Like a lot of you guys I love to fish sinking soft plastics wacky rigged. I tried the o-ring method I have seen posted here and there on the net, but I really didn't like that setup for a couple reasons. Mostly because it leaves the hook sideways like in this photo;
That's on the same plane as the fish’s mouth and I USE TO MISS A TON OF FISH with this set-up. The hook would just pull right out of their mouth. This pix also shows the Gammy weedless wacky hook and I love Gammy hooks, but I'm not a fan of this one.
So I got to thinking there has to be a better way to wacky rig and I have found it. I use a 1/4" piece of 3/8" (or 1/2" if you can find it) surgical tubing. It is really easy to put on one of my baits as all you have to do is wet the tail of the bait a bit and slide it up the tail to the middle of the bait. For you guys that still fish that other inferior sinking bait, it works for them also.
For wacky rigging my baits I use the Owner 1/0 weedless wacky hook. It is the best wacky rig hook I've seen yet and the weed guard doesn't get in the way, but does a good job of keeping the junk of the hook. I of course use the worlds strongest and ez to tie knot there is "The Fish-N-Fool knot" named after yours truly. (See knot wars 2009 or the u-tube Fish-N-Fool knot video on how to tie it) Ok now that you have the hook tied on you slide the surgical tubing up the bait to the mid point where the natural balance of the bait is. Unlike those other baits my bait have a top and a bottom so I run the hook from the bottom up just catching a little bit of the bait along with the surgical tube like this.
That leaves the hook point straight up 90 deg. to the fish’s mouth so I hook them in the top lip 95% of the time and in the corner of the mouth the rest. My baits always fall with the top side up though, (do to water hydraulics), so with other baits in may hook them in the bottom lip which would still be ok. I almost NEVER miss a fish with this set-up. The plus side of it, the baits never fall off so you can catch up to 50 fish on just one bait. I fish super heavy cover a lot of the time so I Tex-Pose my baits first like this;
Here is a sample of the stuff I love to fish, just click the box to watch the short video.
(That's my wifes cousin by the way catching the fish, I'm the one lanfing it & holding the camcorder.)
I save the baits that tear up the nose of the bait while texas rigged and fish them wacky later in more open water. Here is a close up of the Owner wacky hook and rig.
The nice thing about using surgical tubing is it come in lots of sizes and colors so you can get different colors to match the bait you are using. I used a white bait here with the blue tubing just so it was easier to see. I use the natural flesh color a lot along with black, greens and reds. If you look for it, it comes in many , many colors. You can also use the same tool you put your o-rings on with the this tubing and it work much better IMHO
Give this set-up a try I think you will really like it.
