Great Opening Weekend ...... Wonder Rig Strikes Again !!!

[pcheesesteak]

Fished the wonder rig today, and here's the result:



Could only keep three, had maybe 6 shorts.

Thank you sir!!!!!!!!!!

[billfish16]

Blackfish Bobby and Arbutis,

Thx for posting! The devil is in the details. Looking forward to trying this from my kayak in the rivers.

Bill

[Capt. Lou]

Give credit where credits due , Doc named it , rigged it and succefully catches fish on it , what's the big deal ! Plus he shared it with anyone on this board , so,criticism or skeptics don't use it !

[howardrf]

Hey Bulletbob,
Your rig with a split shot is it used to keep killie or spearing lower down?
So I understand... the 2 trailing hooks are 18"/18" above sinker? The split shot is pinched on near the hook. Sorry to sound dumb.
Thanks
Howard

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by howardrf

Hey Bulletbob,
Your rig with a split shot is it used to keep killie or spearing lower down?
So I understand... the 2 trailing hooks are 18"/18" above sinker? The split shot is pinched on near the hook. Sorry to sound dumb.
Thanks
Howard

Yes.. Its good in shallower areas in rivers and along the shallower bay flats.. it will do you little good in deep water or strong currents..
Couple of ways you can do it.. You can tie in 2 small fine wire hooks
[ #2 fine wire Sproat , longer shank- more or less a freshwater type hook]
and put 1/4 oz split shot at the end of the line, or before the hooks, it doesn't matter much.. You can even go down to a 1/16 shot if its slack water.. just so it gets close to bottom, and stays in the vicinity.. If its a fast drift or strong current and the rig is floating it won't do much good... i have found 1/4 oz plenty for most shallow areas, as long as the tide isn't ripping, and your boat isn't blowing away at 15 knots...
I would put the shot about 18 inches before the hooks personally, and the hooks maybe 18 inches apart.. If there is a ton of lettuce in the area, it might be problem, but usually its fine.. Basically is the simplest of bottom rigs.. LIGHT weight that keeps the bait near bottom but isn't dragging it, and allows for a bit of rod manipulation.. Its NOT for deep channels, fast water, or fishing in heavy wind.. It works well in the ocean as well, as long as the wind isn't bad.. you can always add another split shot or two if needed, and you'll still be way under the 2-3 ounce bank sinkers many guys use..
2 spearing at a time is cheap, way cheaper than 2 killies, and works about as good.. Squid works as well, but squid seems to draw more smaller fish for me.. move the rig off bottom regularly, but keep it fairly near bottom.. Fluke will come up quite high off the bottom to grab those dancing spearing or killies.. It will work in Shark river, Shrewsbury/Navesink, manasquan river, and all the bay flats, as long as you can keep it around bottom... If its constantly floating out of the zone it won't do much good.. Its a good finesse bait rig, but has limitations.. I was talking last year to a guy that used a similar rig in Shark river. Live killies, split shot, smaller hooks, and he caught over 100 fluke using this simple freshwater type rig... It works better than any conventional " fluke dragger rig", but conditions have to be right.. For whatever reason, 2 baits one behind the other has a strong appeal to Fluke, and when the dance and flutter off bottom it has to look more natural than the bait dragging anchored to sinkers/swivels etc...... bob

[Blackfish Bobby]

yahooooeeeee.......over 4000 views.....you guys are the best

[TopRod]

Originally Posted by bulletbob

yes.. Its good in shallower areas in rivers and along the shallower bay flats.. It will do you little good in deep water or strong currents..
Couple of ways you can do it.. You can tie in 2 small fine wire hooks
[ #2 fine wire sproat , longer shank- more or less a freshwater type hook]
and put 1/4 oz split shot at the end of the line, or before the hooks, it doesn't matter much.. You can even go down to a 1/16 shot if its slack water.. Just so it gets close to bottom, and stays in the vicinity.. If its a fast drift or strong current and the rig is floating it won't do much good... I have found 1/4 oz plenty for most shallow areas, as long as the tide isn't ripping, and your boat isn't blowing away at 15 knots...
I would put the shot about 18 inches before the hooks personally, and the hooks maybe 18 inches apart.. If there is a ton of lettuce in the area, it might be problem, but usually its fine.. Basically is the simplest of bottom rigs.. Light weight that keeps the bait near bottom but isn't dragging it, and allows for a bit of rod manipulation.. Its not for deep channels, fast water, or fishing in heavy wind.. It works well in the ocean as well, as long as the wind isn't bad.. You can always add another split shot or two if needed, and you'll still be way under the 2-3 ounce bank sinkers many guys use..
2 spearing at a time is cheap, way cheaper than 2 killies, and works about as good.. Squid works as well, but squid seems to draw more smaller fish for me.. Move the rig off bottom regularly, but keep it fairly near bottom.. Fluke will come up quite high off the bottom to grab those dancing spearing or killies.. It will work in shark river, shrewsbury/navesink, manasquan river, and all the bay flats, as long as you can keep it around bottom... If its constantly floating out of the zone it won't do much good.. Its a good finesse bait rig, but has limitations.. I was talking last year to a guy that used a similar rig in shark river. Live killies, split shot, smaller hooks, and he caught over 100 fluke using this simple freshwater type rig... It works better than any conventional " fluke dragger rig", but conditions have to be right.. For whatever reason, 2 baits one behind the other has a strong appeal to fluke, and when the dance and flutter off bottom it has to look more natural than the bait dragging anchored to sinkers/swivels etc...... Bob

lol.......

[billfish16]

Fished “The Wonder Rig” and a hi-lo rig from a kayak today in the Navesink. Launched a little before 8am and returned around 3pm. Fishing was best early, until about 11am. Caught at least 20 fluke but none were keepers. Many were 15 to 16” and one was 17”. I lost one fish that may have been a keeper when the 12# leader snapped while trying to net it. I fished two rods. One with the “W” using Killies and the other with a hi-lo using 20# leader and 1/0 Octopus. Gulp tipped with spearing was used on the hi-lo. The “W” rig caught about 75% of the fish, all taken on the Killie except one fish that took both the Killie and the jig.

[Arbutis]

Originally Posted by billfish16

....The “W” rig caught about 75% of the fish, all taken on the Killie except one fish that took both the Killie and the jig.

Got out in the Shrews this afternoon from about 1 to 4 pm. Bad conditions - wind from the south and tide barely coming in - made for difficult drifts. Three of us managed to catch five keepers with largest 21 inches. Well, the largest was actually booted at the boat by the net guy but that's a completely separate story. We lost about 4 keepers at the boat for various/stupid reasons. After about 30 fish you need to tie a new #4 Gama Red Octo hook - I had one break on me today on a hookset - but it was way over used.

Killies still prevailed but we did catch 2 fish on the jig/gulp today. When we ran out of killies we called it quits - we also froze our asses off in the chilly wind - Isn't it JUNE??? Why do I still need sweatshirts and windbreakers?

The Wonder Rig - You can't buy it, just learn to tie it!

[Blackfish Bobby]

Billfish...so not a bad result overall,,,,,,, was this better than your normal outing when not fishing the WONDER rig ?