure's head and the rear hook runs further back in the skirts. The position of the rear hook is determined by the length of wire cable we have chosen to use.

In-line rig

180degree rig

90degree rig

2. We have a number of options regarding the relationship between the two hooks. We may want the two hooks to have exactly the same orientation, i.e. straight in line with each other and running either both points up or both points down (an in-line rig'). Alternatively, we may prefer the two hooks to be completely opposed to one another, one hook running point up and one hook running point down (a 180degree rig). There are also other rigs where the two hooks are positioned at different angles to one another, 90degree or 60degree for example. We again find ourselves in a much discussed subject area; all the different hook angles have their devotees and each could argue a case for it having advantages under certain circumstances. If you really must use a two hook rig, rather than the safer and more fish friendly single hook, then I would recommend that you use the 180degree rig with one hook riding point up and one hook riding point down. This type of twin hook rig certainly has more followers than any other for lure trolling.

3. There are a couple of different methods available for connecting the second hook to our rig. I am sure both are equally effective and reliable but I will focus mainly on my own favourite method. Firstly make a single hook rig, following the instruction in the earlier section.

4. Take the second hook and lay it alongside the single hook rig that you have already made. Make sure that the two hook points are facing in opposite directions with the two hooks at 180degree to each other. The eye of the second hook must be exactly in line with the loop or thimble hole at the end of the single hook rig.

5. Cut a piece of heat shrink tubing that corresponds to the length of the shank of the second hook - measured from the base of the eye to the place where the shank first starts to bend. The tubing will need to be just wide enough to slip over the eye of the hook.

6. Slide the piece of shrink tubing into position so that it covers both the shank of the second hook and the already completed single hook rig lying parallel with it. Make sure everything is straight and in line and heat the tubing to shrink it into position.

7. You now have a finished twin hook 180degree stiff rig. It is important to note that with this method the two hooks are not actually connected together at this stage, they are only held in place by the shrink tubing. When the hooks are rigged onto our main leader we must ensure that the leader passes through both parts of the rig, so everything is totally secure.

8. The other option for constructing the 180degree stiff rig uses the piece of wire cable to actually connect one hook to the other - eye to eye. When making the first part of the rig do not crimp the loop at the end of the wire cable; instead, first pass the wire through the eye of the second hook and then secure the crimp. The wire cable, the front hook and the crimped connection are then covered and stiffened' with plastic heat shrink tubing as with the first method.

ADDING THE LURE AND LEADER
We will now have a finished hook rig, either single or twin hook depending on your preference. The next stage is to connect our main leader onto the hook rig.

Take the required type, weight and length of leader. All the issues regarding leader selection have been discussed in some detail in earlier instalments of this article. I will assume that you are using a nylon monofilament leader to rig your trolling lures and this is likely to be in the region of 150lb to 600lb breaking strain and 15 to 25 feet in length.

Slide a crimp and a short length of plastic rig tubing onto the leader and then pass the leader through the loop and/or hook eye at the front of your hook rig. Form a neat loop and compress the crimp to secure the connection. When crimping nylon monofilament do not forget that you must use correctly sized aluminium alloy crimps. Do not compress these crimps right to the very end; instead, leave about a sixteenth of an inch uncompressed at either end. This will cause the very ends of the crimp to flare out slightly and this helps to prevent the aluminium from chafing the nylon monofilament.

We now have the stiff hook rig securely connected onto the main leader. The problem is that the hook rig is now swinging freely on a loop; we have lost the stiffness that we have worked so hard to achieve. The connection between the hook rig and the leader needs to be stiffened up in order to maintain our stiff rig philosophy. Unfortunately, we cannot use heat shrink tubing to stiffen this connection as the temperatures required to shrink the tubing are too high for our nylon monofilament leader and would probably cause damage and degradation within the nylon material. The most popular way to deal with this is to use tightly wound electrical insulating tape. First hold the hook rig and leader so that they are straight and taut and then wind a few layers of tape very tightly over the connection between the hook rig and the main leader - this is usually easier if you have a second pair of hands to help. Tip - If the end of the insulating tape keeps lifting up, smear it with a drop of Super Glue and then hold it down for a few seconds (watch your fingers!). This will keep it in place and stop it peeling back when you don't want it to.

The time has now come for us to put the lure onto the leader. I'm sure many readers thought we would never get to this stage, four instalments and several thousand words but we're finally here!

Take your chosen lure and slide it onto the leader, threading the leader in from the back of the lure head.

All that now remains is for us to form a neat loop at the other end of the leader. As always, making sure that we use the correct size and type of crimp and a piece of rig tubing to protect the loop and provide chafe resistance. This loop now provides an easy method for the finished lure rig to be connected onto our main reel line by means of a sturdy snap swivel.

FINISHED!
That's the rig finished. There will be a future article on the finer points of actually deploying the lures in the water but for those of you who immediately want to rush out, jump on a plane to somewhere exotic and test your new found rigging skills I will add just a few key points.

The hook or hooks should be vertically oriented in the water with the hook points facing either straight up or straight down. If you have hooks looking out to the side at odd angles they will hinder the action of the lure and could cause it to spin. I like to position single hook rigs with the hook point riding up, as this always seems to be the natural way that the hook wants to run. With twin hook 180degree rigs I like to have the front hook point up and the rear hook point down. This isn't cast in tablets of stone though, try it whichever way you prefer.

If you are using a lure with a symmetrical head shape, that has a straight cut or scooped face, then there is nothing more that needs to be done in order to deploy the lure in the water. Slide the lure down the leader so that it snugs down firmly against the crimp, turn the hook(s) so that the point(s) are straight up and down and slip it into the water. Water pressure on the face of the lure will keep everything in place.

Lures with angled faces do sometimes need a little help to keep them running the right way up. There are various tricks and devices to keep the hooks and lure correctly aligned but the old tried and tested method is to use a short piece of wooden tooth pick or cocktail stick wedged into the leader hole at the back of the lure head. It is important that you insert this into the back of the lure head and then snug the lure down against the crimp. If you push the piece of tooth pick into the front face of the lure you prevent the leader from centring itself in the leader hole and you also wedge the lure such that it cannot easily slide up the leader should it need to in an emergency. Once the hooks are correctly aligned and secure, slip the lure into the water and all should be well.

GOOD FISHING
That concludes the final part in this series of articles on rigging big game trolling lures. This is a vast and contentious subject so there are people who are bound to disagree with some of the advice and opinions that I have offered. All I can say is that this is how I do it, and it seems to work okay for me.

If you'd like to raise any questions or seek clarification on any points within this article, feel free to contact me at on the Sekard Technology website at www.sekard.com

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