The long shank single DOES NOT work well for this application. Same problem as a shorter shank, the hook rides at a funny cockeyed sideways angle. This would throw off the balance and action of the whole works. The longer shank may get that hookpoint out to the side far enough to clear the "profile" of my magnum Cheater but it just doesn't look right to me. The other disadvantage of long shanks is that they give the fish more leverage with which to twist a hook free. The mono between the "amputee'" rig will hinge, and so this rig behaves like a standard short shanked single hook rig during the fight.

The final advantage of the amputee rig is that it leaves the hook well exposed to nab even those nippy short-strikers that don't turn downriver with your goods for a solid corner hookup while backbouncing. With the standard rigging, I noticed that most every fish that made it to the net was hooked in the corner. Those seemed to be the only ones I could stick. The less aggressive bites would all too often result in a "swing and miss."

I can't tell you how many fish I have hooked right in the tip of the snoot with the amputee rig, including my all time biggest hen at 50.5 inches. I suspect that platinum-bright she-pig would have been a "swing and miss" with a standard rigging.