The Baker Rig - rigging single hooks to run on each side on the lure

[Greg Burt]

Check out the 1/2 page Ugly Stick advert in Oct Queensland Fishing Monthly, has an interesting capture on a Nomad Wahoo, Baker rigged underneath and a Jobu on the rear, it works LOL
 I'll get it scanned and sent to my computer so I can post it [I hope]!!

[Greg Burt]

Got it

[Brandon Khoo]

I've never seen someone do that with Jobus before. If that lure was rigged on the Odyssey, you would have been pissed if the shark too it - $65 for the stickbait and $20 in hooks! 

[Hal Harvey]

That's my hand! and the catch was on an Ugly Stik too, not by me.

[lonhro]

What Ugly stik can cast and work one of those wahoo lures  

[Brandon Khoo]

in that case, only $24 for the lure and $6 for the hooks!

That's my hand! and the catch was on an Ugly Stik too, not by me.

[Aaron Concord]

When I filmed for 7 weeks on Odyseey last year, the evolution went from trebles to Owner Jobu singles...I saw (and filmed!) enough big GT's that missed the 6 points of 2 big Decoy or GT Recorder trebles just as often as the singles...the trebles pulled out more often or if you caught the fish, they damaged the fish more than singles. The singles were a more secure hookup and anglers tended to fish with more confidence when they saw their hard won fish come to the boat instead of falling off prematurely.
Problem is that poppers and stick baits require balance and some just won't work without trebles.
If you can make your popper bloop as well or your stick bait "walk the dog" with singles, do it...
We were using rubber bands to keep the front hook facing down on the wahoo 150's...it's however you can keel the lure, maintain balance & prevent the hooks fouling during the cast..
Aaron.

[Greg Burt]

Aaron, if you used the two hook 'Baker Rig' on the front, wouldn't they lay horizontally to each side, as shown in Brandons pic?
I have been a firm believer in single/dbl single hooks for 20yrs, on most lures even metal slugs, once hooked they stick.

[Aaron Concord]

Greg,
We were using just a single Jobu on the front & rear.
I have never bothered to run 2 singles off the belly or tail....their appears merit for the belly rig to be a double rig to help with keeling the lure and if a wahoo has a crack at it as there is more exposure of the hooks....I'd need to rig them up and see which combo gives the best action.....the less hooks the better I reckon. Singles go in better since they are unimpeded by anything else.....you would need a trip like Shoalwater, Wreck or Kenn to get numbers up to get some stats as well....who's up for R & D !!!!!

Aaron.

[Peter Lowe]

Oh sure Aaron,

Next you will tell us you recently caught a 40kg in THE back yard..................

Spose you have film of that to huh......

Well done......Aaron's PB[

[Brandon Khoo]

we've done a fair bit of experimentation already this year with this rig since Shoalwater. I think I've pretty much settled with the baker off the belly and a single Jobu 9/0 or Fisherman Shiden 13/0 off the back - for a stickbait. I still prefer a treble off the belly of a chugger with a single on the back and two trebles on a pencil. For an Orion Flapper, two big Shout 7/0 assist hooks

I really don't think there is any way to establish conclusively that one set-up works better than the other. There are just so many variables and you've got to go with what works for you and what you're confident with. A lot of the guys lose fish on trebles because they don't drive the hooks home and then they don't keep enough tension on the line through the fight. For me, I feel (I can't prove) that the most secure hookup comes from a single assist hook. For example, I've never dropped a fish when hooked on a Flapper before.

[Aaron Concord]

Brandon,
The variables surrounding getting each lure balanced correctly is bad enough isn't it!!
Filming Kenji Konishi and his mates, I noticed a real problem with pulled hooks on the big GT Recorder & Decoy 8/0-10/0 trebles it was troubling....they have faith in the action of the lure with trebles since it was DESIGNED with trebles...
Personally, I reckon any single is going to hold better and have a heap less trouble with the torsion that is caused on a treble hook....look at the guage they have to make trebles that won't bend on 100-130lb braid...it DOES require a VERY good hook set and not just the fish running against the pressure of the heavy drag to make sure they go in.
I still fish trebles on certain lures purley because the lure works better with trebles....that's the only reason. Not because more hook points are better at hooking fish. Or more improtantly, better at staying connected.

Peter,
Your not jealous...are you!!
Thank you for letting me have a crack at one of your pets!!

Aaron.

[Chris Young]

Did some testing on lure/hook combinations on sunday & have to agree with Brandon that the Baker rigged hooks need to be tied in some way or they will tangle & be a real pain ita, but running singles (baker rig) broadens the scope of a lot of lures that could not usualy cope with large trebles, I think it might be worth the effort to tie some together for the next run 

[Chris Young]

Think I've come up with a good alternative to tieing the hooks together ,Use a small rubber band ( from local news paper) to bind the hooks together along the shank (starting from the hook bend towards the eye) .Seems to hold hooks in place pretty well with the added bonus that a GT or similar sized fish could break it should if you lose the fish & it happens to be hooked in top & bot of jaw  . I know we all want to land these fish & release them unharmed but when you get bricked its good to know they can shake the armor & be there for your next mission

[Hal Harvey]

I think one point that is maybe a bit missed is that the swivels & split rings way of putting singles on GT lures is desirable where you run into spaniards, wahoo and to a lesser extent dogtooth, but if you're only fishing for GTs you're probably better off using assist cord for the flexibility. Two singles on cord is a pretty deadly combination - usually the fish ends up with two hooks latched onto it.

In the instance where you do want all-metal and want to use back-to-back hooks, we link the hooks with a small loose cable tie, as per the pic at the bottom of this page: www.bluewater.net.au/catalog/article_info.php?articles_id=110

That works perfectly. The lure illustrated there is a Black Jack Ulua stickbait with Owner SJ-41TG 9/0s, #10 Owner ring on the belly, #9 on the tail.