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Daily fishing report

Every now and then something new is developed that catches fish instead of just catching the angler's eye. One is a light-tackle shallow-water gadget called the "stoopid rig."

You can't buy this rig at a tackle store, but you can buy the components and assemble it. It's simple. The rig is a 2/0 or 3/0 circle hook, a small corkscrew-looking coiled wire device, and a 3- or 4-inch soft plastic split-tail shad body.

Screw the corkscrew end of the wire device into the nose of the soft plastic bait. The other end of the wire is bent so it can clip on the circle hook. That's it.

The only weight is from the rig, which sinks slowly and is worked with a slow retrieve and twitching motion to appear alive but wounded. Use with braided line because it will be easier to cast than traditional monofilament line.

Publications say of 28 strikes, 27 fish were caught. That all has to do with the circle hook being a better fish-hooking hook than the ordinary style. In fact, there is no hook set with the rig. Once the strike is felt, a steady retrieve is all that is needed. Ninety percent of the fish hooked were in the corner of the fish's mouth. The rest were hooked through the lower jaw.

It was proven to me on the first cast.

-- Captain Rick Frazier runs Lucky Dawg Charters in St. Petersburg, (727) 510-4376 or e-mail captrick@luckydawg.com.

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