Gulp on The Wonder Rig

[Arbutis]

A new Fluke season is upon us once again. Thought I would share a little info after going through some tests and trials with gulp minnows last year.

Here's a little idea I came up with for holding gulp minnows onto The Wonder Rig setup. Killies were hard to come by last year for some reason so I found myself substituting gulp for killies and it was very productive.

However, the thin wire octo hooks that I use for killies did not lend themselves well suited for the 4 inch gulp minnows. I tried hooking them on a variety of ways but the gulp would often spin and also have to be continually adjusted after each bite as the hook would tear the plastic a bit. It's different when threading a lead head jig onto gulp - the weight of the head controls the movement of the gulp.

I still wanted to use the same hook (for many reasons) but I had to figure out how to maintain the best "action" of the gulp without the hook hindering it's movement and tail flutter.

This is where The Wonder Rig meets The Banjo Minnow. From my Largemouth Bass tackle box I remembered having an old Banjo Minnow kit. Anyone familiar with this product knows that the great action of the rubber minnow comes from the fact that instead of being threaded onto a hook (like a rubber worm), the minnow is twisted onto a little corkscrew holder that is rigged to the hook.

Well, this worked perfectly. Great tail action from the Gulp minnow - without being hindered by a lead head. I was still able to use really light line and a really light wire hook in order to not inhibit the natural looking movement of the Gulp. Best part - these things do not come off. You can catch a lot more fish with a single Gulp minnow since the bait doesn't take so much abuse with the hook tearing in and out several time. The only time you need to change baits is when the tail rips - which you have to do whenever you Gulp tail rips anyway.

Even if you don't use The Wonder Rig set up, this is a great way to put a very lightweight teaser onto any leader.

Well, that's my 2 cents for what it's worth. Here's The Wonder Rig Video for the basic killie set up. For Gulp - add the little corkscrew and a mini rubber washer. See photo.

[wrktoomuch]

Thanks for sharing again. Looks like it will keep the gulp on, but what keeps it from spinning?

[IrishAngler]

Looking forward to hitting the river with ya Doug - been a long winter! See ya soon. CD

[Arbutis]

Chris - Give me a buzz if you want to go find some big bass around the Hook. I've been getting them on bunker spoons. Don't know how long it will last but it's prime time right now.
Big Bass in the Bay report

[Arbutis]

Originally Posted by wrktoomuch

Thanks for sharing again. Looks like it will keep the gulp on, but what keeps it from spinning?

Plastic baits move a lot more freely when they don't have the shaft of the hook going through them. With the corkscrew, there's only a tiny straight wire sticking out the head of the Gulp and no hook shank to offset the weight distribution in any direction. Therefore, it just pulls straight through the water and the tail acts like a rudder keeping it straight.

This is why the Banjo Minnow has so much success - great looking natural action without the shaft of the hook twisting and distorting the natural shape of the plastic.

[Arbutis]

Corkscrews can be found here if interested. Good action on the hooks of bucktails as well.