Best Rig for Wrasse

What's the best rig for Wrasse and general mini species
Length strength hook size etc

As simple as poss Dave,I use a 3 way swivel with a split ring attached to the bottom for the lead and the hook length coming off the side,Wrasse fishing
Is normally snaggy and this minimises tackle to snag up and I always know where my bait is in relation to the bottom by using the lead as a gauge,this works well when fishing down the side of rocks,I always use limpets off the rocks for bait on a size 1 hook,with quite a short hook length.

For Holyhead breakwater I cut down sabiki rigs ( or shrimp rigs work too) so there are just 3 hooks, the bottom snood spaced so it is flat on the sea bed and the others are obviously further up in the water, dropped straight down the wall or into the corners were the steps are set into the wall, Sabikihooks are quite small and I tipped them with a quarter to a half inch of ragworm, for this I prefer the naturally dug rag from Winnies worms, farmed rag are often a bit big I find.

On one of the hooks I snipped off the cellophane that is meant to look like a fry

A light snap connection or other weak link to the lead meant I lost only the lead but kept the rig a couple of times.


That said I got snapped off twice - might have been spider crab?- or maybe the rig needed to be heavier. If you are after monsters from snaggy rocks then a single rig hook probably is better.

I could have done with my drop net too on a couple of the Wrasse that came along with smaller ones and assorted minis

Very helpful thanks chaps

You could try a float rig with a sliding stop knot so you can change the depth.
Wrasse build nests in the rock face(under water)so they can be at varying depths.
A small carp hook is big enough.
Caught a few off Puffin Island using this method.
It also keeps your rig off the bottom and snags.
Pieces of limpet seem to work ok,and they stay on the hook.
I used a bubble float.
I used 30lb braid on a spinning reel,with a 12lb flouro clear rig line.
I put a 4" loop in the flouro,and cut it next to the line,which made a paternoster.
3 way swivel on the bottom,with a 3oz weight,and a 6" piece of line off the 3 Way swivel,both with hooks on.
You could vary the bait depending on the species.
A 2"X 1/4" strip of silver mackerel skin might pick up a few of the smaller species.

I got this one last week off Amlwch breakwater 2lb 6 oz on a size 10 carp hook and a half inch bit of ragworm, on  my mini rig which is 2 plastic booms with 10lb snoods about 6 inches long, and a rotten bottom to a chuckaway lead.

VALVEBOUNCE wrote:

You could try a float rig with a sliding stop knot so you can change the depth.
Wrasse build nests in the rock face(under water)so they can be at varying depths.
A small carp hook is big enough.
Caught a few off Puffin Island using this method.
It also keeps your rig off the bottom and snags.
Pieces of limpet seem to work ok,and they stay on the hook.
I used a bubble float.
I used 30lb braid on a spinning reel,with a 12lb flouro clear rig line.
I put a 4" loop in the flouro,and cut it next to the line,which made a paternoster.
3 way swivel on the bottom,with a 3oz weight,and a 6" piece of line off the 3 Way swivel,both with hooks on.
You could vary the bait depending on the species.
A 2"X 1/4" strip of silver mackerel skin might pick up a few of the smaller species.

Have to say float fishing for them is good fun. I was up in Bull Bay a couple of weeks back and I used a small Drennan Piker 4 float (11g IIRC) simply because I liked the visibility of the orange top to the otherwise clear float.

I fished this as a simple sliding set up with a single No1 hook on a bout 3ft 10lb fluro snood with 20lb braid main line. The small bullet weight was about 3ft from the hook and I used small pieces of rag as bait.

All my takes were with 2ft of the rock face, and I took a couple of Wrasse, a small Pollack and three Gunards..

I must have missed that report
I do like float fishing too the anticipation is great