The Ronnie Rig

by Damian Wheway

1. Take your chosen hooklink material for your Ronnie rig. In this demo we are using the Tarantul coated braid from Katran’s exceptional hooklink range.

2. There are a few suitable hook patterns for this rig. The curveshank hook is the most popular pattern for the Ronnie rig, so we’re using our very own D-xcurve.

3. To begin with, we’ll be adding our components to the hook. The spinner swivel is up first.

4. To complete the hook construction, you will need a micro ring swivel, a shank bead and a coloured kicker.

5. Next, push the kicker onto the hook down to the top of the spinner swivel barrel. Using a kicker is just one variation used for the Ronnie rig, other types of kickers or shrink tubing are also very popular.

6. Your hook, spinner swivel and coloured kicker should look like this

7. The next component used is the micro ring swivel. To attach, pass the hook point through the large ring on the swivel.

8. To complete this part of the rig, push on the shank bead around the shank of the hook until it is roughly in line with the hook barb.

9. Take around 14 inches of your coated braid and pass one end through the large ring of the spinner swivel.

10. Next form a loop in preparation of tying a figure of eight loop knot.

11. Tie the figure of eight loop knot and tease it down to the spinner swivel ring, leaving roughly a 5 to 10mm gap before tightening.

12. To tighten the knot, we recommend using a knot puller to avoid any painful accidents!

13. Finish the knot by trimming off the tag end. For extra security you can ‘blob’ the end with a lighter.

14. As the Ronnie rig is generally used for a buoyant hookbait, next we’ll be applying some of our best selling Tungsten putty.

15. Pinch off around half a pea-sized amount of putty and mould it around your figure of eight loop knot as shown.

16. Next we’ll be adding an anti-tangle sleeve. At this point it’s worth mentioning that several types of hooklink are suitable for this rig. Stiff or soft fluorocarbon are also a popular option.

17. Pass the free end of the hooklink material through the narrow end of the anti-tangle sleeve

18. Tie a figure of eight loop knot, this time making a larger loop to aid attaching the rig to your mainline before fishing.

19. With the knot pulled tight, trim the tag end leaving around 10mm of excess.

20. Using a lighter, ‘blob’ the tag end for added security.

21. Slide up the anti-tangle sleeve over the knot leaving enough of the loop showing to attach it to your mainline.

22. The rig is now ready to attach your bait. For this example we’re using bait floss. Pass around 6 inches of bait floss through the small eye of the micro ring swivel mounted on the hook.

23. Next, using a baiting needle, pull both ends of the bait floss through your chosen hookbait.

24. Trim off the excess bait floss leaving about an inch left over, then using a lighter, melt the floss back to the hookbait to seal the attachment.

25. Your Ronnie rig is complete and ready to catch you some fish!

26. Many of the components in this demonstration can be changed depending on where you are fishing. E.g. hooklink, putty or kicker colours. The length of the rig is also variable. It’s good to experiment and ‘tweak’ your rigs to maximise your chances on the bank.

Good luck!