Scratching rig's

It's that time of year again where is decent scratching rig is invaluable so this is how I make mine....

Here's the components I use and why I use them:

Rig body-Black amnesia 40lb. I'm not sure why but i prefer the black in 40lb. It's a toch softer and less wirey then the clear.

Traces- 30lb amnesia. It might be overkill breaking strain wise but it's that much stiffer then the lower breaking strains which gives you a boom type effect-simply it just doesn't tangle as much.

Hooks- Sakuma 540 manta 1/0's. Strong enough to land a decent fish, a decent gape for a small hook and very sharp. I've never had one let me down yet.

Crimps- gemini micro crimps.

Snood swivels- breakaway swivel T's. Again, these give you a boom effect and help stop tangles

Beads- Sakuma 5mm rig breads and Gemini lumi rig beads for the snoods

Main swivel- Sakuma round eye rolling swivels size 1

Lead clip- Breakaway fastlinks.

2 hook or 3 hook? For me it depends on a few different factors. How big the sea is, the wind, the swell, the tide,how busy a mark is and how lazy I'm feeling. Where possible I always fish 2 rods as you can have a scratching rig out and a big bait but there are plenty times when it's just not practical so I do like to have a 3 hook rig in the armoury.

So here is how I set up for each of my snoods. Crimp, bead, swivel T, bead, crimp. I don't use a crimping tool but just a small pair of pliers. I keep the distance down in between each of my snoods as I'm not a fan of gurt great long rigs. With a 15" spacing between your snoods and 8" between your snoods and a 8" space between the traces and the top/bottom (the swivel and the lead clip) you end up with a rig a little over 4', which for 3 hook rig isn't too bad.

I like to keep the traces nice and short. Somewhere between 3" and 6". It ensures your baits are hard on the bottom and the less line you have, the less likely to tangle you are. With the spacing that I use there is also no chance of the snoods tangling with each other. I also tend to put a single luminous bead on. Does it make a difference? I don't know to be honest but I do know that it definitely doesn't do any harm.

My rig's are then finished off with a decent quality swivel on the top and a good lead clip on the bottom. I wrap the whole rig around my fingers and pop them in a little 3"x4" bag and I'm ready to go. And that's about it, It's as simple as that. Tight lines.....










EDIT: I nearly forgot bout this. How can I post about scratching rigs without showing you the gayest rig that I've ever seen. And he was honestly going to cast this monstrosity out.