rigging live bunker

what is best way to rig live bunker?

Single hook through the nostrils is my favorite unless you want bluefish. Then it's a single back near the tail. Bass eat head first & Blues go for the tail first.

thanks

Hooking live bunker in the tail seems to increase hook-ups on stripers when using circle hooks. They swallow the bunker head-first which sometimes mashes the hook of a nose-hooked bunker against its body resulting in a missed hook-up.

Hooking in the tail also gives better control over where the bunker swims. A gentle tug on the line will aim the bunker away from you which is especially important when fishing from shore.

Funny thing re: bluefish, though. More often than not, they seem to bite the bunker in half from whatever end doesn't have the hook. Not to worry, though. Letting the remaining piece drift down under the school can hook stripers, which are sometimes loitering below the melee picking up the scraps left behind by bluefish.

thank you

I usually hook the bunker behind the dorsal for a live line shallow situation. When I am drifting deep water with a lot of current I hook thru the jaw and up thru a nostril. This will swim the bait thru the rip. If the bait dies or gets "blued up" it will keep the bunkers mouth shut. Once that mouth opens up it does a lot of spinning.

this is the important part to know when the bait is dead and drifting n fast current....

Look up Ultimate Bait Bridle on google. Way more hookups this year using these.

I used a three way swivel with two longshank hooks, the front being shorter so that the bunker swims more naturally. The previous point about being bitten off on the end without the hook is so true! My hookup ratio increased dramatically