Shot on the hook rig

Getting technical with rigs really isn’t my scene to be honest, but when I was asked to write something on my favourite rig I couldn’t exactly say no. This rig has caught me more fish than any other rig I have ever used and has been a part of my angling for best part of the last 13 years or so now. The ‘shot on the hook rig’ is perfect for me as I love using pop ups for a lot of my fishing and this rig suits it perfectly, with the bait only being an inch above the deck and the hook point being made heavy with the aid of a small split shot.

It’s a nice simple rig to tie as well (as you will see from the accompanying pictures) with it effectively being a blow back rig but all I do is have the ring sitting opposite the barb of the hook instead of being further down the shank. A bit of shrink tube over the eye of the hook so the end of the shrink tube ends up level with the point.

I like to keep the hook bait quite tight to the shank with this rig and from the hook holds I have had I can see no reason for having a larger gap between the hook and the bait, as even with the minimal blow back effect the hook bait is not hindering the hooking efficiency in any way, also with the hook point being made heavy by the shot (which itself can move freely on the hook thus also not hindering the hooking) it makes hooking a lot more likely than some other rigs.  One other little thing with this rig is I never cast it out without a small pva stick being threaded down the hooklink and over the hook, this serves two purposes;

1. The obvious purpose is added attraction
2. The stick stops the shot flying back round the shank of the hook making the rig, in my eyes, completely ineffective.

If you have never used this rig then it is certainly worth a go, one last thing worth adding is that I like the pop up to be anchored down and not balanced so I find a ‘BB’ shot perfect for a 14mm pop up (non corkball type).