Great rigs for fake baits

TO USE WITH YOUR FREE FAKE BAITS!

From specimen carp to F1s, and tench to chub, we’ve got you covered with this month’s excellent gift...

BEST FOR: Chub

This simple set-up is a great take-anywhere chub rig and can easily be flicked into any likely chub haunts. Pinching a large split shot on to the hooklink will act as an anchor, and the hookbait will waft enticingly just off the riverbed. This set-up works well as a single hookbait, but if you feel more confident with a bit of loosefeed, swap the bomb for a cage feeder filled with liquidised bread. Because the breadflake is a big bait you’ll have to use a large hook such as a size 6.

BEST FOR: Carp, F1s, tench, bream

When you’re bagging up on commercial carp or F1s, you don’t want to waste time with your rig out of the water. Using a piece of fake corn on the hair means you don’t have to worry about putting on a fresh hookbait after every fish like you would if you were using pellets, for example. As long as your hook is sharp you can keep using the same rig. The hookbait is also highly visible and will stand out over either the micro pellets or groundbait used to fill the feeder. As well as a great tactic for use on commercial fisheries for carp and F1s, a flatbed Method feeder is also excellent for tench and bream.

BEST FOR: Carp

A great way to get quicker bites is to make your hookbait stand out from all of the free offerings on the lakebed. A quick and easy way of doing this is to tip your boilie hookbait with a small piece of artificial corn. The colour yellow has a proven track record, but don’t be afraid to experiment with other colours such as white or red.

BEST FOR: Tench

Maggots are hard to beat when fishing for tench at this time of year and this rig is excellent when targeting specimen tincas. It is incredibly simple to tie and simply requires you to knotless knot your hook to a short supple hooklength. To avoid tangles on the cast, you need to ensure that the hooklink is shorter than the total length of the feeder. The other advantage of the short hooklink is that when fished in conjunction with the heavy inline feeder it provides excellent self-hooking properties.

A Quick Change Bead acts as a buffer and enables you to attach a fresh hooklength in seconds Pinch a large split shot on to the hooklength to anchor the bait in place The artificial bread will waft enticingly off the lakebed The fake corn boilie topper provides a target for the carp to home in on

A fake corn hookbait will maximise your fishing time because you won’t have to attach a new hookbait after every bite To prevent tangles, make sure your hooklength is shorter than the total length of the feeder Fake maggots will withstand the attentions of any nuisance fish The hookbait will stand out against micro pellets used to fill the feeder A 4in hooklength is ideal for use with a Method feeder