Meat rigs

[Fishy]

Wondering if there is a big difference in what brand you buy, is one better than the other?

[joelsanders]

I like runnin the whole herrings and the Big Weenie brand are great,i purchased a Dreamweaver one recently and it's nice but the head was too thin for my herring probly should use the strips on that brand,i butcherd my herring a lil and still caught a steelie on it.

[SeaCatMich]

The main thing I have found in running meat is that you want it to spin/rotate at around 2.5 to 3 times per second. Out of the package I have found that the Big Weenie spin correctly at 2.5 to 3.0 mph X4 downspeed. The John King heads work spin better out of the package at 1.8 to 2.2 mph speeds. Some heads need tuning to run with the correct rotation rate at any speed -- bending the head and/or putting a bend in the herring.

Since I generally run a mixed lure spread and most of those lures run better at the 2.5 to 2.8 mph I prefer the BW rigs.

[gmfishon]

Spin 3 times a second ?

[bowbender]

I don't fish meat allot but 3 revolutions per second sounds awful fast that's 180 rpm. I'll have to look at mine closer next time to check the rpm's, I just check to make sure they spin...that's probably why I don't catch as much on meat and fish more of a spoon fly presentation.

[Gnarf]

More like 2, at least that's what my John kings work best at. I run some big weenie but I don't like them much because they roll too fast and tight. I like the slow hypnotic roll on my rigs.

[Gnarf]

Also John king has a video on his site of how they are supposed to roll. It helps a lot

[Fishy]

What about different brands of herring? I hear erie dearie is good.

[Gnarf]

For strips I like the ballyhoo premium strips but for most of it I buy blue or green label herring and brine my own

[Sly Selea]

What about different brands of herring? I hear erie dearie is good.

I switched over to Familiar Bite early this year after needing some in Holland and that was what they sold at Lakeshore Tackle. In my opinion they are longer, meatier and tougher than Erie Dearie. I had to drive back up to Saugatuck from St Joe to stock up on them. Not entirely sure if I'm getting any better results on them yet, but I'm an optimist.

I wonder though, if any decently brined brand won't due.

[SeaCatMich]

Spin 3 times a second ?

Sorry, said it backwards. Should be a rotation every 2-3 seconds.

[bowbender]

Thanks Joe, I'll take a closer look at mine for rotation speed from now on.

[SeaCatMich]

Couple more notes on meat rigs.

With flashers and flies the flasher actually gives action to the fly. With meat rigs the bait head and meat itself is what really gives the action. The flasher is more to attract the salmon by fooling it into thinking that another salmon is feeding on a school of bait. This is the main reason that the stretch from the flasher to the lure is much longer with a meat rig.

It is also important that the roll of the meat head is not completely uniform. There should be a "kick". Think about how a wounded bait fish swims. It does a flip of the tail and then the body follows with a spin then it gets enough energy to flip the tail again. It is sort of hard to describe but you want the head to do this too... not just spin. The meat heads from both Big Weenie and John King are designed to do this out of the package while other brands require you to rig the bait correctly to get a bend that will do the roll with the "kick".

[picman]

Sorry, said it backwards. Should be a rotation every 2-3 seconds.

Damn. I've been seeing/reading 1-2 per second......no wonder I can't catch anything on whole bait!!!!!!

[Bad Dog]

Damn. I've been seeing/reading 1-2 per second......no wonder I can't catch anything on whole bait!!!!!!

I don't think it's your roll, something else is going on here.

[picman]

Not sure what else to do. I can get hits on strips at times.