1 -- The Pennel Rig

For those of you who read reports where a fish has been took on a pennel rig and don't know what it is --- well --- to the left is my feeble attempt at drawing one for you. Basically it is an ordinary rig but with the addition of an extra hook on the main snood. Before tying on your main hook thread your line through the eye of a second hook. Keep this in place by sliding a piece of sleeving (outer covering of flex wire is ideal ) down the line and over the hook as shown opposite. Tie on your main hook. The top hook can be carefully slid up or down the snood to suit bait size etc. This type of rig, in my opinion, works best with worm baits. There is no need to bait top hook but it's up to you. You may wish to thread a piece of whiteworm on it if you are using lug on the main hook. A lot of fish are taken on the top hook of this rig. Choice of hook sizes is up to you. Possible combination is 4/0 main hook 2/0 top hook. My choice is 2/0 and 2/0.

My choice of trace length for the Pennel is
Main Trace to sinker - 40"
Hook snood - 33"
I also have Pennels with hooks snoods a short as 12" for fishing in rough seas

2 -- The Up and Over

The Up and Over is a rig which allows you to use a long flowing trace which will sit near to the sea bed. The hook length is attached via a swivel at the bottom of the trace and is looped over an upside down bait clip at the top. A bait clip positioned near the swivel allows the hook to be clipped down during the cast. Hook arrangement can be a single hook or a pennel type rig. On entering the water the hook length is freed from the upside down bait clip and flows out attached close to the sinker. On retrieve the rig has the same advantages as the pulley rig in that the sinker is lifted clear of the bottom if a fish is on. I would recommend the rig be used on clean beaches where snags are at a minimum Though not shown in the diagram I feel that the rig works best when used with a grip lead as the fish seem to hook themselves better.

 
My choice of trace length for the Up and Over is
Main Trace to sinker - 40"
Hook snood - 60"
 

3 -- The Pulley Rig

The Pulley rig shown opposite uses a pennel type hook set up but can be used with a single hook. The advantage of the pulley rig when used on snaggy bottoms is that once a fish has been hooked the weight of the fish pulls the line through the top swivel and thus lifts the sinker away from the bottom. With the addittion of a bait clip the rig can be cast clipped down for extra distance. I alter the length of the hook snood depending upon conditions and may go down to 1' in length when fishing in heavy seas. The shorter length having the advantage that it is not " swept" around to much in the heavy conditions, and so, in theory, should not get snagged or tangled easily. I will opt for a much longer snood in calmer conditions where the snood is more static on the sea bed. With a longer hook snood a longer sinker snood is also required.

 
My choice of trace length for the Pulley rig is
Calm/Snag free conditions   Trace to sinker - 32" Hook snood - 25"
Rough/Snaggy conditions   Trace to sinker - 18" Hook snood - 12"
 

4 -- 1Up 1Down (Clipped)

A Simple rig incorporating 2 hook snoods. 1 of the hooks is tied at the top of the trace length and the other tied at the bottom. This rig obviously doubles your chances of fish but also allows you to fish 2 different baits at slightly different depths.
If fish constantly come to one hook then it would seem the bait on that hook is the one to use. If you omit the bait clips then the rig (now called a flapping rig) can be used for lob casting over short distances.
Various configurations of this rig are possible -- 2 Up and 1 Down is another example either clipped or flapping - incorporating 2 hook snoods up the trace and one at the bottom. Length of the snoods is important in that they must not be so long as to tangle with its neighbour too easily.Try crab/mussel on one hook and worm on the other.

My choice of trace length for the 1 up 1 down is
Main trace -- 40"
Top hook snood -- 14"
Bottom hook snood -- 18"

5 -- Wishbone

Worth including though it's a rig I carry but rarely use - unless I either get desperate or wish to try something for fun. It's biggest advantage, of course, is that it allows two baits - either the same or different, to be fished close together, thus doubling both the scent trail and offering fish a choice of food.
As can be seen from the diagram I tie my wishbone as a standard trace except for the wishbone itself, which I prefer to keep relatively short at around 14"-16". I have seen wishbones decorated with countless attractor beads and sequins but I prefer to keep them fairly simple because a) I am not convinced that beads etc. give an advantage and b) the cost factor - the more you add to your trace the more it costs.
When I tie the wishbone I like to keep the beads quite tight up against the swivel though I know some prefer to allow the wishbone a litle more movement. The choice is yours.

