|
Most Gulf coast anglers are gearing up for winter reds by stocking the tacklebox with soft plastics, and sharpening the hooks on their lead-heads. But those who want to catch and release a true monster redfish would do well to take a lesson from Carolina anglers, who have developed a rig that’s highly effective on extremely large redfish—yet ensures a clean release after nearly every catch.
Jim Harden, a rep for Grady-White Boats, showed me this rig while we were fishing for cow redfish in the Pamlico Sound, and I wasn’t just amazed at how well it worked, I was amazed it worked at all. Why? Because the egg sinker is crimped in place a mere six inches from the huge circle hook. Strange? You bet—but the fish like it.
“Placing the lead so close to the hook prevents the fish from swallowing the bait down too far,” Harden explained. “And when it turns to swim away with that circle hook in its mouth, it gets snagged in the corner of the jaw perfectly, almost every time.”
The rig consists of six inches of 40 pound test leader, with a swivel and the egg sinker crimped in place on one end and a 10/0 non-offset circle hook snelled on the other end. This rig gets attached directly to the end of your main line. Next, bait the hook with a large chunk of mullet, or another plentiful baitfish. The bait shouldn’t be threaded over the shank of the hook to hide it, but merely gets slipped over the point. For whatever reason, those big reds don’t seem to mind all the terminal tackle and exposed hooks; they take these baits readily, and swim away lazily.
With the boat anchored up in a likely spot (underwater points and shoals in the four to eight foot range are perfect) four to six of these rigs get fan-casted around the boat, and the rods are set in holders on freespool. When one of the baits gets a nibble, the rule of thumb is to do nothing at all—wait until the fish slurps up the bait, and starts to leave. When the line comes taunt and begins spilling off the reel, apply drag slowly. By the time your rod bends over under pressure, the fish is hooked and the fight is on.
Naturally, with the coastal slot limits currently in place, most of the fish you catch using this rig will need to be released – so before you try this rig, read up on your clean release techniques, here on Earth Sports!
Chase Stewart wrote 556 Days Ago Very interesting. I wouldn't have thought that rig would work. Wish I would've known about this last summer while I was working in Georgetown and fishing for big reds everyday.
Mike Stokes wrote 558 Days Ago That IS the rig we use, it's called the Owen Lupton rig. It's named after the long time Pamlico area Captain. In fact he and Capt. Rick Caton caught the first ever Tarpon in the Pamlico back in the early 70's on the same rig. We fish out of Oriental in the Palico Sound and the Pamlico & Neuse rivers for the big Drum with Capt. Caton every September. The one thing I'll point out is to use MUCH heavier mono (80-130 lb) and bigger swivels. The heavier mono is stiffer and will last much longer. I use 130 lb test. I've caught many, many big Drum on this rig and can't remember deep-hooking any. It is a very effective rig and can be used in lots of different conditions & also scaled down for many other species as well. -STOKES OUT
Please Login or Register to Comment... |
||
