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How Do You Use Split Shot Hooks?
| Dear Pros,
I'd like to request a clarification on how to rig soft plastics on your split shot hooks. I read your article, The Split Shot Technique - The Advantage, but couldn't quite picture what it means for the lure to "hang down" from the hook.
Does the hook go into the nose of the grub and out the top? Into the top and back out again? Is the idea for the hook to tear out of the grub on the strike, so it has more unobstructed gap to grab the lip?
My question isn't just idle curiosity! I bought a pack of each size of the hook, and bass season opens here in two weeks. I'd appreciate clarification.
Thanks!
LDB |
Jerry "Bubba" Puckett says:
Greetings from Arizona,
First, there's no need to rig the hook to tear free, you'll go through enough baits when the action heats up, without that! Here's what I do - with a grub, worm or Senko, insert the hook through the side of the bait and straight through and out the other side, about 1/8th to 3/16ths of an inch below the nose. Then rotate the bait on the hook so that it's hanging down directly below the hook, right in line with your fishing line - parallel to the line, not perpendicular. To restate it, the hook goes through the bait in a straight line, from side-to-side....if it goes in on one side 1/8th inch below the nose, it comes out the other side 1/8th inch below the nose.
When it's rigged correctly, the "nose" of the bait will be well down in the bend of the hook, nowhere near the hookpoint - in that position the bait will in no way interfere with the penetration of the hook. Sometimes, with slender worms or small Senkos, you might have to insert the hook just a little farther down the side of the bait. Now, I have seen others rig the baits with the hook sticking out of the bait's nose, as you described, and they said it worked fine, and I'm sure it did. I rig them as I described because that was the way that I was taught by Gary, and it worked well for me.
The only variation in rigging concerns the Hula Grubs. With them, I rig it the same way, but I stick the hook through the hard "collar", just below where the skirt flares, and then rotate the bait just like the plain grub. The skirt plastic is a lot tougher than grub plastic, so rigging the hook through the base of the skirt is a lot more durable than putting it through the grub part of the Hula Grub.
The way Gary intended them to be rigged is simply as a mini Carolina rig, and not a split-shot, although they will work very well, of course, as a split-shot rig. This is great for rocky structure and totally ineffective in the brush or weeds. The only down-side is the amount of twisting that the grub does on a long swimming retrieve, such as you'd do if you'd made a bad cast and wanted to reel up to cast again. In that situation, it's a twistin' dude. I used the little hook here at Powell (guiding) for the last six or seven years I was in business and I always went to the trouble to use the swivel, about a 24" leader to the hook and approximately a 1/4 ounce bullet sinker above the swivel. The whole Split Shot reference is something of a misnomer.
My typical use was 10-12 pound line, 6.5' spinning or 6' casting, medium action rods, 1/4 ounce sinker, 24" leader (I just used whatever the main line was) and usually a 5" single tail grub or 4" worm - both rigged the same way, hooked through the nose with the hookpoint exposed. I was fishing 15-40 feet with this same set-up and really never varied the rigging.
Next time you're on the Internet, stop by this website and click on "Video Tips" on the menu. If you have the free Real Player loaded on your computer you can watch several rigging videos, including a couple of them that deal with the Split-Shot rigging! Here's the link to that site - www.insideline.net/videos/ - I hope this helps and that your season is a successful one this year! If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to e-mail me directly - I'm happy to help.
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