Rigging Squid - How To

[hannaman]

Am I the only one seeing red x's ?

[Mike]

I fixed it Hanna. I had transfered the pictures into a gallery that will be dedicated for rigging.

http://www.swordfishingcentral.com/gallery/Rigging


Thank you ReelIntubaiter for post this.

[ReelIntubaiter]

Originally Posted by Mike

I used to use the method that joe uses, but now I use the tag end method, its easier to demonstrate than explain. I'll going to be working on a small demonstration of how to rig your squid with Swordslasher very very soon and it will be part of the rigging section. Mike

Hey Mike, I anxiously awaiting the infamous Swordslasher squid rigging method. I'd also like to see a photo of the deadly Swordslasher harpoon. Thanks

[Freejumper]

Reel Intubaiter, NICE RIGS!! 8)

[Anonymous]

That is definately a nice rig, and awesome if used to troll squid, but there are easier ways to rig the squid, then using a weight or a float as a stopper. Run the leader straight up through the center of the beak and out of the tip of the mantle. pull the eye of the hook straight up inside the mantle so the shank and barb are sticking out of the tentacles. Use waxed string (not rigging floss) and make a couple of overhand knots about a 1/4" up from the tip and sew the bridle on with a rigging needle to secure the mantle so it doesn't slip down. One stitch through the mantle and head and your done. Takes about 1-2 minutes to rig the squid if done correctly and if done right you can swing the bait around in circles and the squid will not slip.

If you can't get the waxed thread tight then use a piece of rigging wire instead. you don't need to use a rigging needle if you use the wire to make the bridle.

I don't like 2 hook rigs with the hook coming straight out of the mouth of the squid, my hook up ratio is very good.

[ReelIntubaiter]

Hey Sword.
Can you post some pics of your rig? Sounds like alot less work than what I'm doing. Thanks, Al.

[H2O]

Does anyone use the tag method, leaving a tag end by the hook to act as a stopper to keep the sguid from sliding down. There is no stitching and is the fastest method I've tried. The hook comes out the side of the mantal. My hookup ratio is OK. I always think my ratio could be better until I hit 100%. A man can dream, can't he? Anyone, out there, know of this method?

[ReelIntubaiter]

Fellow Swordfisherman,
I would like to revive this Squid Rigging thread. I have abandoned the previously posted double hook rig due to complexity (took 20-30 minutes per Squid). I am now employing a single hook tag-end method which has been modified from different sources (especially thanks to Bobby Boyle). I've placed the photos in the gallery rigging section.

Step 1. The hook is crimped with the tag end left about 4-5 inches long. A crimp is left above the hook and left sliding up the leader (umcrimped). I sow the head to the mantle to prevent it from getting knocked off. I omit this step if I'm in a hurry.


Step 2. The hook point is advanced through the apex of the Mantle and worked down the mantle. The hook point exits approximately 3/4 of the way down the mantle. I do this on the lighter side of the squid.


Step 3. The hook and tag end is pulled through and out the side of the mantle.


Step 4. A 1/8" diameter brass rod (with one end sharpened) is advanced through the hole from where the hook exited out the opposite (dark side) of the squid about 1/4 the way down from the apex. The tag end is inserted into this brass rod. The leader is now grasped and the hook is pulled into place. The brass rod is removed with the tag end out the darker side and preventing the squid from pulling down and "bunching" on the hook"


Step 5. The loose crimp can now be slid down and the tag end inserted but not crimped. I place some floss and tie an overhand knot right at the tip. The loose ends can be tied between the tag end and the leader preventing the crimp from sliding up the leader. This step is also optional.


If the squid is knocked off the hook you can re-rig in less than a minute (skipping the sowing steps). Using this rig my hook-up to landing ratio has increased to 80% (4 for 5). Any comments? Any other rigging ideas with photos would be greatly appreciated.
Al

[RiskTaker]

Hey Al:

I have never tried it the way Swordslasher (Scott) does it but I really like the sound of it, especially with the accentuation of whirling it round and round overhead without slipping. Pitch bait, here you go, with a few twirls just to look like a pro! That sounds like what I would choose, hands down, for a trolled squid, especially to deal with those tail nipping Kingfish.

Al, I saw your photos to illustrate a mantle hook method. Perhaps you will have to show me sometime how you do it so I can see if there is any improvement to the way I do it. Almost identical, but simpler.

I take a pointed fillet knife and make a 1/4" slit at the very top of the mantle, roll in the point of the hook and push it down inside the squid, until the eye of hook is just past the slit. From there I take the 2-4" piece of tag end which was cut at an angle to a sharp point with a sharp knife and push it straight through to the other side, pull it back up to the apex and slip the loose crimp over the tag. (If the crimp is too loose, I will slighty pinch the crimp so it is not sloppy loose). Now I push the squid up about a 1/2" w.r.t. the hook and sqeeze the squid while holding the hook point to my preferred exit spot. Push until the barb is outside the squid. With two or three practice tries you will get it so the hook hangs perfectly time after time. 1 minute or less. Next squid in line, please. (You can loop or stitch a piece of wax floss to secure the head to the mantle when you have time but that takes a little bit longer.

I still like the small weight in-line method with an extra crimp to adjust for squid sizes, especially if I want to stick a cyalume inside the squid. You just have to make your final crimp for the loop after the squid is rigged up. But that is not a big deal either.

So you can adjust your rigs and vary them as you deem appropriate. Just remember how to do it the fast way in case you need a bait in the water quickly and none are pre-rigged.

[Mike]

Great post and pictures Reel. I'm going to feature this in the rigging section of the site if you don't mind...

Mike

[ReelIntubaiter]

Originally Posted by Mike

Great post and pictures Reel. I'm going to feature this in the rigging section of the site if you don't mind...

