If you fish the bottom in the Northeast, you fish a high-low rig. Two dropper hooks above a sinker, baited and dropped onto structure, is as simple as fishing gets and it flat out produces, from a cooler of black sea bass to a mixed bag of ground fish out on the banks. It is the first rig a lot of us ever tied, and it still catches fish every trip.
What it is
A high-low rig (also called a dropper-loop or top-and-bottom rig) is a length of leader with two dropper loops, one higher, one lower, each holding a hook, and a sinker at the bottom. The lower hook fishes right on the bottom; the upper hook rides a foot or two up, covering two levels at once and letting you fish two baits, or two different baits, on one drop.
How to fish it
- Match the sinker to the conditions. Use just enough weight to hold bottom in the current, too little and you drag off the structure, too much and you feel nothing.
- Get down and stay in contact. Drop until you hit bottom, then reel up a turn so the lower bait sits just off it and you can feel the taps.
- Read the bites. Bottom fish often tap and nibble before they commit. Feel for the weight to load up, then lift into the fish rather than swinging wildly.
- Reset your drift. When you slide off the piece, the bites stop, reel up and reposition to get back over structure.
Tip Add a small teaser or a colored bead above a hook to draw extra strikes, and tip your hooks with fresh clam, squid or sea worm. A little scent and flash on the bottom makes a real difference.
A note on tautog
The high-low is a great all-around bottom rig, but for tautog specifically, most anglers switch to a dedicated single-hook tog rig with a crab bait fished tight to the rocks. For black sea bass, scup and haddock, the high-low is hard to beat.