With pre-rigged baits easily accessible at any bait store and the convenience of being able to pick up your baits and just head out has put the art of rigging ballyhoo almost unseen. These are quality rigged baits, however the presentation between the pre-rigged and the baits you decide to rig on your own can make the diffence between tricking wary fish and bringing them to the dock or not getting bites at all. Smokin Em Charters personally rigs all of our own baits and even though this can be time consuming it is a practice that we refuse to let go of. By making the decision of wire or mono is our first priority. Seeking toothy critters like Wahoo, King Mackerel and Barracuda definitely makes the decision of opting for wire an easy decision.
Sailfish, Dolphin and Cobia which are often a little more reluctant to hit a wire rig are usually quite easily fooled by mono rigged baits. Also with rigging our own baits we can place small egg sinkers on the chins of the baits to make them dive and hold better underwater making them look more alive. Egg sinkers from 1/8 of an ounce to 1 ounce can be used depending on how deep you want the bait to run. We often mix them up so we have a wide variety of baits at different depths. A bait flopping on top of the water draws a lot less strikes then one swimming 2" to 3' under the water and actually looking like a live bait. This method can be used on any type of bait that you rig yourself. As said before, rigging your own baits is time consuming, however we feel that even though there are quality pre-rigged baits on the market that our time rigging our own baits produces far more strikes which means more fish being brought to the docks at the end of the day.