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I have always used single hook balyhoo rigs when trolling with skirts , feathers or just the balyhoo. Would you rather use single or double hook rigs for balyhoo and if you use a double do you use wire for the second hook or mono? (For non toothy critters) And can you just add the second hook with short leader to the first hook?
When I use a double hook, I generally either use a suitable sized needle eye hook through the eye of a round eyed hook or open the eye of one round eyed hook, insert it over the shank of a second hook. The second hook will exit near the tail of a medium ballyhoo. They are a bit more tricky to rig but help to deal with short strikes. Depending upon whether the second hook is pointed in the same direction as the front hook or the opposite direction, it is possible to make the second hook weedless. The second hook is pretty bad about snagging weed around a weed line as it is more prominent than the front hook. Braid products markets a tool that makes opening a hook eye pretty easy.
I usually stick with a single rig unless smaller or smarter fish are biting just short of the main single hook. If that's the case, I have had some success with calcutta "stingers". They are basically a treble hook attached to about 6-7 inches of wire. I attache the stinger to the front of the rig and bury the treble in the back of the ballyhoo. When I have to do this, I worry about affecting the action of the ballyhoo while trolling.
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Spring Fever - 2007 Regulator 26FS
70 West Marina
Wilson / Atlantic Beach, NC
I have always liked the way a single hook rig swims even with a 8/0 hook which is what I usually use. I would think that a double hook rig would hamper the action. I have seen a second hook added with a short piece of seven strand to make it a little more flexable. there is nothing better than seeing a good swimming ballyhoo. Except when it is smashed by a big dolphin or other predator!
I’m no ballyhoo genius, and I haven’t tried it, but I read an article about rigging hoos with hooks that are already on a bead-swivel chain. The chain is 2 or 3 inches long, so the hook is positioned farther back in the bait, and the swimming isn’t quite so hampered because the chain is pretty flexible. It was a solution to short-striking wahoo in the Pacific, and I think it was in one of the Fishing Hawaii Style books. chip.
Because the second hook is basically hinged, it really doesn't disturb the action much if any as long as you limber up the bait by breaking the backbone in the first place. Has anyone used the premade commercial rigs sold by Terminal Tackle?
I do not use the double hook rig on the OBX mostly because it takes too much time to rig and to change baits, "catches" more grass than fish, and we have very few days that short bites are a problem. If short bites happen, you can move your hook back farther in the bait.
This is one our favorites when we fish in the keys. I know your going to say that an ugly color but the dolphin flat burn them up. I bought 20 of theses in the keys and rig them with 8' of 150lb flourocarbon leader with 3 beads between the 8/0 and the lure then when we before I crimp the on the hook I slip a 1 1/2" piece of 80lb single strand to wire wrap the hoo around the bill. If anyone has seen any of these clear headed, black rattle eyed, orange skirts or knows where to get them let me know they are killer. I am down to 8 and cant find them any where. The skirts have been eaten off the other 12. There was no package, one of the locals on Islamorada got them for me. They are 6" long [i]Thanks[i]
When I'm fishing offshore for tuna and billfish, I use single hooks exclusively. But closer in, the cudas, kings, and small dolphin can just tear you up some days. I've used a number of different methods for rigging double hooked hoos over the years; not only does it take a while to rig a bait w/ double hooks, but it's tough to get it to run straight. This past year I started simply inserting the pin through the hoo's nose, wrapping it w/ copper wire/rubberband/bait spring, and letting the 2 hooks trail to the side. It looks clumsy and I don't think a tuna or a billfish would go near that bait, bur rigging takes about 10 seconds and the kings and dolphin (and unfortunately the cudas and amberjacks) didn't seem to care.
One of the easiest ways I have found for double hook Ballyhoo rigs is to use the Hank Browns hook up rig. They were introduced to me by one of our local tackle shops as a very quick way of rigging hoos. You can buy them pre-rigged with 2 hooks or you can just buy the jig heads, supply your own hooks, cable, skirts, and leader, and custom rig your own. THe Jig head is connected to the mono or fluoro leader with the skirt running in front of it. The hook of the jig head points up, and is inserted thru the bottom of the hoos head and out thru the top of the head. No more copper wire, bait springs, or rubber bands to secure the hoo. The stinger hook is on a multistrand 80 or 90 Lb leader about 6"long, and is inserted into the belly and out near the vent, pointing down.
Why go to all that trouble? Most short or missed strikes can be jigged back for a second bite. Just pick up the rod and jig real hard for at least 30 seconds. More often than not you'll get another bite. Putting a second hook in a ballyhoo may be good for catching a barracuda but who wants to catch the stinking things anyway? Play the percentages, we do. We sharpen the hooks every day, check the leaders and connections and we troll with a light drag setting and move it up to strike when we start to slow down. We always drag a while after the first bite trying to get multiple bites. Our only double hook rigs are big lures which we use in our spread when we are looking for a blue marlin.
I've used the same method The Dude employs for double hooks for a few years when I've trolled closer in for kings, dolphin and the occasional wahoo. It really doesn't get any easier and it works. I generally put a small rubber band around the first hook and body of the ballyhoo but let the second hook swing free. I think this method is less prone to fouling the rig. I used to not put the band around the first hook and ballyhoo but sometimes the second hook would slide over the back of the bait and get caught there causing the bait to spin, especially with surface lures.
As a rule I do not like double rigs for hoo's, but I do have stingers in case I get an unusual # of short hits. I made some stingers out of 4/0 xx live bait hooks and attached a short (2-3inch) piece of cable(90#)jto the hook with a loop on the other end that will just slide over the barb on the main hook(I use 8/0 7691s). I make them so that I just slide it over the main hook and then put the point on the stinger up in the hoo so it won't catch grass, putting the point just under the skin on one side. I can recall a couple of times on the 30 fathom line where we would have a couple cutoffs on a particular bait, slide on a stinger and catch a fish(usually a snake king or slinger dolphin). but any fish is a good fish, except for cuda's.
Single or double hook balyhoo rigs 
