New Angular: Fishing Hamilton: 2015

[philantropie]

Lol. I made a few rigs the other night to put 2 snelled hooks on. Learned a lot doing that bottom rig. I'd have to say it was a good night of learning and implementing. Tomorrow(Canada Day) I'm going out again to fish some and test these rigs out.

The rigs consist of a the weight at the bottom with a swivel, two loops for the snelled hooks. A swivel at the top of the rig. Seems like a lot of resources to make a rig like that. Possibly a little much, but it was fun. If they work well, I'll make a bunch more for the future.

Thanks a lot.
Cheers.

[MuskieBait]

You can save one swivel by tying a loop at the bottom of the rig. Using the loop, you can use the same technique to snell on the sinker. The bottom swivel is nice to reduce so twist to your line generated by the sinker when you retrieve, but if you have a good swivel at the top, that's not much of an issue in my experience.

If fish are very line shy, the double line created by the dropper loop is much more visible. You can cut one side of the loop (I usually cut the bottom turn of the loop). Imagine the loop as the ear or handle of a mug. Cut the bottom end of that ear or handle, and now you have a length of single line to tie your hook. This reduced your line visibility.

However, if you are fishing in areas where the bottom is rough and you need abrasion resistance, it is better to keep the loop intact. If you have toothy fish, it is also best to keep the loop intact.

There are many variations of this rig that you can use almost anywhere by changing the length of the dropper, the distance between the sinker and the hooks, line diameter, and even reverse the order of the sinker and hooks. You can tie flies instead of hooks and make larger sabiki rigs, and depending on how you fish it, you can fish multiple baits very close to the bottom to search for bottom hugging fish, or fish it straight to search the water column for suspended fish. It is extremely versatile.

[philantropie]

Quote:You can save one swivel by tying a loop at the bottom of the rig. Using the loop, you can use the same technique to snell on the sinker. The bottom swivel is nice to reduce so twist to your line generated by the sinker when you retrieve, but if you have a good swivel at the top, that's not much of an issue in my experience.

Very cool. If going to be using swivels, I may just see how much they are at fishing world. Or I may buy bulk online someplace (ebay, amazon, or BPS). I'll see what I can muster up a decent order of hooks and weights too. After fishing with the rigs I made today, it seems like an excellent way to catch fish.

I'll most likely keep the double dropper loop how I've made it, but I'll try to do what have suggested. Though, I think my line that I am using for the bottom rig is mono-filament, about 20 years old, and still strong as heck. So I'm guessing it may be even 20 lb. test or more. It's strong, but thicker than the braid I use. The rod I had in the basement had a damaged small eye, so I made a spool of line with the reel that hasn't been used in years.

From playing around with the rigs that I made the other day, I've figured that using a shorter line for the snelled hook on the bottom(so it's a little above the weight), and a longer top snelled hook on the rig so either way, it is less tangled. But still tangles anyway, but still love the idea and will use it for a long time. Today I went through 3 of my rigs I made from the rough bottom at Bayfront Park but it was a blast.

I'm not complaining though because in the morning after fishing for two hours, I finally threw out the line, went into some weeds and I caught a Lake trout(I'm not 100% but about 65%) about 30 degrees from the shore. The fish was a good 8 inches in length and looked very healthy. The bugger swallowed the hook, but surprisingly enough I removed the hook without blood and guts, let the little dude go in the water and it *zoomed* back into the depths. Kind of made me happy that I unhooked it well with pliers and managed to cause less harm than I thought it would have. I really do think it was my first fish, ever! Definitely first fish of the season. I was surprised at how rigid the body of the fish felt. I figured the meat of the fish would have been a bit more muscular or soft.

I really do thank you for all your input. I love it here already.

Great forum.
Cheers.

[Randy]

(07-02-2015 01:25 AM)philantropie Wrote:  From playing around with the rigs that I made the other day, I've figured that using a shorter line for the snelled hook on the bottom(so it's a little above the weight), and a longer top snelled hook on the rig so either way, it is less tangled. But still tangles anyway, but still love the idea and will use it for a long time. Today I went through 3 of my rigs I made from the rough bottom at Bayfront Park but it was a blast.

