rigging a bad boy

[jim sylvester]

In mays edition of ON THE WATER, john skinner wrote an article of rigged eels alternatives, specifically bad boys

after reading the article, i was convinced, as i rig both eels and skins and it is a pain in the arse, so I ordered a couple

well, i got them in today and WOW. These things are big, have great thickness to them and look like a cow is just waiting for them

Question for anyone that has experience with them

how are you anchoring the hooks in the pig fat. the article shows cable ties, but wondering if you go through the hooks eye or around the shank?

thanks guys

jim

[RIROCKHOUND]

Jim:
Let me know how you make out rigging.
I was tempted as well.
I use small cable ties on riggies..
I try and go through the eye, (8 or 9/0) but small eels/6-0 hooks I just go around the shank not as good... probably the same with the bad-boys..

tomorrow, usual tide/place? I'll be out drop me a line..

[jim sylvester]

Originally Posted by RIROCKHOUND

Jim:
Let me know how you make out rigging.
I was tempted as well.
I use small cable ties on riggies..
I try and go through the eye, (8 or 9/0) but small eels/6-0 hooks I just go around the shank not as good... probably the same with the bad-boys..

tomorrow, usual tide/place? I'll be out drop me a line..

hound,
thats what i was thinking...through the eye, less likely the fat will tear

these things are big an heavy.....looking at 4 oz,17" can't wait to work them

they do need sone shapong as the ones they sent me ( and i asked for fatties) are straight strips.....with a little nip an tuck they should shape up quite nicely


I'll keep you posted

friday for me as i am out of town with work..getting back into the state late tomorrow


good tides for us

[RIROCKHOUND]

good luck with the Bad Boys.
Not fishing Fri-Sun Wife and Mom's B-Day this weekend..
glad it's may 18-19 not june.
good tides is right...

[chuckg]

How are the pre-rigged, for 2bucks these more could save a lot of time and hassle...??

[Pete_G]

Originally Posted by chuckg

How are the pre-rigged, for 2bucks these more could save a lot of time and hassle...??

I'll sell ya some cheap...

We've had them for a year, and the rigging looks ok, but not great.

Until the article, everyone was scared of the BadBoy, lol.

It's a lot of pork.

[jskinner]

I'm going through the rear hook eye from each side of the strip with the cable ties. It takes a very sharp needle to get through the skin on some of them. There is soldered wire on the front hook, and I place the front cable tie between the wire and the hook eye and pull like crazy to tighten it. Worst case is the front one might turn a little with a fish on, but it's easy to straighten out. If things loosened up too much, I just replaced the cable tie when I get home.
Since writing the article, I learned something else - the strips tweak very nicely with sluggo weights. I insert these into the bottom edge of the strip. A full one goes parallel to the rear hook shank. About 2/3 of one goes parallel to the front hook shank. It's amazing how that little extra weight gets the strip to track deeper. It also helps keel the lure and allows for a faster retrieve without any rolling on its side. The weighted ones obviously cast farther too.
I've actually caught more fish on the 12-inch Juniors than the full size strips, but I think that's only because I threw the smaller ones more.
I had a conversation with the manufacturer after the article came out, and they were very receptive to my comments concerning the strip thickness. They also expressed an interest in selling them pre-rigged as I described, as opposed to rigging them flat as they do now.
As I mentioned in the article, one of the biggest problems I had was that some of the strips were just too thin to rig the way I wanted. I'm glad to hear that the person who started this thread received thick ones when he ordered them.
So not every strip you buy is a good one, and they all take some patience to rig, but you only needle a couple good ones to take a lot of fish. A slow retrieve with a slight twitch every second or two makes these things come alive. I'm hoping enough interest is generated in the lure so that some day I can just go to the local B&T and buy them cut properly and ready to fish. They really have a lot of potential, and it's great not having to worry about them degrading as with real rigged eels.