Brad's Cut Plug Rigging for the ocean?

Hello Everyone,

After hearing about the successes of Brad's Cut Plugs for Coho and Chinook in the ocean, I purchased my first couple to use this weekend.  I understand that they can be only rigged for the ocean with two single point, barbless hooks.  That much I understand.  However, on Brad's website, YouTube, and the web, I've seen so many options to rig them up and it's a bit confusing on what's the best way for our local salmon. 

I will be trolling  behind a triangle or Konezone flasher.

I've seen the following rig options:

- No beads, both hooks trailing
- One Bead, back hook trailing
- 3 beads
- 5 beads
- 5 tapered beads
- no beads, with the front hook slipped under the rubber band,
- Rubber band in the egg loop
- one bead and a tube

Any thoughts on which setups are better for our waters?

Thanks for the help.

Following. I'm up North but have rigged all of mine with the rubber band in the egg loop and one trailing hook. Limited experience, but I caught one last year and it was hooked perfectly on the trailing hook.

I'm also curious if any of you have tried casting these from shore (the minis)? I tried last year and had a few hits, but also problems w/ line twist (even with bead chains)...

I tried the beads and the no beads and settled on the no beads, as it looked like the hooks sit better against the underside of the bait.  I also threaded the line through the bottom hole and slid the hook under the rubber band.

Does this look right?  Any suggestions?

Using the rubber band to hold the hook is new to me.  As far as I know, that rubber band is designed to just keep the bait closed.

I do the second from the top on the right in this figure.

Remember, if you're fishing in the ocean the treble hook options violate the "no more than two single barbless hooks" reg for salmon.

I would definitely not put the hooks or line under the rubber band. I realize they come with a few replacements, but those things are squirrely to put on while on the kayak. If you hook a fish that rubber band is surely going bye-bye. I have use similar rigging but with the beads and first hook sitting closer to the hook keeper.

Thanks for the input Brian and Matt.    Making adjustments.

I saw a unique method of the brad's rigging in the past week on a friend's power boat.
One of the best Brad's rigging (for the number of bites to hook-up ratio) was to use a treble hook in the middle of the body, with two of the hooks cut from the treble and used as a stabilizer for the single hook that lays in the middle of the body.  Then a stinger octopus hook (threaded underneath the rubberband) and right at the tail of the brad's body.   Pinch the barbs down on both hooks and it's a legal "two single point barbless" ocean rig.  We used four Brad's and this rigging was consistently better than the others.

The rubberband does come off the body when a coho thrashes, but that's OK because the rubberband is trapped between the brads body and the hooked fish....so it's right there on the leader to secure.  There's a copious supply of spare rubberbands whenever it is rigged like this, just in case they do fall off. 

I think having the octopus hook at the very tail of the Brad's and secured with the rubberband, really eliminates short biters or missed hits.  If a fish hit that lure, it was hooked.

This was the full size Brad's cut plug.  I know there are mini cut plugs and also the kokanee cut plug size.... has anyone used the smaller versions for ocean salmon?

I like hangback rigging.

I like this rig. Worked in the river assume it will in the ocean. Have standard double mooching type hang back setups as well.

. . . And yes I will be pinching down the barb

My rigging this year is similar to the third one from the top on the right-hand side in bsteve's photo. Only difference is I have about a 1/4" of spinner tubing between the one bead and the Super Bait, to set my hooks just a tad further back from the bait. The idea is to maximize the "bite" of both hooks by keeping them away from the Super Bait, so they're less likely to fold up against the lure and basically not hook fish.

I think the rubber band idea would result in more hookups, but you're also going to lose a ton of rubber bands. I feel like there's enough plastic bits floating around in the ocean as it is, so I'm not going to add to it if I can help it  .

This is how I'm rigging mine. I'm adding a second bead chain though. One a foot or so in front of the cut plug and one at the start or the leader. We get a lot of weeds/eelgrass at times. We'll see how it goes, I guess.

I have used Brads cut plug for years for Bull trout and some for salmon.  I have the rubber band in the bait loop of the upper hook.  By doing that, the hook is always pointed out away from the back of the lure and the trailing hook a short distance behind the lure.  When a fish gets hooked, the rubber band comes off the cut plug, but is captured in the loop.

What is everyone's preferred hook size setup. Hard to tell from the photos. Have been using 3/0 in the Willamette.

I tried the beads and the no beads and settled on the no beads, as it looked like the hooks sit better against the underside of the bait.  I also threaded the line through the bottom hole and slid the hook under the rubber band.

Does this look right?  Any suggestions?

Cosmo, this is EXACTLY how I do it. I always slide the upper hook under the rubber band. Once you lose the rubber band on a bait (it will happen eventually) you can buy any number of replacement things to use. Instead of buying expensive rubber band replacements from Brads I have found my wifes small hair elastics work well, small O rings you can get dirt cheap, even slightly larger rubber bands just looped a few times. There's so many ways people rig these up it's really hard to go wrong. I just like the way you showed in the picture because I can have several extra leaders tied up and ready to go in case a hook gets popped off or something.