I'm not complaining though because in the morning after fishing for two hours, I finally threw out the line, went into some weeds and I caught a Lake trout(I'm not 100% but about 65%) about 30 degrees from the shore. The fish was a good 8 inches in length and looked very healthy. The bugger swallowed the hook, but surprisingly enough I removed the hook without blood and guts, let the little dude go in the water and it *zoomed* back into the depths. Kind of made me happy that I unhooked it well with pliers and managed to cause less harm than I thought it would have. I really do think it was my first fish, ever! Definitely first fish of the season. I was surprised at how rigid the body of the fish felt. I figured the meat of the fish would have been a bit more muscular or soft.

I really do thank you for all your input. I love it here already.

Great forum.
Cheers.

Great! Did you capture a picture? You're very luck to have a trout as your first fish.

Muskiebait, does a pickerel rig work similar to a dropper rig?

[philantropie]

Quote:Great! Did you capture a picture? You're very luck to have a trout as your first fish.

Sadly, no. I was beyond excited for the catch, fumbling around with the rod while the fish was still in the water, and trying to get my phone. I tried, but didn't want to hurt the fish by keeping it on the hook. I then tried again while I had the fish in my hand and was concerned for the well-being of the fish because it was probably stressed while I was pondering where the hook was, seen it swallowed. Stuffed my phone in the pocket, grabbed the pliers, unhooked, and released it.

I need to figure out a system to take pictures. I wanted to, but I was excited and concerned and just fluttered with what I was doing.

Sorry dude.

[MuskieBait]

(07-02-2015 02:08 AM)Randy Wrote:  Great! Did you capture a picture? You're very luck to have a trout as your first fish.

Muskiebait, does a pickerel rig work similar to a dropper rig?

Exactly the same. I never liked the metal arm of a pickerel rig. The metal arm simply looks unnatural and makes the rig much more visible. It's OK for fish that do not see much pressure, but as most of us fish in more populated areas with a lot of fishing pressure, it works against you.

The metal arms does reduce a bit of line twist and the rigidity of the arm keeps the hooks from tangling the mainline, but I see it more of a hindrance from getting bites than benefits from getting an occasional tangle with the mainline. Using a small but strong 3-way swivel can help to alleviate some of the tangle...but again, it makes your rig more visible to fish.

[philantropie]

When I was in Port Dover for the better half of the day, I seen a bottom rig with these yellow spacer-looking things separating the mainline from the snelled hooks on it. Wish I talked to the guy. It'd be neat to figure out how it was done, and see if I could use some clear, hardened plastic so it looks the same as the line, but just a bit thicker.

Are there any type of line spacers for bottom rigs?

[MuskieBait]

Not sure what these plastic spacer you are talking about. Maybe you can use some plastic beads. But the more you add, the more visible the rig, unless your addition is meant to attract fish (such as a single bead added to the snelled hook often seen in sabiki rigs).

[OldTimer]

(06-30-2015 04:30 PM)MuskieBait Wrote:  Honestly though...do you need a gang of 4 treble hooks to catch fish?

Nope - I like guddling them best.............. grin........... yeeeehawwww

[philantropie]

(07-03-2015 04:40 PM)OldTimer Wrote:  

(06-30-2015 04:30 PM)MuskieBait Wrote:  Honestly though...do you need a gang of 4 treble hooks to catch fish?

Nope - I like guddling them best.............. grin........... yeeeehawwww

If I see someone guddling, jumping around in Hamilton Harbour, I might have to wave or toss a beverage at them and start taking pictures. lol. Though, I'd imagine it's hard enough as is.

Welp, time to go to the fishing store to grab some things. I hope they carry large packages of hooks and swivels, and possibly swivel clips. I need to make a bunch of bottom rigs tonight for tomorrow morning. Also might grab some flies.

Would there be anything else I should grab while getting some tackle? What's best for catching trout, bass, and whatever else is out there? I'll more likely stick with a bottom rig and worms or vary it with a fly also.

Has anyone ever tried tried coating sinkers with rubber or something so they're quieter while they're being moved around on the lake bed? It'd be neat to find something that's non-toxic to spray on and use.