RIGGING GUIDE | Two Ways to Rig the 120mm Pop Eye Mullet

The 120mm Pop Eye Mullet is the bait I reach for when the bigger profiles stop working. Pressured fish. Tighter water. Picky days. That smaller mullet silhouette sits in a gap most soft plastic ranges skip over, big enough to interest a quality fish, small enough to not spook them.

But how you rig it matters. And there’s not just one right answer.

Here are the two setups I run on the 120mm

Rig 1 : The Standard Setup

5/0 Combat Jig Head, 1/2oz

This is my the go-to. The 1/2oz gets me down in current, holds depth on the retrieve, and the 5/0 hook has enough gap to pin fish cleanly through the nose of the 120mm

How to rig it:

• Enter the hook point dead centre through the nose, straight, not offset or angled
• Run the shank through the body and bring the point out just past the shoulder hump
• Check the tail. It should hang dead straight. If it’s curling up or sitting off to one side, the hook is too far back, pull it forward until the body is straight

That’s the whole rig. When it’s sitting right it tracks true on every retrieve and the tail kick does the rest.

When to run it: deeper water, stronger current, fish holding on structure. You need to get down and stay there.

Rig 2 : The Finesse Setup

3/0 hook with a small assist hook

The 3/0 is a more proportionate hook size for the 120mm body. Less bulk through the plastic means better natural movement, and the smaller hook point sits cleaner through the shoulder without distorting the profile.

The trade-off with a smaller hook is short strikes, fish that nip the tail and miss the point. That’s where the assist hook earns its place. A small trailing hook on a short spilt-swivel-spilt sits back toward the tail and converts those missed bites into landed fish.

A couple of things to get right:

• Assist length : keep it short. Too long and it tangles on the cast. You want just enough to cover the strike zone at the tail, nothing more
• Hook placement is the same as the standard rig : dead centre through the nose, point out past the shoulder, tail straight

When I run it: shallow water, finesse presentations, slow retrieves where fish are following and short striking. Also a great option when you want more natural movement out of the 120mm on lighter current.

Which One to Use

My Simple rule : if I'm fishing deep or heavy current, I run the 5/0 Combat Jig Head. If I'm fishing shallow, slow, or getting short strikes, I drop to the 3/0 with the assist.

Both rigs work. Knowing when to switch between them is what puts more fish in the boat.