lets talk hoops!

[ful-rac]

Originally Posted by lowprofile

so rigging for these bugs has me running in circles. i put 50ft of rope on them, tie on a big Tide bottle, add shiny tape and a glow stick. works great in the bays to about 40ft. then i find a nice pile in 60ft... so now i rig up one with 100ft for the next outing BUT... my next outing will be in the harbor targeting 15-30ft... what do i do with all that extra rope? just let it hang off? i tried tying it in a loop but it gets prety messy.

also, attaching bait cages. you guys zip tie them in full time? or use D rings to clip them in after baiting?

how are you transporting your nets, bouyes, cages etc? pre rigged or seperate then clip it all together before the drop?

50ft of rope in my opinion is good for working areas that are no deeper than 35-40ft. You should use the commercial style bouys that they sell at the tackle shops. It's a good investment considering how much all your gear costs. If your tide bottle develops a leak, or gets run over bye, bye gear!

I just switched over to some new rope this season and so far it's working out great. Gotta use low memory rope, otherwise you'll be dealing with tangles instead of hooping. Try this stuff it seems to work better than the poly hollow stuff.

Home depot reflective rope.


As far as what you should do about your excess line, just add weight to the end of your line and let it sink. So you will have 60ft of rope on one side and 40ft on the other. If the tide rises or falls it's self adjusting.

Securing bait cages, use the promar bait cage clips. It speeds up baiting up and breaking down. Plus you save on extra zip-ties. Only way to go in my opinion!

I transport my hoops on my yak fully rigged and ready to fish, bait cage attached.
I just stack em' up behind me, and fire 'em out there when it's time.