How to make a Pulley Pennel Rig

Pulley rigs are one of my go to rigs for fishing at distance. You can either use them with a single hook or add an additional hook to make it a Pulley Pennel Rig. The second hook helps to present a larger or longer bait at range, It can also help to increase the number of hook ups. I have found a larger percentage of the fish I land are hooked on the upper hook.

The Pennel Rig is one of the simplest to make and can easily be made on the beach if needed. The beauty of this rig is you can make it as long or as short as you want. I would recommend trying different hook lengths on two different rods if you can. When you find the one that works best on the day, then switch to that length on both rods.

Pulley Pennel rigs are excellent for targeting Cod, Bass, Smoothound and Rays where a big bait will always out fish a smaller one. I often use the rig for fishing for Plaice of Chesil, but I normally take the pennel hook off and use a single size  1 or 1/0 Aberdeen hook baited with Ragworm, Peeler Crab or Mussels.

Bead Swivel & Knot

Bead swivel attached to mainline with half tucked blood knot. Note the five turns round before the tuck. All knots on this rig are the same as this. Bead allows line to slide back and forwards.

Bead Swivel & Knot

Hook Length & Pennel

The Hook Length is 12lb - 30lb amnesia line depending on target species, amnesia as the name suggests has no memory. The Pennel consists of 2 Aberdeen Hooks, one attached to the end of the hook length the other freerunning to allow for different bait sizes.Hook sizes should be between size 1/0 and 5/0 depending on bait size.

Hook Length & Pennel

Stop Swivel and Body Line

The Stop Swivel as the name suggests stops the bead swivel from traveling too far. The main rig body line needs to be 50 or 60lb depending on lead size (10lb of line to every oz of lead). It's also important that its length is a bit longer than the hook length

Stop Swivel

Gripper Weight & Bait Clip

Clip the bottom aberdeen hook onto the bait clip to hold in place during casting.

Gripper Weight & Bait Clip

What do I need to make this?

Your local tackle shop should have most of the components you need or you can purchase them online here

Amnesia Line

Get your hooks here

What do I need to make this?

Check out our video on how to tie the rig

This short video shows how to rig a double Sandeel on a Pulley Pennel Rig