Rigging Options

[Got Stripers]

As the cows come home, many are digging out their big plastic and I thought I'd see how most are rigging and fishing. If I'm fishing my 13" Mega Jerk, it's usually three different ways, weightless on a size 10 owner beast hook, or the same with a belly weight or back in the day when I might want to fish the canal; on a 2-4 oz lead head. Notice what happens to the front of the bait on a commercially poured lead head for the canal, the barb on them is so big it makes a mess of the plastic and I rigged it on purpose to demonstrate it. I had a bunch poured back in the day and if I was heading to the canal, my barbs would be taken off down to the hook and wrapped with heavy thread, to which I'd apply super glue before putting on the plastic. That trick, along with my rugged plastic would allow it to be fished until the canal snagged it and pissed me off.

My canal days are over by the way, too much work for my bad back, so if anyone is looking for lead, or big rubber, I have a ton of each and I'd sell for half price compared to what you'd buy from a shop or online for lead or plastic.

[Got Stripers]

Similar on my 7" split tail and my 9" Big Jerks, but now I'd downsize to an Owner 1 or 1-1/8" oz jig head if I needed some depth, those are great hooks and the barbs are really well designed. One thing I do if fishing the split tail weightless, is put a little belly in the rigging, as opposed to letting the bait hang straight, this allows me to walk the dog with the bait for at least the first several fish. Once it's been hit a few times the belly is hard to maintain, but an increase in retrieve speed and rod tip movement will still walk the dog; albeit a bit more violently. That of course sometimes is a plus.

Same note; ton's of plastic still in stock, making good deals if anyone is looking to stock up for the summer.

[tlapinski]

The larger Owner Beast hook is prone to breaking and/or bending out on a good fish when fished on heavy surf gear. I fish your 13" Mega Jerk on a Mustad 9/0 jig hook with Owner Center Pin Spring. It's basically the same thing as you used to sell on an Owner hook (I believe) but that Mustad isn't going to open up on a striper and also give a bit more gap between hook shank and rubber for a better hookset. If I need to add some weight to the rig then I pull the rubber out of a rubber core sinker, open it up until it fits over the hook and pinch it in place with a pair of pliers.

[JohnR]

Likes this!

[Rob Rockcrawler]

Good stuff. I haven’t had an owner beast hook bend on me yet but did break a smaller one a few years back after probably 50 small keeper sized fish. What a great hook design. Like I idea of using the spring on a beefier hook. Thanks!
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[tlapinski]

Here is a Ledgerunner 13" with weighted jig hook rig and a Gravity Tackle 13.5" with weightless rig.

[Got Stripers]

That mustad hook does look beefy, but I do like the wider gap to make way for the plastic to move for a hook set. I also had slip send me the head of a metal lip swimmer with the thru wire turned into a screw lock bait holder so I could swim the 13” behind it. Talk about fishy, I’m frankly surprised nobody in the business has released a commercial version of swimming large plastic, looks just like a live eel swimming. I will search later for the video I made of it swimming. Found it, but I don't think I can post an mpg file.
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