rig 5, the wishbone

ok i'm tying a few of these in hope of some plaice action in the next month or 2 (i'll prob catch pout )

snood lengths can be varied but this is what i'm tying at mo-

select a length of snood line (amnesia 13kg, quite stiff,no tangles) about 50-60cm.
to one end tie a hook ( size 4-2, plaice have small gobs and thats what i intend targeting)

slide onto the other end in this order ;-

micro bead and/or sequin,- crimp (1mm), crimp,- micro bead, larger bead or 2-4 ,- rigtube( 10-15cm, - a swivel to run along rig tube,- a larger bead or 2-4, -a micro bead,- crimp,- crimp,-microbead and/or sequin,- and finally another hook .

crimp the micro bead/sequins as a bait stop a couple of inches or so above each hook.

hold the hooks together and move the beads and rig tube etc so that they sit centeraly giveing 2 snoods of equal length, use the 2 crimps to fix the beads/rig tube in place.
the swivel should be not free running but able to move along the length of the rig tube till stopped by the larger beads .
and should look a bit like this sorry for crap pics, but you'll get the idea)




thats the buisness end, now for the rig body-

60-80lb line- about 3-5ft.
tie a lead link clip to one end.


or an impact sheild. or just a link if your not going to clip the rig down.

silde onto the rig body, in this order,-
crimp ,-bead, -swivel,-bead,-crimp.
to make a trapped swivel .


don't crimp it yet.

tie a swivel to t'other end of the rig body.

right, now tie another length of amnesia to the swivel in the middle of the wishbone, select desired length depending on the over all length of your rig body & tie to the trapped swivel,
place hooks in clip and stretch the snood up the rig body till both the snood & body are tight, add an extra 4-5mm on the rig body & crimp the trapped swivel there.

job done.

basic variation.

a flapper -
not clipped down = not a bait clip by lead link.

if your tying this i'd recomend the total snood length be less than 1/2 the length of the rig body to prevent the hooks entangleing with the top link to your shockleader. (a good plan even if fishing a clipped down snood, over all length is limited by the length of your 'drop')

drop down wishbone- after casting the whole snood slides down the rig body and fishes like a flowing trace, 'below' the lead .-

instead of trapping the swivel on the rig body let it run the whole length of it. (big swivel is better)
at the top of the rig body tie a link or bent link clip-





tie the snood to the same eye of the swivel that runs along the rig body , then for casting clip in the hooks & clip free end of running swivel over the clip on the top of the rig body.
as the rig hits the surface of the water both clips release alowing the snood to slide down.

with a few squid tipped lug n rag offerings i may nail a spotty plaice at bexi or eastney by the end of march :pig'sfly:

mate......

Well done Gord,now get out and show us what it'll catch
Im down your way in august for a week

cracking post Gord, if only we had more sea anglers on here !!!

interesting looking rig. ive never heard of it before (not that im up to scratch on my sea fishing) i did get a bit confused near the end tho. could you put up a pic of the whole rig hanging down please cos i wouldnt mind giving it a go next time i get to the sea

Thing is, there's that many dedicated sea fishing sites,and not many of the guys who do fish would make posts.
The sea's rather a large "pond" to fish in, so when you do actually find the fish,and decent ones at that,you aint gunna tell everyone about it. But as far as just making posts about rigs,tips and various techniques even that would be good to have on here.
I'll maybe even put together a thread for getting started in sea fishing.

There you go Trash, upon casting,the 2 snoods (hooklengths) would be clipped under the casting clip,then once the lead hits the bottom they are then ejected and hopefully tangle free.

Im dying to get back out on the beaches, just wish I had'nt sold my 525.
There's something special about standing with the waves crashing around your waste watching the rod tip.

The sea gears come down a lot in price now,reels are dirt cheap,with a top multiplier about 100quid, my rod at the time was 220quid,but now down to around 170, which will sound pricey to some on here no doubt, but when its gotta be able to chuck out somethimes an 8oz lead and bait on avereage over 100yds,lesser weights well in excess of 300yds,you can see why the high prices.
I made all my own leads,not grippers,just plain ones,as the coastline's that rough,you loose leads almost every cast.
Terminal tackles pretty cheap,and some coarse tackle can even be adopted.

cheers nixon. can see what i wanted on that. i wasnt sure if it was supposed to hang above the lead or below it. its pretty much the rig i use 99% of the time i go sea fishing but with the wishbone bit on it.
it would be good to see more posts on sea fishing rigs as i dont really know names of them or specialised rigs for specific situations. all my sea rigs i make from playing about with them and copying shop brought rigs and alike, they catch me fish but the knowledge of an experienced sea angler would probably catch me more.

The wishbone will tend to catch more of the flatfish and bottom dwelling species,like Gord said,ideal for plaice which will stick close to the relative safety of the sand. You'll probably pick up the odd rockling too,and if your really unfortunate a weever(good luck with unhooking that)
The principles of sea fishing are very similar to that of coarse fishing,you have to be at the right depth and use a bait that the fish would be likely to take. More often than not,its a case of trial and error.
Once you get everything right,you can really have some great sport,and a shoal of whiting or mackerel will keep you amused for hours.