Grantm Posted September 5, 2005 Share Posted September 5, 2005 Thats right more dumb questions Question one I tried ( unsuccessfully ) to troll a garfish. What a nightmare. After I managed to tie the mouth shut, I then hooked it up, which was bodgy at best, then went for a troll. All it did was spin in the water and was no good at all. What am I doing wrong here? How do you succesfully rig a bait fish to troll and have it look good in the water and swim straight ? I suspect I hooked it up poorly which didnt help either. Any ideas ? Question two. What purpose does a 'double' have when trolling ? I have read and heard of the need for one but havent found the actual purpose of this rig. Why cant you tie your mainline straight to the lure, or even just use a short leader ? Hope you can steer me ( and my lures ) in the right direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phild Posted September 5, 2005 Share Posted September 5, 2005 Thats right more dumb questions Question one I tried ( unsuccessfully ) to troll a garfish. What a nightmare. After I managed to tie the mouth shut, I then hooked it up, which was bodgy at best, then went for a troll. All it did was spin in the water and was no good at all. What am I doing wrong here? How do you succesfully rig a bait fish to troll and have it look good in the water and swim straight ? I suspect I hooked it up poorly which didnt help either. Any ideas ? Grant check out Geof Wilsons rigs and knots book it tells you all you need to know. If the bait spins its not rigged dead straight (and I mean dead straight). Start by making a bait needle by twisting a 50cm bit of gal wire together. Shove it up the bum with the trace poked through the eye of your needle (eye first up the bum) keep it going until the eye of the needle pokes out the gars mouth then pull the needle out along with the trace. Pull the trace through so the bend of the hook sit at the bum hole (with the shank up the dotzer). Secure the trace to the beak with a rubber band but make sure the trace isnt pulling on the hook because it will rip the gars cut cavity or bend the bait both of which will cause the bait to spin. Hope that helps but your better of working from pictures than going of a discription. Question two. What purpose does a 'double' have when trolling ? I have read and heard of the need for one but havent found the actual purpose of this rig. Why cant you tie your mainline straight to the lure, or even just use a short leader ? Basiclly it doubles the strength of the line down towards the business end adding strenth and security especially when tracing a fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bashir Posted September 5, 2005 Share Posted September 5, 2005 Firstly you have to decide wheather you want them to swim or skip along the surface, both are relatively easy with some practice and it pays to do them at home and then freeze the pre made gars (it does not do damage to the line). I would suggest buying the ready made bait springs, nose clips, wires etc... there are a million and one things on the market desinged to make the chore of rigging swim and skip gars simple. Wellsys up in QLD put out a free catalogue and have a great range. I order from them regularly and find them great. http://www.wellsystackle.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Iceman Posted September 5, 2005 Share Posted September 5, 2005 You also need to break the backbone of the garfish in a few places to make it flexible before rigging Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bashir Posted September 5, 2005 Share Posted September 5, 2005 See wellsys catalogue for a backbone remover. But yes breaking the backbone carefully in a few spots is what I do. Some moldcraft bubbler heads are great for the skip gars, rat kingies crawl all over a gar rigged with one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bung Posted September 5, 2005 Share Posted September 5, 2005 you could also try chin rigging it with a small ball sinker to ballast it, this helps keep it upright. i tried it with dead slimeys up at swr last season and the dead baits looked better than the livies!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken A Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 Gars are pretty easy to rig after a little practice. There are tons of sites with step by step instructions if you do a serch for "rigging ballyhoo" or something similar. They are know as ballyhoo overseas Removing the eyes really helps them swim straight without twisting & is a pretty important step - works for slimies too. Make sure your baits lay straight & are flexible & your towing point is through the fish dead centre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grantm Posted September 6, 2005 Author Share Posted September 6, 2005 Thanks for the tips ill have a better go next time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now