...for serious pike and predator anglers!
Bait Presentation
Hooking Baits
The following are my preferred ways of hooking baits when leger fishing, static fishing, drifting, trotting and trolling.
Legering Herring & Sardine...
Many of my clients tell me that they are forever casting herring and sardines off - which tends to put them off using them..
The secret to casting herrings and sardines time after time without loosing them from the hooks while in flight, or on the drop to the river/lake bed, or while twitching them back to bank/boat side, is hooking them up correctly - which is not as easy as some pike anglers might have you believe.
The key to assuring a herring or sardine stays on the hooks during casting and fishing, is to make sure that you push and twist the treble hook nearest the trace swivel through the centre of the tough bone that runs through the middle of a herrings/sardines wrist - see above right.
Before pushing the end treble hook into the side of the herring/sardine, put a bend in it. Once the end treble hook is pushed firmly into the bait, and the bend taken out of the bait, you will see that you have achieved a very firm hook hold on the herring/sardine.
If you look closely at the picture above right, you will see that the hook is pulled very tight to the wrist of the herring - that can only be achieved by pushing and twisting the hook point through that tough centre bone - called the vertebral column.
Make sure you buy quality herring and sardine as they tend to have a far tougher vertebral bone running through them.
Personally, I much prefer to lay my dead baits tight to the bottom when fishing a silt bed - like that of the Norfolk Broads.
Float & Leger Trolling Fish Baits...
When trolling I always hook a bait down through the top lip, allowing the point of the hook to past out through the mouth.
The end treble is then pushed into the bait as far down the body as pos. - leaving the trace wire between hooks fairly slack.
Make sure there is not a bend in the bait before lowering it over the side as it will cause the bait to spin - creating line twist.
Static Fishing / Trotting And Drifter Fishing - Using A Float Set-Up...
Firstly, push the treble hook nearest the trace swivel through the hard piece of flesh found at the base of the dorsal fin.
The end treble hook is then pushed into the solid piece of flesh found at the base on the pectoral fin.
When trotting/drifting livebaits in fairly fast moving water, you may prefer to hook the bait as I have shown under the heading 'Float & Leger Trolling Fish Baits'. It enables you to wind the bait back to the boat/swim far easier, i.e. in order to do another trot/drift through. I have found it every bit as reliable as the static rig set-up above - i.e. with regard takes and the setting of hooks.