The Dongle is now probably the most talked about sea fishing right of recent times, though of course it’s technically not a rig in itself, more a means of presenting a bait that encourages a positive lip hook up in the name of conservation. Jansen has been using it for a few years now and shares his thoughts with us.
I must admit, I was rather sceptical about the effectiveness of the dongle when I first gave it a try. Circle hooks themselves just don’t look like they will work, the turned in point goes against logic at a glance, especially when as sea angler’s we have been so used to using J hooks for many decades and recognising their track record. So what made me make the change?
When it comes to terminal tackle, I look at everything. I’ll never disregard an idea out of hand, everything is considered and it’s important to keep an open mind. Just because something works and always has, it’s doesn’t mean that an idea can’t be improved on further. The rigs I use for my fishing now look a lot different than they did even 10 years ago. The bulk of my sessions are on the Bristol Channel, targeting medium to large (note I said targeting, not necessarily catching!) fish, often on rough ground. Species such as smoothhounds, rays and cod are the main-stay of my efforts and for this reason, a large bait was often presented on a pair of hooks fished in tandem alongside each other. The Pennel rig as it is known became the default approach but what was noted in most cases was that the top hook of the two was the one that hooked a fish. It did make me wonder whether the two hooks were even needed.
It was in Norway some years ago now when I discovered that the most successful anglers were using single hooks to land big fish. Pennel’s were frowned upon, simply because if a fish is hooked on one of the two hooks, the second is trailing and could find a snag, potentially causing the tackle and the fish to be lost. This made sense, but initial trials back home were disappointing. Missed bites were commonplace and more thought was needed. It occurred to me that those fish taken on the top hook of the Pennel rig had fallen for it and avoided the main hook below.
By this thinking, that bottom hook was pointless and again presented a snag risk. Around a similar time, I became aware of the dongle in the UK and I came to the realisation that the dongle is in effect a Pennel rig without that bottom hook- the one that was often fruitless when it came to hook-ups.
And so, putting two and two together, something clicked in to place. The circle hook was still a niggle for me, it just didn’t look right, but in the name of experimentation I was willing to try it. After all, it is one of the most popular patterns and is used all around the world to good effect. Why would it not work on this new single hook Pennel rig thing? After lengthy trials, the hook up rate was phenomenal and better still, a huge proportion of my catches were lip hooked. The dongle became my go-to and it wasn’t just the hook up rate that had me sold. These are the key benefits-
- The single circle hook with the turned in point is less likely to find a snag over rough ground, so tackle losses are hugely reduced.
- Bait presentation improved, as the bait was simply whipped just to the straight length of braid. There was no need to involve the hook. The bait was straighter and more aerodynamic.
- The loss of the Pennel hook meant that it was no longer necessary to wrap the line or secure it another way, meaning that the line was free of kinks and potential damage, again improving presentation.
- It’s possible to connect the hook with a Breakaway Fast link in order to replicate the loop, meaning that hooks that have become dull can be swapped over in seconds.
Clipping the dongle to a bait clip, in my case the Gemini Splashdown Solo, initially involved either an RBC or an oval split ring. Each worked, but had its downsides too. The RBC had the potential to fall out as it wasn’t a complete ring and the oval split ring had to be tied upside down so that the single thickness of the wire would locate in the clip. It’s only this past week that VMO has introduced a new solo dongle ring and so far I can only say good things about it. It’s tailor made to sit in these clips perfectly and is a shape that is unobtrusive. I’ve found that keeping just half of the clip exposed is enough to facilitate clipping down.
If there’s one other conclusion I have come to here, it’s the need to keep the dongle short. Initially I used 100mm dongles for my ray baits, so that’s 100mm between the bend of the hook to the clip. Though this provides enough space for a sandeel, these longer baits would occasionally lead to missed bites. For this reason, I decided to drop down to 80mm and opt for shorter, fatter baits. It’s now incredibly rare to miss a single bite and I keep all of my dongles at 80mm, regardless of bait and target species. It makes sense that keeping the bait as close to the hook as possible will encourage more hook-ups. For now, I’m 99.9% happy with the set up, that 0.1% is open to new thinking, different ideas and further improvements. Who knows where this rig will sit in the grand scheme of things ten years from now?