Fishing Hawaii Style by Jim Rizzuto Rigging Right. When a fish strikes a fast-moving trolling lure, the hook may not always end up in the fish's mouth, but that isn't necessarily bad news. You may actually get a more solid hookup if the hook point grabs the fish outside the mouth. We were reminded of the importance of hook placement by an ono caught on a lure shaped like a bowling pin. The hook placement on Braid's new Ten-Pin Lure is designed to be just as effective on fish that strike the lure at its middle as it is on those that engulf it. This ono had struck the lure from the side, and its single hook had pierced the ono's cheek on the outside above the jaw hinge. The hook was so well-anchored that it did not pull out even when a large shark grabbed the ono and started a tug of war. Because the hook stayed embedded, we were able to bring home a few pounds of fillets at least. The Braid Ten-Pin allows you to rig the hook in a rigid position, unlike most other hard-bodied lures for which the hooks are free-swinging. On the Ten-Pin, the hook is pulled up into a slot on the body, which prevents the hook from swinging or getting out of line. The lure is ballasted to swim upright with the hook sticking up out of the back near the tail. The upright, stern-end hook position increases outside-the-mouth hookups without jeopardizing the chances of inside-the-mouth hookups on fish that swallow the lure. The Ten-Pin seems to be an excellent addition to a trolling spread (we caught our first ono within 15 minutes of trolling our field test lure), but the hook placement principle applies to other standards you have sitting in your box. You can follow similar principles to rig any standard skirted lure, as well. Try replacing your tandem-hook rigs with single-hook setups. The key is to place the single hook so the bend is at the tail end of the skirt and the point rides clear outside the tail. Use spacer beads on the leader ahead of the hook and behind the lure to position the hook far enough back in the skirt. Use tape, or shrink tubing, to stiffen the joint linking the leader loop and hook eye. You can even achieve a vertical hook path if you are using bevel-faced plastic heads. Orient the point to follow the nose of the lure; peg it in place with a toothpick jammed against the leader in the leader hole. When the trolled lure rides through the water, it will continuously try to climb up its beveled face. That attempt keeps the lure upright. For bullet-nosed lures, the hook may rotate full circle because the lure is free to revolve as it trolls. Even so, you'll probably find as many fisherman who use single-hook rigs or metal jets and jigs as tandem-hook rigs. Their preference is not just a matter of economy; one hook may be cheaper than two, but a lost fish is very costly. You'll hear conflicting advice on drag settings to use with single-hook rigs. A heavy drag will set the hook nicely in fish that grab the lure across the middle or swallow it whole. A light drag will get as many swallowers, but probably fewer cross-strikers. But the light drag does allow a striking fish to turn its head and run away from the boat; that action often pulls the hook into a solid anchoring position in the corner of the mouth. Try single-hook rigs for yourself, and experiment with the drag setting. As for the Ten-Pin Lure, if you can't find it in your tackle shop, contact Braid Products Inc., 616 East Avenue P, Palmdale, California 93550, telephone (661)266-9791.