Making Shackle rigs for Lures

[SeaSaw]

I am after some advice on making up shackle rigs for running lures like Pakula's and Meridians. #I have decided to make up my own rather than buy them premade. #I have had a shot at making a few up but I now have some questions.

Firstly, here is a picture of one I have made up that I think is OK. #I would like any advice, criticism, ways of doing it better etc before I go into mass production. #So what do you think? Is this done right or are there things that need to be improved.

[SeaSaw]

My other question is about the correct positioning of the hooks in the lure skirt.

The picture below shows three lures. The bottom two rigs look good to me, but I am open to any suggestions, as I am new to this.

...... but ... something about the top rig looks really wrong. Should I be running the bottom hook up higher in the skirt by shortening the wire and making it much closer to the top hook .... or should I run the top hook off a small length of wire so that it is positioned about half way back in the skirt and leave the bottom hook where it is. At the moment the hooks just look way too far apart.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks,

Mark

[mackmauler]

Hey Mark, firstly you dont need the shackle on light tackle lures a split ring will suffice but its your choice. trailing hook stiff rigged, ive always rigged them free swinging.

shackles done up the wrong way round.

The wire looks on the thin side, whats the weight. id leave the gap between the hooks as it is, youll probably land the inevitable wahoo that way and I like a hook close to the lure head for dolphinfish.

id rig that big mamma with some of the stainless hooks available as youll probaly run it on heavier tackle the sl12s arent suited to over 10kg. and its the kind of lure that will get eaten by big things.

[team_mongo]

Pretty much what rob said.

Improve the gape of the hooks by having the pin of shackle facing away. I use the flat screwdriver type shackles instead of the flattened end type.

Keep the rear free swinging.

Your supposed to get better hookups with the rear as far back as possible, but to be igfa legal some part of the hook must be contained in the lure. From the igfa rulebook -
"The trailing hook may not extend more than a hook's length beyond the skirt of the lure."


To match hooks to lures, pakula recomends the gape to be roughly the diameter of the lure, ie the hook should be able to fit over the lure snuggly.

Cheers
George

[jeffo]

mark- rigs look great, like the other guys said a free swinging or semi stiff rear hook is good.

IMO though, no need for a double hook rig, we have been running single hooks rigs on mono for a while now and our hook up rates are no different. dont seam to be dropping any more than what we did on doubles.

cheaper, easier to rig up each time, dont have to worry about a second hook when removing the hooks from a cranky little black!!

with your larger lures i would do what rob said and buy some of the new stainless "katana" hooks.

here is a photo of the single hook rigs most of us are using up here now.
we double the mono over and twist it together between 2 crimps to make it a bit stiffer and more abrasion resistant.
surprisingly we have lost bugger all hooks to hoo and still caught plenty.

[SeaSaw]

Thanks for the tips.

Rob the wire is 250lb. #I thought 250lb would be enough to hold up against the toothy critters. # Do you think I need to go heavier?

Thanks for the picture Jeffo. #I was thinking I should only put a single on the Uzi, so I will give it a go on that one first .... at least that will be a bit less expensive if I loose it. #Is the rubber band used instead of using a rigging washer? #or is it just so you can adjust the position of the hooks? #or both.

Thanks,

Mark

[jeffo]

both mark- to set the hook back in the skirt, and to keep the lure swimming the right way.

[mackmauler]

Mark, the wire does more than keep the wahoo at bay, with the twin hook rig it keeps things nice and straight, 420 is the standard, thats what id be going for.

[team_mongo]

Hey jeff,

do you use the doubled over leader for smaller lures - ie uzi and fluzis?

and is it possible to post a piccie of the katanas? (do you order them direct or does dougie burt have them?)

Cheers
George

[SeaSaw]

George

I have some Katana's on order. I am getting them through Matt Gross. He is a member of this website - goes under the name of Matt_G I think. Easiest way to contact him is through Precision Rods on the Sunshine Coast.

I have a few more questions for everyone after doing some more playing around with rig set ups tonight.

In the picture below I have done up two rigs. The bottom one I have left the bottom hook completely free swinging, but it seems to get itself in some awful twisted up positions. :-? Should I worry about this or won't it happen in the water when it is under pressure? Because I didn't like this action, I did up the top rig with the trailing hook still able to swing freely, but not able to twist back on itself. Is this a better way t set it up?

Also in the top rig I left the top hook able to swing a bit by using a loose sleeve. Is this better than making it rigid?

I have also gone up to 480lb wire and tried out using split rings instead on shackles. This all seems to work well, thanks Rob ;) :)

[SeaSaw]

Also tried out your rig Jeffo and love how simple it is to do quickly. #I will definately go that way if I need to make a rig in a hurry out on the water. #I am persisting with the 2 hook rigs because they are a bit trickier to do and I want to get that right first in case I need them. #Moving onto the one hook rigs should be easy from there. #

Here's my first go at THE Jeffo #;D

[SeaSaw]

Also meant to ask if others offset the hooks at 60 degrees on their 2 hook rigs. It seemed to work well on the rigid set up but with the trailing hook able to swing it doesn't seem to make any difference as the hook can just centre itself. Should I continue to offset them or just run them in a straight line?

Sorry for all the questions, but I just can't stop thinking about how to set things up ;) ;D

Thanks

Mark

[jeffo]

the semi stiff back hook is the go mark, looks good.

george- i use that rig on all my lures now. cant see the point in going through 2 hooks at a time when one seams to be just as good.

like mark said, stewie and matt gross have the katanas. if you dont want to place an order with matt i can get you some from stewie and post them down.

i also like the single hook mono rig because of how light it is. I use a wind on leader so there is a little bit of extra weight there and the light hook rig really lets the lure work.

[Smithy]

Your top setup is now the textbook Pakula style that we use on Monroe's boat. Persist with the 60 degree angle. Doesn't take much to line them up and twist the wire each time before you deploy them. Also send the lures out with the right colours facing up. Aim to get just the smallest bit of the hook in the skirt, if that is a part of the eye that is perfect. Once you get the size of the wire right for doing that make a template with another bit of wire

Personally I fish a single hook for safety. I just basically delete the front hook from the shackle but do everything else the same.

Am also thinking of switching to Katanas after having 2xSL12S break on me in one weekend on fish on the leader and knowing that Outside Edge also snapped one on a fish.

[mackmauler]

hey mark, rigged without the heatshrink on the rear I cant remember having a tangle of the hooks except on uzis, the hooks being almost on top of each other... the rear hook does have a nice wobble to it on a loose loop adding to the action imo, with the anode tape try to keep the shrink off it as stops it working, anodes arent needed for the mono rig.

with the offset you can crimp the wire in such a way that it will retain an offset without the shrink, just a matter of twisting the wire a bit in the crimp.

with the rubber band trick youll note in jeffs pic the tightness of it and the taper, by fitting some of the band into the lure head you can set the hook to run point up in line with the dark side of the skirt.

[stingermuz]

What a great thread guys! Thanks for such great info. I'm starting to make my own rigs for Pakulas myself and was about to throw out for some suggestions/opinions and here you are! 8-) 8-) 8-)