We mentioned in our review of the Poor Boys Erie Darter that, in my opinion, the best way to rig this bait is with a double rig. We have had some folks write to us about that and ask us how exactly to tie this rig. We think this is a great question, and a great topic to touch on today.
Equipment You Will Need
Let’s go over the other items that you’ll need to tie this rig. You will need two swivels. I prefer Spro #8 which is a small, 50 pound
Example Of The Spro Swivel
swivel. This size is very effective for our double rig when using soft plastics like the Erie Darter. You will also need some leader material.
Here I like to double the test pound size of my main line. So, if you are using 10# material, you will need 20# for the second line. You will also need two hooks for your soft plastics. I prefer Gamakatsu 4/0 or 5/0. You will also need a small worm weight. I like to use tungsten when I can but you can replace this with lead if that is what you have. Lastly, you will need to decide on your bait. Just a hint, the Poor Boys Erie Darter is an excellent choice!
How To Tie The Double Rig
To begin, snip about three feet off the end of your main line, you’ll need this so hang on to it for just a couple of minutes. Now you are going to thread one of the swivels onto the main line followed by your worm weight. I use a 1/16 most of the time but will go to a 1/8 when I need to get this rig deeper. With your swivel and weight threaded on the main line, tie the second swivel to the end of the main line. With this done, it’s all downhill from here.
Now take the piece of line that you snipped off the main line and tie it onto the other side of the swivel that is tied onto your main line. Once this is done, tie one of your hooks on the end of this line.
Just a little hint here. I don’t care to have any more than 20 inches of line between the swivel and this hook when I am done.
Now you are going to take your leader material that is twice the pound test as your main line and tie it to the open end of the swivel that is threaded onto the main line above your weight. Once this is tied off, use your second hook and tie it to the end of this line. When this is finished, I don’t like to have any more than 14 inches of line between the swivel and the hook on this secondary line.
Now all you have to do is thread your baits onto the hooks and you are ready to fish!
Why You Should Use The Double Rig
Eerie Darter On A Double Rig
The reason we did all this is so that when the baits are in the water, they will run approximately 8 – 10 inches apart from each other and because we used different pound test on our two lines, one will react a little bit slower and more subdued than the other. This is the magic of the double rig! Not only does it represent a small school of baitfish but it presents one with a different action than the other. And all of this during a single cast! Ain’t life grand?
I hope that I have been concise enough with this explanation of how to tie the double rig. Like any other technique, it takes some time to get used to its idiosyncrasies. This is a great rig to use in the pre to post spawn time frame and anytime the bass are feeding on baitfish in the shallows.
Just cast it out, count it down and begin jerking the rig back to you. Speed up, slow down and experiment to see what the fish are wanting. When you get a strike, set quickly and hang on! Once in a while, a follower will pick up the lure that the first fish didn’t and you will have a double on all by yourself. It just doesn’t get much better than that!
Good luck and we’ll see ya on the water …