Rigging Tips for Head Start Lures: Head Start Lures are the finest trolling lures that you can use. They are in use throughout the salt water fishing community world wide. As a charter captain for over 30 years, I have caught nearly every species of striking fish both on the surface and deep over reefs and rocky areas. They are extremely easy to rig either with ballyhoo or other frozen bait, or using the Head Start Chewy-Hoo, which is a soft plastic bait which looks, feels and swims like a real Ballyhoo.
The first choice is ‘surface’ or ‘diver’ .
They rig virtually the same but the diver has a lip and sinker on the front. Using frozen or fresh ballyhoo, start by snapping off the beak. Insert the chain and hook using a rigging needle through the anal opening and out of the mouth.
The second step for either surface or diver is to open the head:
Then insert the bait into the head of the lure as shown below.
After breaking the backbone of the ballyhoo, start trolling. They have great action on the surface and deep diving. As for the divers, the slower you go the deeper they go. At 8-9 knots they will dive 3-5 feet. They can be used on a downrigger or even a planer to get them deeper. I’ve caught grouper on them trolling at 8 knots even in water depths of 40-50 feet without a downrigger or planer.
To rig your Head Start 7×7 cable or mono instead of the beaded chain:
Here’s a link to a YouTube made by an Aussie fisherman that shows you every step to rig the Head Start:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s43xcuKWyM
In case the link breaks for some reason, go to YouTube and search for: downriggershop – headstart review
Good Fishing!
Rigging Tips for Head Start Lures
