How To

How to Make Offshore Fishing Rigs

TrollTrue's standard 60 lb rig, start to finish. Two snelled hooks, four inches apart, finished with a swivel — and the reasoning behind each of those numbers.

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What you're building

TrollTrue lures work with a variety of rigging styles, and you're not locked into ours. But the rig below is what we recommend, and it handles most offshore fishing situations without modification.

It's a two-hook rig: a live bait hook at the nose that seats inside the lure, and a trailer hook set back into the body of the bait. Both are snelled directly to the leader, and the leader is left unterminated at the top so you can add a skirt later if you want one.

Leader	60 lb monofilament — Berkley Big Game or similar. Fluorocarbon and 7-strand wire both work.
Nose hook	4/0 live bait hook. Mustad 94151-NI or similar.
Trailer hook	Size 1 4X treble. VMC 9626 BN or similar.
Hook spacing	4 inches, eye to eye.
Termination	Barrel swivel, tied with a uni-knot (mono) or figure 8 (wire).

Choosing your leader weight

60 lb leader handles drags up to about 30 lbs. Step up to 100 lb for heavier drags. Leaders can be tied as shown up to roughly 100 lb test; above that, crimp instead of tying.

The nose hook is the one place where substitution matters. Its size and style have to fit the mating lure, so if you swap it, check the fit before you tie anything.

Materials

What you can substitute

Everything here ties the same way. The differences are small and noted in the steps where they matter.

Monofilament

The default, and what's shown throughout. Ties cleanly, holds a snell well, and is the easiest to work with by hand.

Fluorocarbon

Tied identically to mono. Worth it in clear water or on pressured fish.

7-strand wire

For toothy fish. Fewer descending wraps, a single ascending wrap, and a figure 8 knot at the swivel rather than a uni.

Trailer hook options

The 4X treble is standard. J-hooks and circle hooks both work — see the heavier rig section below.

The build

Tying the rig

Trailer hook first, then spacing, then the nose hook, then the swivel. Working in that order means you set the hook distance once and never have to undo it.

Step 01

Snell down the trailer hook

Starting the snell — leader tag end through the trailer hook eye, wrapping down the shaft

Thumb holds the tag end while you wrap down the shaft.

Insert the leader's tag end through the trailer hook eye and hold it in place with your thumb. Starting at the hook eye, make five or six tight wraps down the hook shaft.

Step 02

Complete the snell

Completing the snell — two ascending wraps back over the descending wraps and out through the hook eye

Two wraps back up, then out through the eye.

Wrap twice back up the shaft, over the descending wraps, and pass the tag end back out through the hook eye.

Too many descending wraps, or skipping that second ascending wrap, can let the snell loosen. Don't stress if it does — it's cosmetic. The snell still won't fail.

If you're using wire

Fewer descending wraps and a single ascending wrap is fine. Bend the 7-strand as it leaves the hook eye so it lines up with the shaft — that alone helps hold the wraps in place.

Step 03

Set the distance between the hooks

Measuring four inches eye to eye between the nose hook and trailer hook

Four to five inches, eye to eye, for the standard 60 lb rig.

Four to Five inches between hook eyes is the TrollTrue standard. That fits a medium ballyhoo or a cigar minnow well and minimises short strikes.

Go to four and a half or five inches for larger baits. The principle behind the number: the trailer hook should sit about two thirds of the way down the baitfish's body. Set it too far back and it starts interfering with the ballyhoo's action.

For large baits — ribbonfish especially — you can snell multiple trailer hooks in series along the bait.

Step 04

Snell the nose hook

Snelling the 4/0 live bait nose hook onto the leader

Same knot, same wrap count as the trailer hook.

Identical process. Five or six descending wraps, two ascending, and back out through the hook eye.

Step 05

Finish the leader

Tying a barrel swivel to the top of the leader with a uni-knot

A barrel swivel finishes the rig — with or without a skirt.

TrollTrue rigs aren't terminated at the other end of the leader. That's deliberate: leaving it open means you can slide a skirt on whenever you want one.

To finish, with or without a skirt, tie on a quality barrel swivel. Use a uni-knot for monofilament or a figure 8 for 7-strand wire.

Going heavier

100 lb rigging and custom builds

The same rig scales up. At 100 lb the usual change is the trailer hook — an 8/0 J-hook in place of the treble.

One detail that isn't obvious: anglers generally have better success orientating the trailing J-hook in the same direction as the nose hook. Worth getting right, since it's awkward to change once the rig is tied.

Above roughly 100 lb test, stop tying and start crimping. Beyond that point a tied connection is working against the material rather than with it.

We also build custom rigging to order, across a range of leader materials and strengths and with alternative trailer hooks — see the custom rigging options.

Or skip the tying

We sell this exact rig

Tying your own is satisfying and cheaper by the rig. It's also an evening at the kitchen table. If you'd rather spend that time fishing, the 60 lb monofilament rigging on the shelf is the rig described on this page — same hooks, same spacing, tied the same way.

60 lb Rigging

Stuck on a step? Customer service is available 24/7 — call or text 1-910-995-2485 and send a photo of where you're at.

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