Three-hook clipped-down
AdvancedAlso called Triple clipped, Three-hook clipped
Three short baits held to the leader, released at range. A match-style rig for shoaling small fish when you already clip two cleanly.
Put three small baits at long range without a mid-air tangle.
Three clips, three snoods, release timing, and a punch. More to go wrong than a two-hook clipped-down. It does not catch more by being advanced — it only flies three small baits into a distant gutter.
Diagram
When to use
A distant shoal of small fish on open sand, and you already fish a two-hook clipped-down without a bird’s nest.
Open sand when small fish are out of easy range — dabs, whiting, a match-style three-bait punch.
Ground and marks
Beach. Ground: sand, shingle.
A distant shoal of small fish on open sand, and you already fish a two-hook clipped-down without a bird’s nest.
A first clipped session, a big-bait ray tide, or a side wind you cannot punch through. Three snoods in a mess teach nothing useful.
A moving tide over the distant gutter. If the shoal is in the first breaker, you do not need this rig.
Marks: Beach. Ground: sand, shingle.
Three staggered clips, very short snoods, small baits. All three should release on splashdown. Recast when stripped — small fish do not wait.
Hooks 8–2. Lead: 5–6 oz, aerodynamic.
As a two-hook clipped-down, plus a third clip and a third short snood. Gaps must be longer than any snood after release. Small hooks. 5–6 oz lead.
How to tie it
- 01Do not start here. Learn a single clip, then two, then three.
- 02Keep every snood shorter than the gap to the next clip.