La Jolla working rigs
 

This is a question for those who are landing legals at LJ:

What line setup were you using?

Line type (braid/mono/?)
Leader if any
Hook size
Bait/lure
Knot used for leader/hook/lure

I thought this would be very useful for me and anyone else trying to learn form the pros.

YT, seabass, halibut' Rock fish??

All of the above

65 pound braid,
8 ft 30lb leader of flouro tied with uni to uni
1/0 owner mutu circle tied with palomar
Live mackerel/ squid/ irons/ rapalas which you can tie with rapala knot

That’s a pretty open ended question as the tackle and rigs will vary quite a bit depending on target fish and conditions. But here is what works for me.



Line type – Braid. Anything from 30 up to 65 should have you covered. Depending on target species.

Leader – about 4 feet of fluorocarbon usually. # test depends on what I’m fishing. Nothing lighter than 20# usually. 30# for rockfish, 30# or 40# for yellows and wsb. Usually. Sometimes lighter, sometimes heavier. If I’m targeting threshers I’ll go with at least 130# for the abrasion resistance on their skin.

Connection - I like to use an Albright or modified Albright for the connection to the mainline. Swivel for rockfish.

Hook size – match the bait. I prefer J hooks to circles, but it’s more of a preference thing.

Bait – for game fish, it depends on what’s available. Match the hatch. For rockfish, squid strips work well but I prefer lures so you don’t have to wind up 200’ to re-bait.

Lure – again, match the hatch. Irons, swimbaits, rapalas, etc. can all work. For rockfish it doesn’t really matter much. I like to rig a 2 hook gangion with a glow hoochie on each hook. Or if the drift is slow enough, it’s a lot of fun to fish them on swimbaits or a 2oz ahi diamond jig. The bigger diamond jigs and lucanus style jigs work great too.

Knots – for live bait usually a palomar. For lures, usually an improved clinch. For the braid to mono/fluoro connection I like the modified Albright for lighter gear, but usually stick with the regular Albright on the heavier stuff. If you’re going to fish a dropper loop or reverse dropper loop style rig, go with the spider hitch knot. Much stronger. When fishing a “dropper loop” with live bait for wsb and yellows I run the hook end really long giving the bait some room to swim and hopefully giving the fish a change to get to the hook before feeling the weight. The drop shot can also work really well on bass in the kelp.



Sorry if some of it’s vague, but it’s a really vague question. They’ll bite squid one day, iron the next, macs another. Sometimes on the flyline, sometimes dropper loop. The key is finding out where in the water column the fish are, what they’re feeding on, etc. and then adjust your approach from there.



Good luck

Bamboo pole, kite twine, and a safety pin baited with a worm. Damn I'm old.

Moss green Power Pro

Power pro
Mono
Hook

I've caught YT, Halibut and WSB on the same rig, literally.

http://i997.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1372028827



Don't over think it, its just fishing

In what order? Hook first or last?

Well, I guess it's time to share my secrets. To catch a legal fish you need a few things. Most important thing is a license. Without it all fish are illegal. Next is a rod/reel. Make sure you spool your reel with some type of fishing specific line. For hooks, again you want a fishing specific hook. You can also buy lures that have built in hooks. They are a bait and hook combo so you don't have to get smelly bait on your hands. Now the tricky part, tying the lure or hook onto the line. Honestly just google it or buy a book. That could be a whole different thread.

So now you have a setup and license, learn to cast and go land some lunkers. I hope this helps, it's about as exact as I can get with the wide range of fish you listed.

LawDog, do you turn the handle if it starts to spin? Or should I just watch and yell yippee? Me confused


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It must be that English is not my first language, but I thought my question was not open ended at all. I said, if you caught a fish lately in LJ, what worked for you. That's all simple and direct.
example:Yellow tail caught using a 60# braid, no leader, circle hook, free line green mack. Or Rock fish caught using 40# mono with wire leader, ... etc.
If it is a stupid question, please accept my apologies. I have nothing but respect to everyone's comments and opinions here at BWE and I have learned a lot and will continue do so as long as I can practice this great sport. However, I don't appreciate being talked down to as if I am an idiot. If you don't have anything good to say then just keep it yourself.
I have been spearfishing for many years and decided to switch to kayak fishing when I moved to San Diego. I do know how to catch big ones with spearguns, hopefully soon I will be able to do the same on my Kayak.

Conditions change frequently and what worked for one person yesterday could be the wrong rig for today. I think most would agree that at least 6' of good floro is a good bet for the more finicky trophy fish like yellows and wsb. When I say conditions might change is mostly to do with where fish are holding in the water column and what kelp conditions are. The way the kelp lays can change in a matter of hours depending on current and other factors. The right rig can mean the difference between presenting your bait to your target naturally or pulling your rig out of kelp stringers every 5 minutes and scaring everything away. 3 common rigs to use are dropper loop, Carolina rig and fly lined. Dropper loops are good to hit many levels of the water column fast if you mark something and is good for drifting if there is not a lot of loose kelp to get hung on. Carolina rig is good to troll if you want your bait moving at a deeper level and cover more ground. Fly lining is good around thicker kelp and a lot of stringers because there is less terminal tackle to get hung up on. Be sure to check your troll lines from time to time for bits of debris like kelp "mustaches" that can spook smarter fish like yellowtail.

I'm far from an expert at fishing lj. These are just a few things that have been taught to me. It's a learning curve and part of that curve is applying what little bit we know with actual time on the water.

Thank you very much William. I appreciate your input.

One thing that will save time and frustration is to have a designated setup for each rig plus a designated bait rod setup before hand. You may see something out there (birds working the surface 150 yards away or see a school on your sonar) and the time it takes to setup the right rig could cost you your one shot at a fish. I usually have an iron tied onto my fly line setup on standby because I don't like taking more then 4 setups out.

But then again I'm only regurgitating info that had been told me. I've yet to bag my trophy but this all seems like sound advice.

Agreed 100%. Bait rig, fly line, yoyo, and surface irons are my standard 4 rigs unless I'm fishing rockfish or halibut.

You forgot a seaworthy vessel! Can't get to the fish without your ride!

My first years of fishing was on a bamboo pole catching catfish with my grandparents on the Illinois River. Good times