This seems to be the time of year I keep getting short strikes with the big hammer. I've tried putting a treble on the tail but it ends up making the bait not swim properly. I know Robs' article on swimbaits say's when you get short strikes to just keep reeling and hopefully you will get a hook-up. If I could hook those short strikers I would increase my catch dramaticly these days.....BassMan

I'm not sure if you have already checked out the Big Hammer site, but they have an article about trap-rigging them for short strikes. Mainly it talks about how this would help while trolling the smaller BH's for trout but I don't see why this would'nt work with the bigger baits for bigger fish.

Here's a couple links....

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=3&topic_id=12192&mesg_id=12192&listing_type=search

http://www.swimbait.com/techniques/index.html

I know the kind of bites you are talking about. That happened a lot to me at Margarita for whatever reason. I think it's probably smaller fish that are hitting at the tail instead of trying to eat the bait. It could also be fish that are trying to grab the bait by the throat and not getting hooked. I pretty much never rig a stinger hook on the 5" big hammer because like you said, it can mess up the action and it fouls in the weeds a lot, which is typically where you want to be fishing in the post spawn and summer time. All I can say is to try to gauge the bite and make the appropriate hook set. If the line goes slack or you get a good thump, those are the ones to just slam the hook on. If you get the tap tap tap bite, try to wind through it and wait until you feel the fish move off with the bait in either direction, then hit them. When you start hooking those tap tap tap bites, I'd bet any money they are 10 to 13" long fish. I'd also recommend putting megastrike on your bait. It stays on a long time and lubes it up nicely.

I hooked up a couple of baits with the trap rig and thanks you guys for the info on rigging it. The only problem is I haven't been out to test them yet. Margarita is so low right now its about making me think its never gonna rain again. The water level as of 6/9 was at 35.4% which is -29.2'. The fishing there has steadily gotten tougher and tougher every year with the declining levels. There is some weeds growing but I can't catch squat in them. Last year I was killing um with a spinnerbait in the weeds but not this year. These bites i'm talking about are in the middle of the lake in the main river channel which is very easy to find right now. I'll keep plugging away and with the trap rigged baits maybe I'll catch a dink or two.....BassMan