Thank you for the feedback! Rig gum every time for me.

Yes, there is indeed a reason! bait stops are only needed on clipped down rigs, IMO, to stop the bait sliding up the snood when cast. On a flapper rig like this, the force of the cast pushes the bait down the snood towards the hook. I just use a bit of elastic on the bait to hold it in place when necessary.

hi David, I’ve not tried weighted booms, but did try weighted beads in the past. I am not sure it made a lot of difference, but I didn’t experiment that much. I prefer to keep my line a bit slack when conditions allow, and the rod tip low, to keep the rig close to the sea bed.

As sole are bottom feeders, one effect of short snoods is a shorter rig body - so that helps keep all the baits, even the top hook, nearer the sea bed. They are also quite vicious with their bites. My feeling is that the short snood length helps to provide a lot of resistance more quickly when they take the bait, leading to more hook-ups; a longer snood might need more movement from the fish before the hook sets. In turn, more movement means the fish may a feel a low level of resistance before it’s sufficient to set the hook, leading to dropped bait and no hook-up. I hope that makes sense - if not I’ll try to clarify. Also I make them 10 inches so if I need to replace a hook I still end up with an 8 inch snood which I am happy to use for sole. I find 6 inches snoods too short, personally.

And thanks for your feedback! 😃

@ClickBaitGem Thanks a mill for the response, Gem. That's great information and makes a ton of sense. Will incorporate this into my fishing!! Looking forward to your upcoming videos. All the best.

You’re welcome. Let me know if it works for you when you get to try it out. Be a while before the sole are about in Sussex again in numbers.