My choice of trace length for the Wishbone is
Main trace -- 40"
Hook snood to swivel -- 24"
Wishbone snood -- 14" - 16" (extended)

6 -- Rotten Bottom

The Rotten Bottom is part and parcel of some North East angling. My version is designed for simple lob casting over short distances. The trace ends in an oval split ring above which is a large round bead kept tight against the spilt ring with a crimp. Attached to the bottom of the spilt ring is a short length of main line which is formed into a loop. Also a longer length of weak line is attached to the split ring. An oval split ring is also attached to the sinker. To operate - the loop of line is put through the split ring on the sinker and looped over the upside down bait clip. The weaker line is tied direct to the sinker split ring. When the sinker hits the water the loop lifts off the upside down bait clip and slides back through the sinker split ring. This leaves the sinker attached only by the weaker line which can easily be snapped off if the sinker becomes snagged.

My choice of trace length for the Rotten Bottom is
Main trace to split ring -- 24"
Hook trace -- 16"
Loop of main line -- 12"
Weak link -- 12"

7 - Plaice Rigs

The basic rig consists of a length of 30lb line tied to a swivel and ending in a lead link. The distance between the lead link and hook snood swivel is variable between 15 and 25cm. Use the shorter length in a slack tide and the longest in a strong tide. The two snoods above are also variable. However the opposite applies. Use the longest lengths for a slack tide and vice versa. The white attractor is an optional extra, but can make a difference. Another optional extra is the addition of a weak link between lead link and sinker, plaice can be taken over gravel or mussel beds, which can quite easily snag your line or sinker. The distance from the hook to the start of the beads depends on the bait. If using simply ragworm (probably the best overall bait) tipped with razor, squid etc; then a gap may not be needed. However if using a cocktail (which can prove effective) of rag, lug, crab tipped with razor, squid etc a gap will be needed. The number of beads is entirely up to you. For the single hook trace use larger beads than for the two hook trace. Pictures and text adapted from a contribution by Alan Charlton.

8 -- Snaggy Ground Rig - Used by Chris

The length of the rig is determined by the severity of the snags that will be encountered at a particular venue, ie not many snags maybe a 3 foot rig, really snaggy 10 inches is long enough. Its a standard paternoster except that the bottom crimp is replaced with the telephone wire tightly coiled below the bead. I think this set up is better than a pulley rig because you can use the tension of the telephone wire to set the hook, before the snood drops to the weight under the pressure of the fish. This rig is designed to lower the risk of the weight getting snagged on retrieval. Use a 3/0 viking with these breaking strains and, providing your mainline is up to it, the hook will straighten before the snood snaps. You will get your gear back most times because I think most snags tend to be hook snags. The hook can be straightened on a rock easy enough. Clip the bait down easily using as Gemini link (the ones with the little hook on the bottom.) The telephone wire makes it easy to tighten the whole rig up.

9 -- Blob Knot

This is the knot that I use for joining main line to shockleader. It is very strong and I can honestly say I have never had any problems with it coming apart. The big advantage of the blob knot is that you can use large diameter shockleader line as you do not have to pull a knot tight in it. Simply touch the end of the shockleader into the flame of a lighter until it melts into a small blob. (Not too big). Then simply tie main line as shown. Plenty of saliva and pull tight. Make sure you pull main line tight up against the blob of the shockleader before cuting off tag.

10 -- Jigger

The classic North East jigger, used by 99% of all anglers who wreck fish in this area. The jigger is made from 1"-1½" chrome pipe about 8" long. The pipe is hammered closed at one end and filled with lead to the required weight. Normally that would range from 1lb to 2lb and a variety would be carried to suit tide conditions. Once cold the flattened end of the pipe is drilled to take a strong split ring. The bottom of the pipe is drilled twice. Two lengths of strong nylon cord are cut to about 12" and threaded throught the bottom holes - the cord is knotted tight at each side to "lock" cord in place. 6/0 or 8/0 hooks are whipped onto the ends of the cord. A main trace of about 48" is tied to the spit ring and has a 100lb -120lb swivel tied at the other end. 6" loops are formed in the main 80lb line to take the muppets mounted on 6/0 - 8/0 hooks. An alternative method is to hammer the open end of the jigger and fit a split ring as at the top. To this a 6/0 -8/0 treble is fitted.

11 -- Thumb Protector

Now before you complain - I know its not a rig but I didn't know where else to put it. To stop line burn when you cast simply cut a piece of bicycle inner tube about 5"x 1½" and round off to a blunt point what will be the uncovered end. Lie it along the butt, so that 3" lies over where the bottom reel seat is positioned . Tape over the first couple of inches and bend tube back on itself. Wrap a further couple of turns of tape over bent tube so that it lies as shown above. When you cast simply stretch tube over the spool and hold with thumb. After the cast the tube simply springs back out of the way.