Mike

Mike: Feel free to add it to the rigging section. There were a few typos which I corrected.

R.T.: Your tag end system seems somewhat simpler as you would avoid using the brass rod. It would seem to me that with your system the hook's exit point would be closer to the apex of the squid. I like the hook closer to the head. Maybe you can also take some photos next time you rig a squid. Good rig.
Thanks, Al.

[RiskTaker]

Yeah Al:

I keep thinking that perhaps I should like to get the hook further down the mantle, closer to the head. (But since noticing an apparent good fish hooked-on affect, I haven't advanced any further.) But then I think that there is not much squid to bunch up on the hook, if that were to happen. But I will certainly like to do it the way you demonstrate when I need it. (Like when, the medium squids are running on the large side).

Sometimes my squids appear to be underrigged on the larger squids, with the hook riding up so high on the mantle, and so much squid below it. Of course, an additional crimp one inch or so above the hook crimp would change the line wedge location, but that is a permanent adjustment, whereas the method you show is adjustable for every rig.

P.S. - I don't have one of those hollow brass rods so I never got to experiment with rigging that way. Which tackle shop(s) carry them?

New things learned and to experiment with .... Speaking of experimentation, I just wonder how Jerry from Jamaica made out last night (Windy). I think he is making quite a sensation in that Kingston town. You would think that they never caught a swordfish there before? #-o Oh, the recreationals have not, at least according to a few locals..

[ReelIntubaiter]

Hey R.T.:
You can't find the brass rod in tackle shops. I bought it at a hobby shop. It comes in a 36" piece. I cut it using a brass cutter that I bought at Home Depot (Usually for larger diameter brass tubing used in plumbing) but you can probably use something else. I sharpened the end using a file. So far, this rig has been very successfull, but I still have much to learn and would like to see other rigging methods. So far the tag end method is the simplest method I've come across so far.
Al

[SM]

The following is a picture of how I rig squid for night trolling:
http://myfishingpics.com/photopost48..._lurew-med.jpg
It's a locally caught 24" Humboldt squid. The mantle is trimmed (see trim piece in upper right of photo) and sewn so that it will stuff up into a 17" shell squid and a red chem light goes up in there with it. I pull the beak off and a 12/0 7691 plus leader is run up and the hook is sewn in place and the head is sewn to the mantle. Up in the tip of the mantle I smash a 1 oz egg sinker onto the 400 lb Momoi Marlin hard leader as a stopper and sew it into place. The shell squid prevents the squid from blowing out while being trolled and theoretically will keep it all together if and whenever it gets bill whacked. I liken the shell squids to squid condoms. They will troll a full 12 hour night like this, whereas a naked rigged squid may last an hour or two. Rig ahead of time and freeze in 1 gallon ziplocks (chem lites can be frozen) for grab and go rigs. You never want to be rigging at night while trolling.

[LETSRIDE]

since you arent crimping the top crimp how do you keep it form being pushed up the line from the pressure when you drop it down.. seems to me the bait going down through the water cloumn would pressure it up the leader making the tag end loose. please fill me in i also use a rig showed to me from bobby boyle as mine took to long but i like this method alot better than the one i use now as it allows the hook closer to the head which i find the swords love. thanks and sorry if i missed it if you wrote it.

[ReelIntubaiter]

Hi Letsride,
There are two ways to keep the crimp from sliding up.
The first and simplest is as described by R.T.. You lightly squeeze the crimp so that the tag end fits snuggly in the crimp but not too tight that it wont pass through with some moderate force.
The second is to first tie an overhand knot on the tip of the apex with some wax thread. One loose end of the thread is passed over the crimp between the line and the loose end and tied tight with the other loose end. This will prevent the crimp from moving up the leader. Hope this helps. If you have trouble picturing this, I can take some photos.
Good luck,Al.

[RiskTaker]

Letsride:

The only time I have noticed a crimp sliding off the "loose tag end method" is while handling the squids inside the boat. Since I always pay out the line by hand up to the weight to ensure, firm snapped swivel, no-nicks and no kinks anywhere, proper electrolume and weight connection, before letting the rest of the line out "slowly" from the rod. Slowly, ensures that the line does not get wrapped around itself on the descent.

During all of this activity and the drifting, the pressure on the loose crimp, if anything, is to stay in place and not ride up on the leader, away from the squid. Not really sure what happens when it starts getting whacked by the fish though but somehow the point seems to make its connection.

The beauty of not crimping tightly on the tag end is to be able to re-use that leader a few times if it does not get mangled in any way. If in doubt for that, simply crimp it.

End of the night clean-up is rather quick too. I will always use fresh squids for swordfishing. So, when all the lines are brought in and the baited leaders thrown in a bucket, I just slip off the crimp, grab the bend of the hook with one finger and slide the squid down past to the other end of the leader onto the bait board. Those squids can be re-frozen and used for cut bait another time or simply tossed over depending on your state of mind.

It would be nice to hear some input from those that like to stitch their hook in-place on the squid. Maybe there is something there to learn about this preference. Because at this point in time, I am only an Apprentice Baiter but in time, I would like to be a Master at it. LOL :lol:

[LHPfish]

I just rig mine exactly like a ballyhoo, use copper wire and wrap lightly around the leader and you're good to go in under a minute.

[kyle]

I'm new to swordfishing, but is there a way to thread the hook in the top of the mantle (as seen in Reelintubaiters 2nd picture.) But instead of going 3/4's of the way down the squid, stop when the eye of the hook is maybe 1/4 to 1/2 an inch inside the mantle. Then sow above and below the hook to keep from going up or down. Is this a good idea or would it be knocked off too easily?
Don't know if this is a dumb idea or if I am a pretty smart kid, please write any remarks.

[Relentless33]

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