Rick Ferguson "DaGoose"
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Bounce-Balling Basics
Jun. 17 2009, 9:09 AM
Jun. 17 2009, 9:09 AM
Howdy! It's been a while since my last blog. Wifey and I spent some time in the Bahamas on Great Guana Cay, at my mother-in-law's modest rental cottage. The area is also known as the Abacos. Most of the time the weather was up and I didn’t get any fishing in. We enjoyed some weather windows on the great beaches there. It was very relaxing. The old saying goes "if you can’t have fun in Abaco, you must be on life support." Hopefully I banked lots of fishing points too. Here's a shot of the incredible water
I must admit it was great to get back on the water fishing with my buds. We bounce-balled Imperial Beach Sunday, June 6. That great halibut bite was still on. We managed to scratch up three legal fish, with two going 27 and 32 lbs.
Back at it last Saturday off Carlsbad with no joy. We had one good biter that didn’t stick in the afternoon and that was it. Zippity do-dah. Not a single fish of any sort caught. Oh well, that’s fishing. It was fun nonetheless. The fish just weren’t chewing and there’s plenty of great flattie fishing still to be had while they are still in the spawn mode.
So let’s cut through the chase and get down to the meat and potatoes of this long winded blog, that being some bounce-balling rigging basics that many folks ask about.
First, bounce-balling is simply slow trolling the bottom of the water column. There are many different rigs that work. I’ll focus on what works for me in the interest of keeping it simple.
For bounce-ball rigs, I use a size 0 dodger followed by a 6” hoochie. The hoochie is trap-rigged with a 2/0 octopus hook and 1/0 treble. You can bridle most anything into the trap rigging. Some use bait and it works fine. I prefer a white grub tail. The fish like it too, and it’s really nice to not buy bait. The hoochie is a Yamashita “Purple Haze”. It’s my “go to” color. Here’s a picture of the rigging.
With leader lengths, the trailing hoochie leader is 14”. It’s short to ensure the waggle of the dodger is not lost. If too long, the dodger waggles but the hoochie does not wiggle. It’s a combination of the two that gives the rig the great action flatties love.
Many use a 3-way swivel. They work fine. I don’t like the direct resistance to the lead on the hook set. Big flatties have huge vertical headshakes so I use a modified sliding sinker tube on the 80lb spectra mainline, above a 5/0 ball bearing swivel. The slider tube is 1.5” and comes stock with a brass swivel I remove and replace with a more sturdy cross lock swivel. Here’s a shot of the sliding sinker assembly.
By now you’re probably thinking I’ve gone totally mad with all the heavy tackle in use. No worries, the fish really don’t care and it will save you heaps of tackle and fishing time when done this way.
Also note that each leader section of the bounce-ball rig (slider, dodger and hoochie leaders),
is terminated so easily replaced. This also comes in handy in the unlikely event of a tangle. I swage everything now with chaff gear to create the loops. Just use a barrel swivel if you’re tying them with knots.
Here’s a few more hoochie rigging options.
Hopefully this proves helpful. Bounce-balling is very productive when executed properly and it’s not rocket science……..heck I can do it, you can too!
Don’t be shy to post comments. I will gladly help out however possible.
Tight Lines,
Rick
Best of Big Game
www.bestofbiggame.com
Back at it last Saturday off Carlsbad with no joy. We had one good biter that didn’t stick in the afternoon and that was it. Zippity do-dah. Not a single fish of any sort caught. Oh well, that’s fishing. It was fun nonetheless. The fish just weren’t chewing and there’s plenty of great flattie fishing still to be had while they are still in the spawn mode.
So let’s cut through the chase and get down to the meat and potatoes of this long winded blog, that being some bounce-balling rigging basics that many folks ask about.
First, bounce-balling is simply slow trolling the bottom of the water column. There are many different rigs that work. I’ll focus on what works for me in the interest of keeping it simple.
For bounce-ball rigs, I use a size 0 dodger followed by a 6” hoochie. The hoochie is trap-rigged with a 2/0 octopus hook and 1/0 treble. You can bridle most anything into the trap rigging. Some use bait and it works fine. I prefer a white grub tail. The fish like it too, and it’s really nice to not buy bait. The hoochie is a Yamashita “Purple Haze”. It’s my “go to” color. Here’s a picture of the rigging.
With leader lengths, the trailing hoochie leader is 14”. It’s short to ensure the waggle of the dodger is not lost. If too long, the dodger waggles but the hoochie does not wiggle. It’s a combination of the two that gives the rig the great action flatties love.
Many use a 3-way swivel. They work fine. I don’t like the direct resistance to the lead on the hook set. Big flatties have huge vertical headshakes so I use a modified sliding sinker tube on the 80lb spectra mainline, above a 5/0 ball bearing swivel. The slider tube is 1.5” and comes stock with a brass swivel I remove and replace with a more sturdy cross lock swivel. Here’s a shot of the sliding sinker assembly.
By now you’re probably thinking I’ve gone totally mad with all the heavy tackle in use. No worries, the fish really don’t care and it will save you heaps of tackle and fishing time when done this way.
Also note that each leader section of the bounce-ball rig (slider, dodger and hoochie leaders),
is terminated so easily replaced. This also comes in handy in the unlikely event of a tangle. I swage everything now with chaff gear to create the loops. Just use a barrel swivel if you’re tying them with knots.
Here’s a few more hoochie rigging options.
Hopefully this proves helpful. Bounce-balling is very productive when executed properly and it’s not rocket science……..heck I can do it, you can too!
Don’t be shy to post comments. I will gladly help out however possible.
Tight Lines,
Rick
Best of Big Game
www.bestofbiggame.com
Murray Callahan
September 5, 2010, 10:05 am
I have had problems with the braid main line cutting through the plastic slider tubes in the past.
Have you had this problem, or do you use tubes that are braid proof?
Thanks,
Murray
September 5, 2010, 10:05 am
I have had problems with the braid main line cutting through the plastic slider tubes in the past.
Have you had this problem, or do you use tubes that are braid proof?
Thanks,
Murray
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June 13, 2011, 4:14 am
Hi guys....up here in the Morro Bay area, we have been bounceballin for 15 years now. I use a three way swivel instead of a slider because we fish around stucture a lot, reefs rocks etc. I tie my 2-lb ball leader about 22 inches long and use 20lb mono in case it snags real bad, then I just pop it off, no down time trying to go back with other lines still fishing...We use the same silver dodger set up with the only difference being I rig all my purple haze hootchies with a krippled minnow head with my leader going thru it. That way we can trap rig a nice big chovie or sardine or even a fresh squid in it, the hootchovie makes a difference most of the time and gets bit 2 to 1 over the B2 squid. A 2/0 owner single in the front trailed by a #4 Eagle claw lazer sharp 4x strong treble.....when they bite that rig, it's a done deal, never lost one yet....last year in July between our 3 boats we boated over 35 butts from 25lbs to 42lbs and another 100 in the mid teens 12 -20lb class
I use 40lb flouro leaders....its a grind but fun as well.....What do you guys do when you hang that 100lb weight leader up and cannot get it loose?.....that;s gotta suck