I use 550 cord,14/0 circle hooks,#36 staging and about 10 lbs of weight. I hardly ever lose a jug. or even break a line

My swivel setup is similar to yours, just easier to tie and while the 1# dumbell weight is cheap and handy I like the concrete casting because it seems like it would be harder for a fish to drag. I think I will try some leaders like that next time I build some lines, anything to cut tangles.

i decided to rig mine a 'lil different ... i haven't tested it enuff yet to know if i will like it better or not

I got an old stainless steel shaft golf club & cut the head off it & cut threads in it , got a 2 ft piece of round stock 1/4 of an inch & cut threads on it & heated the other end with my torch & put a question mark shape to it. It screws into the end of the golf club & that makes a perfect trotline/jugline snagger! It is short enough that it does'nt take up much room in the boat either! I make my juglines out of laundry detergent & bleach jugs. I use #72 line for my main line & small braided line for my stagings. I use Cans that pork & beans come in filled with cement for weights & old romex wire for the loops to tie onto. I like 6/0 longshank stainless saltwater hooks on 12 inch staging for the bottom hook & 18 inch stagings for the top hook. My lines are anywhere from 20 feet to 6 feet long, on the shorter lines, I use one hook close to the bottom with 12inch staging. These are my yellow cat lines that I bait with live perch or carp minnows fished in the flats by dropoffs with deep water closeby. My channel cat lines, I use ghost minnows wormed on the hooks or cut shad fished along channels & dropoffs with structure closeby. Since I don't like bluecats, any that i catch, I will give away or release back to catch another time! My favorite catfish to eat are channels & yellowcats! That is the way my grandpa taught me when I was a boy. He taught me all I know about catfishing & what I've picked up from others over the years.

IMHO ghost minners are as good as shad

Medulla762, that is a great rig. I was taught to make a similar rig when I was a kid. That was trotlining for yellows.

I have gotten away from that because as you said, it's more work, but I think I'll make one or two like yours for fun.

Great set up,hard to pick one or the other

Yessiree!! I'd druther have ghost minners than shad!! In my opinion, they are about the best channel cat bait in the ecosystem! I like helgramites too, but they are too hard to come by since I got older, fatter & lazier! LOL!

i usat have a 1/4 inch mesh throw net that i could catch them minners in ... need to get a nuthern i rekon ... course a good seine works too ifn ya got a pardner

Hey guys....I'm headed to Lake Fairfield tomorrow and I am new to "Jugging". I made up 6 with short lines (6 ft.) to try for the first time. They have sinkers at the bottom and long shank hooks about 12 inch up from the sinker.

I intend to free float them in about 6 feet of water at Fairfield while I look for some bluegills.

Finally, my question. Do you think I am wasting my time jugging that shallow this time of year on that lake?

Thanks.....

no- it won't be a waste of time

Yeah Albert, I have a new 20ft seine, but no podner yet, he'll be with me all summer though! My 13 year old grandson will spend the summer with me!I cannoot throw a net, especially out of a boat, my balance is no good anymore, too much medicines taken daily that messes with my balance! That is why I am not trotlining this year, I have no help, so juglining it is for this old man!Sure wish I had a fishing buddy that was dependable! I cannot/will not tolerate anyone that will not show up when they say they will or at least call me!