Rigging A Weighted Ballyhoo

Posted on: 13 December 2016

If you are thinking of hiring fishing charters and heading off for a day's deep sea fishing with a group of friends, you'll want to know how to catch the eye of a nippy marlin while you're trolling offshore.  A sure way to do this is by using a weighted ballyhoo bait fish.  Here's how to rig one.

What you'll need

  • ballyhoo bait fish
  • 2oz egg sinker
  • waxed rigging floss
  • circle hook

How to do it

  1. Start off by breaking the bait fish's back, snapping off the beak and removing the eyes.  This leaves the bait prepped for rigging and also means that it will 'swim' more naturally when you're trolling.  This is very important when you're looking out for marlin, as they prefer a realistic looking lure.  
  2. Now take an egg sinker weight and loop a 10cm piece of waxed rigging floss through the the hole in it.  
  3. Next, take the loop that you've made and slide it behind the bait's gill plates, snugging the sinker right into the cavity below the bait's mouth, under its gills.  
  4. Create an overhand knot in the rigging braid a couple of centimetres from the bait's beak.  Now make a double overhand knot by wrapping the tag end through the original knot twice.  
  5. Pull down both ends of the line until it sits snug on the top of the bait fish's upper jaw.  
  6. Now bring down the rest of the rigging line either side of the weight.  Keep the line towards the rear of the weight.  
  7. Make another overhand knot in the rigging line.  Take two wraps in this knot.  
  8. Now pull on both ends of your rigging line simultaneously and snug the knot, keeping the wraps down on the weight.  
  9. Pull either end of the line in through the bait fish's eye sockets.  
  10. Next, tie down the line on top of the ballyhoo's head, above the eye sockets.  Trim off the excess rigging line.  
  11. If you now look at the first overhand knot you made, you'll see that it forms an 'X'.  Slide your circle hook through the 'X' and your weighted ballyhoo is rigged and ready to go!

If you're heading off for a day's sport fishing for marlin, try rigging a weighted ballyhoo.  This rig works really well at attracting the big ones so you might want to keep the technique to yourself if you want to impress your mates!

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