Ballyhoo Bait Rigging 8 Ways for Offshore Fishing

Ballyhoo bait rigging for offshore trolling starts with how you want the bait to run: swimming under a chin weight, skipping on a wire pin rig, or pushing water under a chugger or hooker head. RJ Boyle builds eight rigs at his rigging bench in Florida, from picking and prepping the bait to dressing the finished rig with a skirt or head.

Three Circle Hook Ballyhoo Rigs: Swivel, O-Ring and Floss

Circle hook ballyhoo rigs are the standard swimming baits for billfish. A chin weight sits under the jaw, rigging wire or floss closes the gills and mouth, and the hook rides outside the bait at the nose so it can find the corner of the mouth. What changes from rig to rig is how the hook attaches.

On a swivel, the hook turns a full circle, which helps it slide to the corner of the jaw. The swivel has to match the hook exactly: too big and it pops off, too small and it bends the barb. On an O-ring, the hook clicks on and off, so the rigger can swap hook sizes depending on where he's fishing, which is why it's his favorite. On floss there's no lip hole at all. The hook pins flat under the floss and stays put rather than swiveling, and some crews prefer it because it's what they learned on.

Single and Double Hook Wire Pin Rigs for Skipping Ballyhoo

A ballyhoo pin rig puts a J-hook on single-strand wire and leaves the tag of the haywire twist standing up as a short pin, which goes up through both jaws to hold the head. With no chin weight, the bait skips. A second hook farther back in the belly makes the double hook rig.

RJ Boyle calls the double hook wire ballyhoo probably the most sold rigged bait in the country. Most bait companies rig it on standard hooks that straighten on wahoo and grouper trolling, so the hooks here are upgraded to double strength. The back hook seats through the vent without a big incision, and the smaller the hole, the longer the bait lasts. The pin gets trimmed short so a billfish isn't pricked by it, and it does a second job: it holds a skirt in place over the bait.

Which Ballyhoo Are Worth Rigging?

Good trolling ballyhoo are firm, bright and clear-eyed, with the beak intact and no sign of refreezing, and they get brined before rigging so the flesh tightens. A soft bait washes out in the spread no matter how well it's rigged, so selection matters as much as technique.

The video spends real time at the freezer. Press the stomach, because it's the first part of the bait to wash out. Look for green entrails showing at the vent, a bluish-green back and orange on the top of the tail. Ballyhoo with an electric, iridescent blue back are what mates call drift boat ballyhoo: fine on a bottom rig, short-lived trolled. And the backbone gets cracked last, right before the bait goes in the water, because it lasts longer that way.

Inside the video:

• A tackle and tools list for the rigging bench
• Picking ballyhoo, brining and prep from eyes to backbone
• Swivel, O-ring and floss circle hook baits, and an O-ring mylar switch bait
• A chugger or hooker head on crimped mono for pitch and rigger baits
• A split-bill J-hook swimmer that tracks head down
• Single and double hook wire pin rigs
• Dressing baits with Mold Craft chuggers and hookers, Islanders, handmade mylar sea witches and squid skirts

Ballyhoo Bait Rigging Questions

Eight Ballyhoo Rigs From One Rigging Bench

This video covers the full ballyhoo rigging job: picking a bait that will last, preparing it so it swims straight, and choosing between circle hook swimmers, skipping pin rigs and dressed baits for the fish you're after. The written breakdown of each style is in step-by-step ballyhoo rigging for trolling.