Best ballyhoo rig for...

[DeepPR]

Ive tried many ballyhoo rigs, especially the islander/hoo combo. Lately, Ive been getting many short strikes where the tail end is gone and the fish are missing the hooks. I like the islander/hoo combo because it will catch just about everything out there, but Im not sure that I will be able to put a stinger hook and be able to catch big tuna or billfish.

Does anyone have any reccomendations on how to rig this combo, avoiding the tail cutoffs, while keeping the rig viable for bigger fish? Thanks!

[Verado06]

which species are grabbing just the tail? It my experience it is most the smaller fish, but I recommend instead of using a stinger rig, eitehr double hook your ballyhoo with 2 j-hooks, or run your only jhook a bit further down the body closer to the tail.

When we are getting cut off by the kings while trolling the reef, we sometimes have to resort to the stinger, but usually a double jhook rig will do. The second hook can be smaller then the hook up front and dug into the tail/lower body.