The flatfish boom rig is a short to medium distance rig when used for shore fishing. From the boat, it is a general purpose rig mainly for smaller species.
As an alternative to the crimps to secure the booms, silicon stops can be used which are movable unlike the fixed crimps. Coils of telephone wire, wound tightly round the trace body can also be used.
Breakaway Tackle supply an adjustable crimp, these are more bulky and require a specialised crimping tool.
Flatfish Boom Rig Components
Main Body
1 x Medium Swivel
6 x 3mm Beads
3 x Twisted Wire Booms
6 x Soft Metal Crimps
1 x Lead Link
Approx. 1 – 1.5 metre length 30-60lb BS main line
Snoods
3 x 450mm approx lengths 10-20lb BS snood
3 x 6 to 1 fine wire hooks, my favourite are the UK Hooks Eagle Claw fine wire gold hooks
The Rig Body
- Tie on the lead link and thread on the rest of the components in this order; Crimp / Bead / Boom / Bead / Crimp
- Repeat for the other two booms.
- Tie on the swivel or oval split ring to the top of the trace body.
- Fasten the crimps to the line, the distance apart should ensure that the snoods will not tangle when casting or fishing. Care should be taken when fixing the crimps not to damage the line. Round nose pliers work better than “crimping” pliers.
- Tie the hooks to the snoods and then to the swivels; the snood lengths should be around 200 – 450 mm depending upon the length of the trace body. If you need to fish with longer snoods then it will be necessary to either lengthen the trace body, which may restrict casting. or reduce the number of snoods to two.
- Beads and / or sequins can be added to the snoods as attractors before adding the hooks; buoyant beads can be effective on the snoods and the pull on floating beads with the silicon inserts work as a bait stop.
- The breaking strain of the snoods and size of the hooks will depend upon the target species.
- Small drilled bullets or egg sinkers can be added between the booms and beads to help anchor the rig to the seabed is targeting sole.
- From the shore the rig works best using a weight without grip wires as this allows the rig to be twitched back on the retrieve adding movement to the baits.
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There are numerous sources of terminal tackle both locally and on-line, here are a few suggestions –
