La Jolla working rigs

[Dave k]

That’s a pretty open ended question as the tackle and rigs will vary quite a bit depending on target fish and conditions. But here is what works for me.



Line type – Braid. Anything from 30 up to 65 should have you covered. Depending on target species.

Leader – about 4 feet of fluorocarbon usually. # test depends on what I’m fishing. Nothing lighter than 20# usually. 30# for rockfish, 30# or 40# for yellows and wsb. Usually. Sometimes lighter, sometimes heavier. If I’m targeting threshers I’ll go with at least 130# for the abrasion resistance on their skin.

Connection - I like to use an Albright or modified Albright for the connection to the mainline. Swivel for rockfish.

Hook size – match the bait. I prefer J hooks to circles, but it’s more of a preference thing.

Bait – for game fish, it depends on what’s available. Match the hatch. For rockfish, squid strips work well but I prefer lures so you don’t have to wind up 200’ to re-bait.

Lure – again, match the hatch. Irons, swimbaits, rapalas, etc. can all work. For rockfish it doesn’t really matter much. I like to rig a 2 hook gangion with a glow hoochie on each hook. Or if the drift is slow enough, it’s a lot of fun to fish them on swimbaits or a 2oz ahi diamond jig. The bigger diamond jigs and lucanus style jigs work great too.

Knots – for live bait usually a palomar. For lures, usually an improved clinch. For the braid to mono/fluoro connection I like the modified Albright for lighter gear, but usually stick with the regular Albright on the heavier stuff. If you’re going to fish a dropper loop or reverse dropper loop style rig, go with the spider hitch knot. Much stronger. When fishing a “dropper loop” with live bait for wsb and yellows I run the hook end really long giving the bait some room to swim and hopefully giving the fish a change to get to the hook before feeling the weight. The drop shot can also work really well on bass in the kelp.



Sorry if some of it’s vague, but it’s a really vague question. They’ll bite squid one day, iron the next, macs another. Sometimes on the flyline, sometimes dropper loop. The key is finding out where in the water column the fish are, what they’re feeding on, etc. and then adjust your approach from there.



Good luck