Kingfish rigs

[Mulligan]

Just getting the rigs ready for them Kings! I've seen several YT vids on how to tie. When I tried them out last week, two of the rigs snapped right at the swivel, just at the bottom of the tight twist while fighting a fish. The other rig that held, I used a larger wrap/loop, then started the tight wrap. I'm hoping this adjustment holds up better. Lost couple of big fish last weekend.

One being what appeared to be a giant cobia.

Question: Are Cobias known to jump out of the water and spin like hell when fighting it? This one I hooked up appeared to be around 4 ft or so. It went airborne and spun like crazy. After about the 3rd acrobatic move, the line snapped off.

[Heatstroke]

I'm no expert but it looks like you just have one wire wrapping the oth

[Prof. Salt]

Most cobia stay submerged during the fight, but once in a while you hook one that went to the Fred Astaire school of dance. I caught cobes for years and never had one jump until last year. Now I've had five put on aerial shows. I do like the acrobatic ones!

[Mulligan]

I'm no expert but it looks like you just have one wire wrapping the oth

The stinger is a separate piece. The ones that broke off were in one piece, both J hook and treble. I didn't like that the hooks didn't move and adjustable. This two piece appears to work better.

[Mulligan]

Most cobia stay submerged during the fight, but once in a while you hook one that went to the Fred Astaire school of dance. I caught cobes for years and never had one jump until last year. Now I've had five put on aerial shows. I do like the acrobatic ones!

I figured it was a cobia based on how the bottom jaw looked, but haven't seen the acrobatics in other videos so I was second guessing. And the fact that all we caught that day were sharks.

Thanks for the input! It would've been awesome to have captured that on the GoPro but didn't have it out on time.

[jakec1]

Your haywire twist looks off. You have one wire wrapping the other instead of a true twist. Slippage in the twist can cause it to cinch or break. Also try not to pinch the end, it should be a smooth loop.

Not sure how heavy of wire that is, but you might try using lighter wire. At least get yourself some lighter wire to practice with. From a yak, you don't need much.

Also you might want to consider a haywire twist tool. I made one out of a 1" dowel rod. Don't use it anymore but at one time it was only way I could get a descent twist on heavier wire.

You might want to consider 7 strand. I rarely make piano wire leaders anymore just cause they take so long to do right. 7 strand however is soooo fast and easy. I like the 40# Malin personally, though 30 lb is plenty heavy. The only reason I use 40lb is I tie my lures to it. I rather miss a few strikes from heavy wire than loose expensive lures. We don't really get out to truly clear water anyways.

If using 7 strand just snell knot the hooks and figure 8 at the swivel. These can be made custom to the length of ribbons in the yak in about 30 seconds.

[Boomy]

Yours are a little more elaborate than mine. Save the money and eliminate the swivel and beads in front of the teaser skirt. Are you tying the main wire and stinger to the eye of the J-hook? Most trebles have welded eyes, but J's don't. I'd loop the wires, to avoid a pull through. Hope this is helpful...

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[Heatstroke]

I'm no expert but it looks like you just have one wire wrapping the other

The stinger is a separate piece. The ones that broke off were in one piece, both J hook and treble. I didn't like that the hooks didn't move and adjustable. This two piece appears to work better.

Ok. Whatever works for ya.

[APynckel]

I would agree that the haywire on the above images looks off. They should be wrapping each other, not one around the other.



The top part of your twist should look like that.

[Mulligan]

I would agree that the haywire on the above images looks off. They should be wrapping each other, not one around the other.



The top part of your twist should look like that.

I see what you guys mean. Yes the first loops I did does wrap around the wire vs the two twisting together then the right wrap. But it did hold when I caught my 4.5'-5' blacktip so I'm assuming it'll hold and not have to retie them for now.

Boomy - I do like the swivel to prevent the line twist. As for tying the stinger, do you tie it to the J hook eye or the wire? Would it matter?

Thanks

[Mulligan]

Yours are a little more elaborate than mine. Save the money and eliminate the swivel and beads in front of the teaser skirt. Are you tying the main wire and stinger to the eye of the J-hook? Most trebles have welded eyes, but J's don't. I'd loop the wires, to avoid a pull through. Hope this is helpful...

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Actually I just read this. I tied my stinger to the loop, not the J hook. Sounds like I got one thing right!

[JRB-USMC]

I go with the Prof. Salt leaders. Below is a link to a video on how to make them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t82a8-iUXg

[Endo]

Yours are a little more elaborate than mine. Save the money and eliminate the swivel and beads in front of the teaser skirt. Are you tying the main wire and stinger to the eye of the J-hook? Most trebles have welded eyes, but J's don't. I'd loop the wires, to avoid a pull through. Hope this is helpful...

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Actually I just read this. I tied my stinger to the loop, not the J hook. Sounds like I got one thing right!

Let's talk about this point. I've always tied the stinger leader directly to the j-hook. My rationale comes from two reasons:

First my gut tells me that under pressure two leaders pulling on each other in series can create a tiny pinch point with high stress. There's a reason we make a loop on a haywire and not a pinch bend. The eye of the j hook has much more diameter to prevent a pinch bend in your leader.

