Easiest Way To Tie A Donkey Rig [The Double Leprechaun]
- By: Luke Simonds
- on
The video below will show you the easiest way to tie a donkey rig using the style we call the “double leprechaun”.
This lure setup is extremely effective for covering shallow grass flats for seatrout, redfish, snook, and flounder because it draws a lot of attention with a lot of great looking darting motions under the water.
While testing this out, I’ve been extremely impressed with how many fish this can catch when retrieved over grass flats.
In particular, seatrout go absolutely crazy over it sometimes even enabling two fish to be caught on a single cast.
Here’s a video showing the easiest way to tie a donkey rig:
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Equipment Used In This Video:
- Rod: Bull Bay Salt Strong Custom 7’6″
- Reel: Daiwa Fuego LT 2500
- Line: 10 lb. Suffix 832
- Leader: 20 lb. Ande Mono
- Lure: Alabama Leprechaun
- Weighted Hook: Owner TwistLock 3/0 (1/16th oz and 1/8 oz)
- Boat: Pathfinder 2400
Conclusion
The double leprechaun rig can be a great way to catch a lot of fish when out on the shallow flats given the great action these lures have when retrieved through the water.
The pros is that it’s easy to tie, generates a lot of action, and enables the opportunity to catch 2 fish on 1 cast.
The cons are that it requires more energy to retrieve given the increased water drag, it can increase the odds of getting hooked since there’s another hook swinging around, and they can get tangled up when unhooking fish.
I hope you decide to give this unique rig a try if you haven’t already done so.
Please don’t hesitate to ask any questions below using the Comment section below.
And if you’ve used this rig before, please let us know the weights you’ve found to work best.
Tight Lines!
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Will the donkey rig, skip? or just get tangled up?
I do not recommend this rig for skipping or for situations where accurate casts are needed… skipping them would be very tough, and the accuracy is bad because it seems like 1 of them will often catch the wind oddly causing them to go slightly off course.
Awesome, I’m going to try it out.
It appears that the owner 3/16 comes with 4/0 hook vice 3/0. It probably wouldn’t make any difference or I guess one could use 1/16 and 1/8 which are both 3/0 (I am a picker of knits). I will be ordering a couple of the owner packs soon since I cant find them locally. We don’t have much in the way of salt flats here in San Diego, but I probably would use them in Mission Bay or possibly shallow end of San Diego Bay. Would these work in fresh water lakes? I am thinking of Lake Hodges in North San Diego which has good sized Florida Bass
and oops…..I did not read far enough as you already addressed the misquote on hook sizes below. My bad.
Ah. One more question. Up here in NJ I think we fish a little deeper. I imagine just upping the weight until we get into the bottom. Maybe use a jig head?
Yes, using a jig heads would be best if needing to target deeper water. I recommend using a heavier jig head on the front one.
This looks fun. But I have 2 questions
1. I don’t use swivels much anymore so I’m unsure how to tie the surgeon loop direct to braid. I just picture the braid cutting through the loop. Suggestions?
2. Would paddletails work too? I imagine it would
For tying the braid to the loop of the tandem rig, I recommend using a uni knot just like you would if you were tying to a swivel. Here’s my favorite version of the uni knot for braid: https://www.saltstrong.com/articles/braid-uni-knot/
Yes, this type of rig can work great with paddletails too.
That’s the knot I was thinking of using. It doesn’t slice through the leader material? I’ll trust you. You never steered me wrong
Thanks
SaltStrong!!
I have used that connection type many times and haven’t yet had an issue with it cutting through the leader.
I have used this type rig for years. Talking going back to the 60’s on the Gulf coast of Texas. We called them speck rigs. I still have a couple packs from early 70s. Back the we always caught doubles.
How cool!
Love Lures tandem speck rigs. Use to be the standard.
Can you troll with the Leprechaun rig?
I have only tried it once and only caught 1 fish, but it was a 21 inch trout so I feel comfortable saying it’ll work. But overall, I prefer to troll with paddletails because they have more motion in the water and their tail thumping is helpful in knowing that the lure is not dragging weeds.
Thank you.
Outstanding tip, I will be trying this rig soon. One question though, what keeps the two baits get twisted and tangled?
Thanks Randy! The fact that both lures are rigged weedless will minimize the odds of them getting tangled together… I still haven’t had any tangles other then when unhooking a fighting fish.
Thanks Luke, this rig should killem.
I have been tying these for about 5-6 years now. I had an old timer who calls himself the “trout master” here teach me. and they WORK, any soft bait, any jig head. I have had plenty of double hookups with specks and even had a few doubles with Spanish mackerel.
Thanks for making time to leave the helpful comment!
Hi Luke:
I am going to try this rig but your presentation was a little confusing.
Not to be critical but 1/8 oz. is not heavier than 3/16 oz. Looks like you have a 1/16 and 1/4 oz. Owner 3/0 hooks?
Good presentation
The top hook has a 1/16th oz weight on it… I must have accidentally said 3 because the size of the hook is a 3/0. To be clear, the hooks shown in this video are both 3/0 hooks from Owner… the light one is has a 1/16th oz weight and the heavier one has a 1/8th oz weight.