The In-Fisherman Staff Looks At Rigging

Hook, line, and sinker—what could be complicated about rigging up to catch a little green fish with a brain the size of a sunflower seed? Well, the crafty minds of keen bassers have indeed found better ways to catch bass in various situations. Why surely you know how to Carolina rig, Texas rig, California rig, Jersey rig, Kansas rig, nail rig, Mojo rig, wacky rig, do-nothing rig, Slider rig? Okay, so the Kansas rig has yet to hit the big time.

So many ways to hook and present plastic baits. Knowing how to rig ‘em and when to throw ‘em will boost your catch in 1998.

Hooks

The hook’s still the critical element in catching a fish, and anglers since the dawn of man have given it considerable thought. Amble the archaeological aisles of a museum and you’ll see hooks of bone, ivory, wood, and stone; long shanks, short shanks, wide gaps, circle hooks, outbarbs, and more. Hooks carved to match the mouths of various finny food items and the ways these early anglers rigged to catch them.

To an extent, we’ve reinvented the wheel, but with better materials. The move toward premium hooks got underway with the importation of high-carbon steel hooks from England and Japan in the early 1980s. Black Weapon, Gamakatsu, and Owner became the watchwords of hi-tech bass pros. Just a few years ago, VMC began using vanadium for worm hooks as well as for trebles.

Anglers became familiar with the relative advantages and disadvantages of needle points and cutting points. Straight-shank models gave way to offset styles that are easily rigged to keep the worm, craw, or other plastic bait hanging straight, with the hook eye barely hidden in the nose of the bait and the point close to the edge for an easy hookset.

Tru-Turn developed a line of cam-action hooks, designed so the bent shank brings the hook into an upright position as it’s pulled forward during a hookset. They have remained a favorite of many top bassers for over 15 years. Another novel design that has remained in vogue is the Eagle Claw Messler Rotating Hook, now available with an offset shank to further complicate this hook’s tortured appearance.

To accommodate larger baits and to hook outsize bass, wide-gap hooks entered the market. Gamakatsu and Owner designed wide-gap hooks with wide bends and offset shanks to accommodate wide-body baits like the Zoom Fluke and Slug-Go—the Gamakatsu EWG Hook and the Owner Rig’N Hook.

New hooks of this style include Mustad’s Mega-Bite, VMC’s offset shank model angled to hold worms straight, Berkley’ Wide Gap Rigging Hook, Eagle Claw’s L713 Series, and Daiichi’s XPoint model. These hooks make skin-hooking grubs easier, when rigging them behind a split shot or a full-fledged Carolina rig. This style of hook also works well for Texas rigging a worm or craw.