Rig Two Baits, Lures, or Flies for Double the Bites

Where regulations allow it, fishing two baits, lures, or flies on a single line lets you cover two depths of the water column at once and figure out what the fish are eating far faster than swapping offerings one at a time. Done right, it can double your catch rate, and on the best days it puts a pair in the boat on a single cast. The trick is matching the rigging method to your technique and species, then keeping the setup untangled through the cast and retrieve.

You will need a few basics: barrel or three-way swivels, stiff monofilament leader line, hooks or jigheads sized to your quarry, and the two offerings themselves. What follows walks through each of the main tandem setups in the order you would build them, from bottom-soaking bait rigs to trolling spreads to fly droppers.

Start with a tandem bait rig for bottom or bobber fishing

For everything from stocked trout to muskie to catfish, a tandem bait rig works whether you soak both offerings on the bottom or suspend them beneath a bobber. The rule that keeps you out of trouble is to place the floating or live bait on top and the sinking or dead bait below. This is the most effective way to rig it, and it also cuts down on snarls when you cast.

Build it by tying a barrel swivel to your main line. Attach one to two feet of stiff monofilament to that same ring and add a hook to the end. Then run two to four feet of line off the bottom ring and knot on a second hook. Set a floating or live bait on the upper hook and a sinking morsel on the lower one, and you are ready to fish.

The pairings you choose depend on what you are after. A live minnow above a worm takes panfish. A floating doughball with a hotdog or chunk of cheese beneath it draws catfish and carp. A large live sucker matched to a dead shiner, smelt, or store-bought mackerel gives you a shot at big pike, muskie, or gar. With the right hook size and line weight, the combinations are nearly endless.

Set up a three-way swivel for trolling two lures

Trolling a pair of lures at once lets you work deep and shallow zones simultaneously and target walleye, lake trout, and salmon in a single pass. As with the bait setup, the lighter, shallow-running lure rides up top and the heavier, deeper-diving one hangs below.

A three-way swivel gives you the cleanest separation. Attach it to your main line, tie two to three feet of leader to the next loop for your floating or shallow-running plug, then run four to six feet off the last loop and add the deeper-swimming lure. A large jerkbait alongside a heavy spoon covers roving predators like lake trout and chinook salmon. A spinner rig up high with a larger, deep-diving crankbait beneath it excels for walleye, trout, and perch.

There is a second way to think about a trolled plug-and-jig pair. A deep-diving crankbait attracts fish with a wobbling action while doubling as a mini-downrigger that drags a small trailing jig into the depths. The plug pulls fish in, but as a Bass Pro Shops guide notes, “more often than not they nail the trailing jig.” Tie an eighteen- to thirty-inch length of twenty- to twenty-five-pound line to the center hook of the front treble and clip on a light bucktail jig. Downsize both offerings and the same idea scores on walleyes, smallmouths, and white bass.

Cast a Donkey Rig when you are not trolling

If you would rather cast and retrieve, the Donkey Rig presents two lures on two barrel swivels, one free-sliding and one fixed. It handles soft plastics and swimbaits as well as topwater baits and jerkbaits.

Thread one swivel onto your line so it slides freely, then knot a second below it as a stopper. Tie a short ten- to twelve-inch dropper to the sliding swivel and add your first lure. Attach eighteen to twenty-four inches of leader to the fixed swivel and clip on the second. Fish it by casting out and reeling in with plenty of jerks and pauses.

Tie a Double Rig for shallow inshore work

For speckled trout in a feeding frenzy, the Double Rig — also called a tandem or shad rig — is a single leader with two ends carrying a pair of lures. It shines in skinny water or the upper column, and it lets you capitalize on a short bite by boating an extra fish with every cast during a brief feeding window.

Cut about three feet of twenty-pound monofilament leader. Mono is cheap, durable, and stretches, which helps keep fish pinned when two are yanking against each other; braid fouls too easily and hands fish a better chance to throw the hook. Tie a figure-eight on a bight just off center so your two pigtails come out uneven. Then knot a jighead to each pigtail with a Palomar or improved clinch. If the heads differ in weight, put the heavier one on the longer pigtail, since the added mass leads through the air and, on the longer strand, resists folding back and snarling the main line. Two quarter-ounce jigheads is the standard, though you can go heavier or lighter. Working it takes no special skill — a steady cast and retrieve, neither too quick nor too slow.

Add a dropper to fish two flies

A pair of flies at once is easier to rig than two lures or baits, requiring no extra swivels or tippet rings. The hopper dropper setup fishes a dry fly and a nymph together, and the same method covers two dries, two nymphs, two streamers, or a streamer and a nymph.

Tie on your first pattern, then attach one to three feet of tippet — sized to your depth — to the shank of that hook and add the second fly. Always fasten the larger imitation directly to your leader and trail the smaller one as the dropper. Pair an adult mayfly or caddisfly with a smaller emerger to match a hatch, or drift two nymphs beneath an indicator to probe deeper runs. The rig proves its worth during a cold front, in high or muddy water, or whenever you are searching new stretches and need to learn what the fish are eating.

What success looks like, and what to avoid

A well-built double casts and retrieves cleanly with no tangling between the two offerings, presents each at a distinct level, and gives fish a choice they rarely see under heavy pressure. When it is working, you will often feel doubles or watch a pair come aboard at once.

The mistakes that undo all of this are predictable. Reversing the order — heavy bait up top, light one below — invites snarls on every cast. Skipping the swivel or spacing crowds the two lures so they foul each other. Choosing line that does not give, such as braid, on a two-fish setup makes it easier for the catch to throw the hook. And before you tie any of this on, confirm your local regulations permit more than one hook or lure on a line.

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