The first rigs I ever fished offshore with were pinrigs, and that was the way I made all of my rigs until about two years ago… Pin with monel wire. Anymore I have been using rigs without pins, as some more experienced fishing buddies, Captains etc have said the pin will cause fish to let go of the bait, with sailfish being one in particular. I do not seem to have more luck with the monel without the pin, and I’m ready to remake my rigs for this year. Any thoughts from some of you guys experience?
Thanks in advance guys!
It depends on what you are targetting… Most people who are “meat fishing” use the pin rig because of rigging speed on the water… It only takes a few seconds to put a balley on a hook with a rubber band and pin, but much longer with wire if you are un-wrapping and wrapping… If you are in a sailfish tournament and you want to get every little boost you can, then go without… You can definitely catch sails with a pin rig… But, for those tournament guys looking for that extra 5% performance, then they cut back on things that they don’t need. If you are in a tournament and lost one fish because he felt the pin, then that could have cost you a lot of money… Most of the tournament guys have extra baits rigged and ready to roll, which makes up for the time it takes to use wire (i.e., the are only rigging new baits when the spread is back out)…
We use pins with rubber bands for meat fishing. Like Skinnee said, with copper wire you lose the speed advantage that the pin gives for unrig/rerig. Where the monel excels is when a fish short strikes and comes back. If the monel is wrapped behind the gill plate, it helps keep the whole bait on the hook. In my experience, sancocho happens more with pin/rubber bands.
As far as fish feeling the pin, I don’t think that it makes much of a difference to a fish once he is committed to the bite, as they are eating pointy stuff(fins)all the time.
If you are tournament fishing for billfish (or plan to start) you have to use circle hooks with natural baits, which to me is a lot more fun than snag and drag anyway.