How to rig your poppers with hooks

[Brandon Khoo]

I'm not that particular - I generally use the YGK kevlar as it can be spliced into a loop but I will pretty much use any type of kevlar I can get my hands on! In terms of length, I think it is more a case of experimenting and finding what you think works for you. I think a length of two to three inches is adequate. Whatever you use, you will have incredibly frustrating days when you won't hook a damn thing because the fish are just slapping at the lures. Just need to persevere.

[Peter Childs]

Brandon, I used the assist hook off the head quite a bit on a recent trip to Fiji, mainly on cubera 100s and 125s.  What I did find, was that after repeated casting the assist cord started to wear a grove in the cup of the popper due to water pressure.  Whilst it didn't seam to affect the performance of the popper, it didn't always settle in the dead down position (it might start to wear to one side for example). 

I can imagine over time the wear will severely compromise the paint coating and lead to water logging of the popper!  Luckily?, I was losing poppers to being reefed more often than changing them due to water logging.  Have you experienced this, and what have you done to combat it? 

PS. I also found that an assist of the head and a spinner off the tail to be a good balance on some poppers.

[Mark Harris]

Peter, you might want to try softening the surface of the Kevlar cord by using heat shrink. Instinctively it feels that a soft heat shrink surface will not wear into the cup in any way. Just a thought.

Until reading this article I had never heard of (and certainly never used!) an assist cord off the front of a popper. I still have not used it in anger, but rigged a few different poppers that way and tried some beach-casting tests the other evening. As Brandon pointed out right at the start, you have to be selective on which poppers you use this rigging on. Some really misbehaved while others came in beautifully.

I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the mine of great tips and information in this forum.

[Craig WILLIAMS]

Ive been having issues getting hold of Owner SJ-41 in size 11/0 recently and I've been told the 11/0 and 13/0 have been discontinued.. I'm not sure why as the 13/0 was a relatively new addition to the range I thought and surely 11/0 would have been one of the most popular sizes??

Ive just checked on the Australian Owner website and they only list SJ-41 available in sizes 3/0 to 9/0 and more surprisingly SJ-51 in 5/0 to 7/0 only..

Can anyone shed some light on this?

[Nathan Cefai]

A dvd from Nomad has Glanville and Damon using poppers with just Jig Assist hoooks attached to the front of the popper,pretty succesfull..

[Brandon Khoo]

Peter, I don't think I have ever seen this happen before!

Brandon, I used the assist hook off the head quite a bit on a recent trip to Fiji, mainly on cubera 100s and 125s.  What I did find, was that after repeated casting the assist cord started to wear a grove in the cup of the popper due to water pressure.  Whilst it didn't seam to affect the performance of the popper, it didn't always settle in the dead down position (it might start to wear to one side for example). 

I can imagine over time the wear will severely compromise the paint coating and lead to water logging of the popper!  Luckily?, I was losing poppers to being reefed more often than changing them due to water logging.  Have you experienced this, and what have you done to combat it? 

PS. I also found that an assist of the head and a spinner off the tail to be a good balance on some poppers.

[Ryan Theyer]

Thanks mate. handy info

[John Shin]

Great information.  Thanks for sharing!

[Troy Marien]

Great read! The areas I am fishing aren't loaded with fish. They are more likely to hit the lure once and not come back if they miss. Which rig would you recommend?

[Ali Saadi]

Great article

[Daniel Wen]

Hi guys! yes the baker rig is very similiar to the rig we use in K. rompin off malaysia for casting poppers/stickbaits 40g-80g to sailfish!
We use any kinda thread or PE to lash the 2 hooks together wand then via a short length of assist cord( secured to hooks with glue and heat shrink) , the hooks are attached to the lure!

[Mahmoud Salem]

Thanks for the useful write up
I have a problem when rigging Baker rig for small stickbaits(55-80gm) for big blue fin tuna, most of this size of stickbaits are recommended to be used with ST66 3/0 which are not strong enough for long fights with such strong fish, so I thought the Baker rig will be the answer so I can use stonger hooks without disturbing the lure balance by using heavier trebles/single hook on front
The problem is that any split strong enough (150lb+) will be too thick for the hooks(I'm using Gamakatsu LB HD 7/0 & 8/0, very close to Owner SJ 41)
too thick that the hooks will only stay in the place where the split is opened(one wrap of wire), I'm almost surethat this will cause leverage on the hook/split and may cause the split to open

Do you have any suggestions

[Brandon Khoo]

I assume you're targeting the really serious bluefin if you're talking about split rings not being strong enough. Those fish are big enough to engulf the whole lure so how about just using singles which you tie direct to the lure using assist cord?

[Mahmoud Salem]

I assume you're targeting the really serious bluefin if you're talking about split rings not being strong enough. Those fish are big enough to engulf the whole lure so how about just using singles which you tie direct to the lure using assist cord?

Brandon, you are right, I'm targeting big blue fin tuna (70 kg and bigger), I've been advised that though single assists may work with some lures, they will compromise the action of many (like a Gamma for example)
We will be using Smith Tokara & Race Point 250 rods which are a challenge to cast and work such stickbaiats as we need powerful rods, so I'm afraid single hooks combined with stiff rod tip will totally kill the action of the lures

[CliffKhoo]

I had just came back from my first maldives trip and I got to say the single assist hook is awesome. 6 hits 6 hook ups. Though I modified it into double strand assist hook. Its an awesome rig. Thank you for sharing.