Beaufort and Hilton Head Fishing Tip, Bottom Rigs

In the Beaufort waters, the fish can put up a really hard fight, great for the angler, bad for the tackle. Often, you can't find the best setup, or you get tired of loosing that big one because of a inferior piece of equipment. Here is a way to make the perfect bottom rig that works extremely well for most applications, especially for Shark, Drum, and freshwater Catfish.

One 24"-32" piece of 25-50 lb. steel leader wire (plastic coated stranded wire best)
Two barrel sleeves (sometimes called crimping sleeves), and crimping pliers.
One barrel swivel ( size 1/0 - 2/0 )
One egg sinker ( about a 1 - 2 oz. weight will do )
One hook ( about a 3/0 - 5/0 will do

Run one end of the leader through one eyelet on swivel and secure with sleeve by crimping
two times, near top & bottom.

Leave about 1/2" of slack between eyelet and sleeve. (Don't crimp right on the sleeve end, as it might weaken the rig.)

Next, on the other end of leader, place a sleeve, then run leader through the eyelet on hook, through sleeve and crimp the same way, again leaving 1/2" of slack between the hook eyelet and sleeve.

Hold the main line and the part you just ran though the eyelet, between your thumb and index finger of the right hand, the eyelet should be by the right wrist.

Leave about 5" of slack between the eyelet and where you are holding the line together at the thumb. You should have about 1' of extra line past your thumb.

With that excess line, wrap (loop) around the main line 3 or 4 times, in the direction going away from the right hand (towards the rod and reel).

Then run it through the loop formed between the swivel and and your right thumb.

Hold the end of the line you just passed through, and the swivel with the left hand and with the right hand pull on the main line above the mess you just created. The loops will tighten and slide down to the eyelet, forming a very reliable knot. You may now trim off the excess line. If you are using heavy line, you may need to wet the line
to make the knot slide easily.

Rigsetup2.jpg (45817 bytes)

Now you are ready, you've just made the world's best all around fishing bottom rig. The bait is free to move around naturally because it is not attached directly to the sinker. This rig works well either drifting or in stationary types of fishing. Now, go fishing!