Hey everyone. I got a while hair up my butt and I thought about doing this:

Tying a mooching leader with two 5/0 octopus hooks and running them together on a pulled plug 5 inch Tomic plug.





Do any of you guys run your plugs like this when you pull the plugs? I guess I can probably downsize the hooks so the plug can swim a little better but these two hooks seem to weigh much less than the giant single hook Tomic has attached to their plugs. Maybe this would give the plug a little more action in the water. I know I wont know for sure until I actually see it in the water, but I thought I would ask to see if this is something people do.

Thanks everyone!

These look about right to me. The hook on the top plug could have the gap opened up just a bit and the one on the bottom plug could have the gap closed just a little, the barbs also need to go.



I think that your forward hook would be next to useless the way that you have it rigged in your image, and using smaller hooks would only make it worse.

When the siwash is rigged on a swivel and towbar the hook swims point up and basically in a straight line following the changes in direction that the plug makes as it wiggles or darts on its swim path. The plug has two hinges in between it and the hook so while hook size has some effect on plug motion it may not be nearly as much as one might imagine.

The Tomic web site recomends a 5/0 for a 5" plug and a 6/0 for a 6" plug and so on. I try to make sure the the body of the plug can't get caught in the gap of the hook. On some of my smaller plugs the body of the plug can swim through gap of the hook on others the hook is not that far back.

Doc?...........Hangback?

Took the WORD right outta my mouth. Hangback all the way.

The 2 hook mooching rig as pictured effectively shields the points from finding a solid purchase on the fish. The rear hook point has maybe half a chance if it happens to turn away from the plug. Space the hooks apart another inch or so and its money. The front hook is pretty much useless other than preventing the plug from sliding down to the trailer. May as well amputate the top hook point.

The stock rigging has the ginormous hooks adequately exposed, but I'd bet the odds of inflicting a mortal wound in the floor of the mouth/pharynx is gonna be pretty dam high... too high for selective salmon fisheries.

I have used plugs rigged as shown in the image that I posted, since the early 80's. The majority of fish that I hook are hooked in the back half of the upper or lower jaw, occasionally I hook them in roof of the mouth, or in the tongue. I have never hooked one deep enough inside the mouth to even come close to the gills, probably because of the large size of the plug/hook combo.
I have inflicted far more fatal wounds to fish with herring than with plugs, even though I use plugs more.
You will also find that if you are fishing in an area where shakers are abundant changing to a 4" or larger plug will drastically reduce the damage you do to the population of shakers while still allowing you to catch keeper size salmon.

Fished them that way out of Tofino a couple summers back






Sorry,huge pics. Don't know why they keep uploading so grande

Beautiful fish.

I know the leading hook is pretty much useless. I was thinking about amputating it and attaching another hook closer to the trailer.

The picture wasn't effective in showing the trailer hook placement. I put it far enough back to when the line is pulled a little bit, the hook will hang back to the very end of the plug. The hook eye and plug tail are just in line. This way, if fish strikes short, they will get the hook in or around the front of the mouth.

Now, if a fish were to take the whole thing in their mouth, the trailer will more than likely cause some damage by getting lodged deeper in the mouth/pharynx.

I should play with the hook placement a little more. But in those SWEET pictures Twitch posted, the rigging looks relatively simple.

Sorry to rehash an old topic, but I was playing around with lures today and I did what the Doc mentioned. I think it might work out???

The trailing hook hangs back just about it's own length out from the back on the plug. The front hook is just in front of the tail of the plug. (mind you, this is a 5inch plug).



This is a close up picture of the amputated hook. Sorry for the shaky photo, but I was in a rush. I super glued a small bead to the cut off portion on the hook to prevent a sharp edge from messing up the line in any way. I thought it might be a smart thing to do.



So there's my plug set up with a mooching/hoochy leader. Simple, light, and possibly effective.

Plugs are one area I have yet to explore. I need to learn and this thread rocks...keep it comin' hombres.

Muchos gracias

Any followup here, Tan?