My go-to is super simple. I rig a slider with 4-8 ounces above a 3'-ish heavy mooching leader tied with a Nush knot. Remove the trailing octopus hook and replace with a good sized treble salvaged from a wobbler or K14-15. Tow hook (single, usually 4/0 or 3/0) goes through the dab lips, and a single point of the treble is buried about 2/3 of the way down the dab's back (avoid the spine). Lower to the bottom, come up a crank or two. Don't let them eat long before reeling down hard and smoothly lifting for a hookset. Done well, that treble is almost always in the lips, allowing harmless release for shakers, but not losing many baits to missed fish in the process.

 

150# line, twisted strand out dropper loop 6-8", 14-16/0 circle hook at the base of the tail, on 50# floro about 6" long. Off the bottom of the 150 I tie about 2' of 30# as a break away. Hover fish using a Minn kota, drop to bottom, reel up 2-5 cranks. Wait for rod tip to touch water.

 

Simple mooching set up here.
Braid main line --> 30lb bumper --> weight slider --> swivel --> 3ish feet of 50lb mono leader --> 5/0 - 8/0 octopus hooks.

Rig my 4-10oz leads on a 1'-2' dropper.

You can rig live sand dabs or frozen herring with this. Drop to the bottom, reel up a couple cranks. Every once in a while, check for bottom and reel up a couple cranks.

Simple. Effective.

 

I think the most difficult part is keeping close contact with the bottom and drifting along the structure you're fishing.

Too close or fishing a "deep to shallow" drift (and not paying attention...) = bye bye gear.
Too shallow... Well... You're just fishing.

If I feel "spicy" I'll drop a glow hootchie over the head of my "choked / old harbour" rigged herring. 🤫

 

How far off the bottom/reef will a ling go to hit bait?

I hate losing gear.

 

If you watch “Underwater Ling Bites(?)” on YouTube, you’ll see those lings come 5-10’ up off the bottom sometimes.

 

Couple cranks. The bottom contour changes a lot so I hold my rod and let line out and reel up when I feel the lead hit the bottom. Then when I don’t tap bottom for a while (or if the depth finder shows a big change in depth) drop back down slowly and reel up a couple cranks. There’s no magic number.

I posted a video from FishHunt NW on another thread that shows the technique and the rigging I described above.



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Couple cranks. The bottom contour changes a lot so I hold my rod and let line out and reel up when I feel the lead hit the bottom. Then when I don’t tap bottom for a while (or if the depth finder shows a big change in depth) drop back down slowly and reel up a couple cranks. There’s no magic number.

I posted a video from FishHunt NW on another thread that shows the technique and the rigging I described above.



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Bottom fishing by Braille. That's the reason to use braid vs mono.

 

And where are you getting these sand dabs for bait ?

 

On the bottom, usually on sand.

 

Some time ago, I started fishing live dabs for bottomfish. Now I am reluctant to fish them another way. I am conviced that a live sand dabbler will bring the biggest ling on the reef in short order. Deadly.

I have two ways of rigging them, and would be interested in hearing yours.

Rig #1:

Dropper loop. This is what I use to target lings on the reef. I put a dropper loop in a 50 pound topshot (65 main) about 30 inches above a copper pipe jig. I then use a loop to loop connection to attach the dropper loop to a 50 pound mooching leader with 2 octopus circles, about 5" apart. The leader is very short, maybe 6" for the loop to loop before you get to the first hook. Put one hook through the jaws, the other near the tail, send her down. This usually gets to the bottom without any tangles and rarely hits the bottom more than a few times before the dabbler is consumed. You can run a big treble on the pipe jig, but the bigger fish always seem to eat the bait.

Rig #2
High plains drifter. This is what I use for shallow water halibut/lings on long drifts over sand or cobble. I put an appropriately sized mooching lead for the depth, then attach a 4' leader with the same double circle hook about 5" apart. Same hooking, unless the drift is slow. If it's slow, I will hook that sand dab backwards, and let him struggle against the weight. If you put it backwards with much of a drift, it's gills will blow out, it will die, and it will spin and drag and you will have a hard time staying on bottom. This type of rig is best lobbed away from the boat, and then let it

 

A double hook setup def works best. I’ve found two single hooks to be pretty much 100% failsafe without needing to use trebles, which for me are more difficult to extract. As a point of reference, though, on more than one occasion I’ve either been lazy or simply run out of my pre-rigged double set-ups. In those cases, I’ve resorted to a single hook through the jaw of the dab. I still get a decent hookup rate, but maybe 20-30% of bites will be to the body of the dab, missing the hook. Point being, a single hook, while not as effective, is not a totally wasted effort either.

 

I would think it would enhance the action as the SD would struggle more to swim downward.

 

In a slow drift for sure. In a fast drift Gills blow and he spins.

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Mustn’t ..... joke.... about .... hooking... dildos....

 

Haven't you ruined enough threads with my shenanigans?

 

Honestly, never occurred to me. First thought, as Don noted, you would drag them backward and possibly blow out the gills. I might just give it a try, though.

 

How about on the meat side away from the guts halfway between head and tail?

 

Why not hook them in the lips?

 

Why not lip hook with the top hook and run the bottom hook through the meat above the tail by pulling it all the way through leaving a 'stinger' dangling down? Lip hook pulls the fish through water letting the gills work and the stinger out the back lets it flap its little tail triggering a strike. The stinger will also get those short strikes where Mr. Ling just wants a taste, not a meal. Of course, that's pretty rare.

An option would be the lip hook and then use a dental rubber band to hold the bottom hook on the tail similar to a 'stinger'. Lot of ways to hook up a bait fish.

 

I was also thinking, if you're dead set on only one hook:
Thread the hook through the lower jaw --> GENTLY pull the hook and leader through --> skin hook or rubber band the hook on the tail.

Quick "at the office" art project!

This allows for the tried and true Hangback rig. And you could use a single circle hook too....

Another method of threading the leader could include a bait threader through the lower jaw and pulling only the leader through.

Just some thoughts....

 

I was also thinking, if you're dead set on only one hook:
Thread the hook through the lower jaw --> GENTLY pull the hook and leader through --> skin hook or rubber band the hook on the tail.

View attachment 972484


Quick "at the office" art project!

This allows for the tried and true Hangback rig. And you could use a single circle hook too....

Another method of threading the leader could include a bait threader through the lower jaw and pulling only the leader through.

Just some thoughts....

That'll fail as drawn. I know it seems like it would work, but you'll end up folding it up into a tight U-shape unless you have some sort of stopper at the jaw. If set on a single hook, you could use a snap or something to tow by the nose, but why not just use a hook?

 

Either way, be it ling cod or getting rigged up.... that's one unlucky sand dab...