Second, I've thought about the possible pull through, but if I envision the whole leader under stress of a fish, I don't envision the (potential) gap in the j-hook eye lining up with either wire leader end to create a pull through issue.

Is there a consensus out there on best practice?

.

[APynckel]

Let's talk about this point. I've always tied the stinger leader directly to the j-hook. My rationale comes from two reasons:

First my gut tells me that under pressure two leaders pulling on each other in series can create a tiny pinch point with high stress. There's a reason we make a loop on a haywire and not a pinch bend. The eye of the j hook has much more diameter to prevent a pinch bend in your leader.

Second, I've thought about the possible pull through, but if I envision the whole leader under stress of a fish, I don't envision the (potential) gap in the j-hook eye lining up with either wire leader end to create a pull through issue.

Is there a consensus out there on best practice?

.

I would agree with the pinch point hypothesis. We are talking about relatively thin wire, and a small radius of curvature can amplify a stress significantly through a single "beam" (the wire). You would want to do everything you can to keep a singularity from forming in one of (if not the) most critical areas of the system. I would also use the eye of the hook, and not through the adjacent wire at all.

[Boomy]

So far a haven't had any issues with my way, but I'll do some more field testing as soon as I can.....

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[Mulligan]

Nice King Boomy!

I was going to test out my rigs over the Memorial weekend in Port A/Mayan Rigs in my PB, but the wind was blowing near 30mph the entire weekend so we couldn't even get out past the PA jetties!

I'm going out this Sunday out of Freeport (weather pending) and hopefully i'll have some fish pics to post.

[Mulligan]

Finally got my first King! 41" using the rig I made. wire to wire connection held up to bring this baby in. Hit on ribbon fish trolling around a rig approx 30 miles out (from a PB of course). Nothing like hearing that zing from my Truth reel!

We had second king on, but he shook the hook off right by the boat. We could've got him but we were too busy recording it on GoPro since these were our first kings!

No problem with the rig I made, but would go forward in the future fixing the twist.

[Mulligan]

Question about the duster in front of the J hook.....do you let the duster slide down to the J hook? Or have it offset so the ribbon looks like it's chasing the duster? If so, what do y'all use to keep the duster offset from the J hook?

Originally, I'd use a barrel collar and crimp it so the duster didn't slide all the way down to the J hook.

[kickingback]

Seems to me you should up the wire size. I use 60 lb and 80 lb like Prof. Madden uses. Check out his video above.

If you are breaking wire then it's the wire. If you are bending hooks then change to 3x or 4x hooks. If I were you I would add one more treble to give it three hooks. Again, look at Prof Salt's video above. Haven't broke any leaders. Only broke my 30lb braid when a monster hooks up and almost breaks my rod taking off.

[Mulligan]

Seems to me you should up the wire size. I use 60 lb and 80 lb like Prof. Madden uses. Check out his video above.

If you are breaking wire then it's the wire. If you are bending hooks then change to 3x or 4x hooks. If I were you I would add one more treble to give it three hooks. Again, look at Prof Salt's video above. Haven't broke any leaders. Only broke my 30lb braid when a monster hooks up and almost breaks my rod taking off.

No issues with the wire leaders breaking, maybe you read my other/previous post where my leaders were breaking when I fished the Matagorda rig? Those leaders were made from 50# mono leaders for my lures. When I rig up ribbon fish for kings, I use these wire leaders and they are 60#.

Any thoughts on my question about the duster?

[kickingback]

Sorry, I read your first post where you said the wire snapped right at the swivel. I tie my wires from main swivel to J hook and then tie the next wire to the J hook (not the wire as it will cut each other) and on to a treble. Then I tie another wire from that treble (tying to eye of treble) and then to my last treble. All wire runs through eyes as the eyes have a wider surface area for the wire to bend around. If both wires are connected I find they can cut through each other from hard jerks.

AS for the "duster" I make my own either from bullet weights that slide up and down the main wire in front of J hook. I cut a small notch in my bullet weights and then tie a bunch of bright flash material around the weight. I also fly tie and I have a few homemade skirts I tied directly to the J hook to prevent the duster from moving around so much. This lets the weight slide up and down easily without the flash moving off the bait. This is my best option as I don't have to go and buy those dusters which adds up in money. I even tie some flash on my last treble to add more flash in the water and they have served me well.

[jnd1959]

So far a haven't had any issues with my way, but I'll do some more field testing as soon as I can.....

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Ok boomy, tell me your 5' 3", right? That's a good size king otherwise.

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[Boomy]

It came out to 53"s

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[IrishSharker]

I dunno why more people are using the titanium wire... super easy clinch knot and it doesn't kink. Knot 2 kinky is pretty good stuff for the price.

[Endo]

I dunno why more people are using the titanium wire... super easy clinch knot and it doesn't kink. Knot 2 kinky is pretty good stuff for the price.

I made the switch this year. I'm not going back. The Knot2Kinky wire is great stuff.

My first time using a NiTi leader I caught 12 kings on the same leader. I only stopped using it because i ran out of ribbon fish.