Thanks for the feedback on the sockeye "takes"... certainly NOT a hangback mechanism at work there.

Pretty interesting that they find the bare hooks so attractive. I would think something sparkly like Krystal Flash tied sparsely to the hook would look more like shrimp feelers/antennae.

What would be a good way to rig a hangback to a spoon?

I can't say that using anything on the hook really helped, it seemed that about the same number of fish came after the bare hook as a decorated one.

I tied a reverse Nushagak knot in 40# Max UG with a 5" loop exiting forward thru the hookeye of a mooching hook. I then put the loop into the trailing split ring.

Then I got to thinking how much chafing that would undergo over the course of a fishing day.

A better plan is to use the loop to tie a Palomar to a Duolock snap. This eliminates chafing and gives you the full strength of doubled 40# Max UG to the hook.

Snap the entire hangback rig onto the butt end of the spoon. VOILA!

Looks killer in the pool!

It's kind of a joke around here. I believe you.
We fish where we need to release a lot of the fish we catch down here. Not hooking a fish inside of the mouth is a bit of the goal.

The problem is the fish was actually hooked INSIDE the mouth and not from the outside in like you say. I remember it very well because I was really surprised to see the hook inside its mouth.

I don't know about Washington laws, and I have no qualms about snagging fish where legal, so don't get me wrong, but where I fish the law states that the fish has to be "hooked in the mouth" (exact wording from the regs), so it doesn't matter much what the fish was "willfully" trying to do. I wish it was like that here because I've thrown back some nice fish that have been obviously hooked elsewhere in their body.

Hey bb, just curious, any feedback on how the hangback spooning went this last year.

I had excellent success once I figured out I need a minimum of 50# Max UG to prevent chew offs.

Never did deploy any of the hangbacks with double 40# to palomar to snap that I described and played around with pre-season. Gotta remember that next year.

Hangback spoons produced admirably in the ocean, inside the jaws, as well as upriver. EVERY fish strategically hooked from the outside in without a single mortal bleeder in the bunch!

I am definitely sold!

The 2011 hangback spoon season starts in earnest on June 18 for me.... can't wait!

Doc

I missed your post/question last winter. Being a creature of habit, I didn't try the set-up. I will be trying it this year, though. I've got an idea I need to play with. If it works, I'll let you know.

BTW the setup in the pics is 50# Max UG snelled to a sickle then tied to a stout barrel swivel. A mini hoochie was slipped over the barrel swivel and the whole works was then attached to the stock split ring on the spoon.

FYI rigging hangback removes much of the direct mass from the butt end of the spoon that would normally slow the action down a bit. Adding the swivel/hoochie helps to compensate for that by restoring mass to the butt end.

Don't know if this is what is happening for those that use the pair of bare hooks on a short/snappy leader behind a flasher for these fish. OTOH, I generally tend to look at where the hooks are, and I don't recall every seeing any were I'd say "Yup, that one was flossed for sure!"

But, I can say that this is NOT happening when one uses a Michael Bait behind a hotspot, trolled as fast as humanly possible, as all of the lake fish are gaffed up in the mouth, through the eye, through the tongue, with a big 2/0 siwash hook.