Good post John........ folks that are new to forum usually have not heard of this rig......... probably need to repost it every few months.

I am having problems with the hellbender not digging in. It starts out with the rod tip bent, then goes slack and I have to move the rod around to get it back down. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks

Thanks for the great pic and explanation John! Have you tried a tandem rig off the back of the hellbender before?

It may need to be tuned...it might in fact be running up to the side.......try another one and see if that works....I bet this is the problem....I have had it happen from time to time.

Thanks John

John GREAT illustration, I mean GREAT!! Good to see you're back up and getting around. Looking forward to seeing you back on Hubbard.

Where in the heck have you been ?

Great illustration John, maybe I can catch a
fish once in a while now.

This is probably a stupid question, but do fish sometimes strike the hellpet? If so, would it be worth leaving the rear treble hook on the hellpet in clear water?

Eric, is that you? Nobody has heard f rom you in ages.
I have thought many times about using a hook on the rear, but with my luck will get hung up immediately and my trusty hound Dog Lure retriever will not slide over that rear hook.

About the hooks on the Hellbender:

When the Hell/Pet was first shown to me a few years ago it was by a man on Tawakoni that felt sorry for us trolling Rattletraps and having little or no luck. He and his partner were loading the boat. When passing close by my wife jokingly asked if she could fish with them. He stopped and hollered for us to come over to his boat. He pitched Hellbenders and spoons for three riggings in our boat and would take no payment. Now folks you don't see that everyday.

Anyway I don't remember if he told us to remove the hooks or not. But we lost all three rigs in no time flat. But that was after catching a few fish rather quickly.

We were at Academy the next day loading up on Hell/Pets. I think I read on here to remove the hooks. Since then I think I have only lost one or two Hellbenders and a few more Petspoons.

Just last Sunday on Cooper Lake my wife and son reeled in enough to reach my "fish cleaning limit line" on the ice chest using the Hell/Pet rig.

And while the 5600 C4 is John's favorite reel for this. My opinion is that is too good of a casting reel for this. We use the older original red 5000's. They are like a winch. I'm saving my 5600's and 4600's for throwing lures.

We did great on the pool on Friday & Sunday morning with the hell/pet. We were having a ton of fun & then had to go in to work.

Where do you buy the hellbender ? And don't say Academy, I was there yesterday and they didn't have any.

I checked Bass Pro Shops in OKC and they told me that the "hellbender" lure is no longer made.

What does everyone have to say about that?

They are in the 2005 Heddon Lure catalog. But I suppose they could have stopped makin 'em.

http://www.heddonlures.com/HeddonCatalog.pdf