Setting up your Drone Fishing Rig for the best Fishing results

Lets show you how to setup a drone fishing rig.

Like any style of fishing there are always a number of ways to rig your line for any given style of fishing & while some people swear by a certain trace, hook, and mainline setup – others just as easily dismiss that setup as “not a great setup for catching fish”.

So what we outline below is the tried and true method that we use every week & has been extremely successful for us.  We have used a similar setup now for many years (some some variation) and we know that it is a proven method of catching fish when used from the beach.

So normally we are using a Boat rod & Reel Setup, we will go into why we use this in a separate article.

For the Mainline (that spools onto the Reel) we use 80 pound Braid & this then attaches (via a swivel) onto thick Monifilament Line (say 250 Pound) or for those who use a Kontiki or Long Line setup – you will know it as “Backbone”.  This Mainline & Backbone setup makes everything incredible strong right down to the sinker on the end.  This is important so that the main section of your rig is stronger to withstand Sharks, Rays, and also snags on the bottom.

On the Backbone itself, we use Metal Crimps at about one metre intervals from each other from the sinker end – right up to the swivel, and our traces are simply long-line traces which you can make yourself with the hooks snelled onto the trace or you can buy these traces pre-made, either way is fine. One the other end of the trace is a metal clip.  This metal clip simple attaches to the Backbone, in between the metal Crimps.  So this setup itself is very similar to what you might use for a beach longline or Kontiki setup – only we operate with far less hooks.

We normally fish with no more than a seven hook trace as this is ample for attracting fish into take a bite & if you happen to get a good haul of say 5 good fish on at once – this is more than enough weight to haul in at one time on a rod & reel.

On the outer end of the Backbone, the Sinker is attached and the selection of sinker is of critical importance to the setup.  Typically we use a 3-5 oz Breakaway or Surfcasting sinker with metal prongs that can be set.  These types of sinkers act as anchors to your rig, once they are dropped & are set in the sand – because simply you don’t want your rig drifting in the current.  Catch rates decrease dramatically if you have a rig that drifts in the current.  The great thing about these sinkers is that when you are ready to bring in your line, simply give a good pull on the line and the wires “Break away”

Typically we will attach the Sinker to the Backbone with a short stretch of 8-10 pound Monofilament line.  This makes the sinker act as a kind of sacrificial release – should the sinker get snagged, particularly while retrieving the line once you are ready to bring it in.  If the Sinker gets snagged, then the thin mono line simply breaks & there-by releasing the sinker which is lost – but far better than losing your backbone & trace setup!

Normally the attach point of the trace to the drone is the somewhere near the sinker.  This means that the drone takes out the sinker to the furthermost out point to where you intend to fish from.  We generally attach quite close to the sinker itself just with a small loop in the thin Mono line somewhere.  Attaching quite close to the sinker itself drops what we call the “Pendulum Effect” of the heavy weight of the sinker swinging around while the drone is flying out with your rig potentially disrupting your drones flight and also possibly twisting up the line on itself – both of these you don’t want to happen.

Well there it is! Your drone fishing trace!  Of course there are many variations on this trace setup including colorful tassels around the hooks, the use of various types of hooks, and even dual sinkers on the end.  We will cover these in a different article later.

Having said all this, If you are just starting out with Drone Fishing, the great thing about this style of fishing is that if you want to keep things really easy & simple early on, then you can even use a single hook rig or even a pre-made flasher rig with 2-3 hooks & a surfcasting or spinning reel setup, the options are there.

Either way, if you have any questions please feel free to reach out to us – we are happy to help!

Please note that all our articles are put together by our team and should not be replicated or plagiarised in any way without express written permission.