Popping up your deadbaits for extra visibility

Whether they are frozen or defrosted, deadbaits sink like a stone. This is hardly ideal as there may be times when you are fishing over a thick bed of weed or a thick layer of fine silt – the deadbait may become entangled in the weed or it may sink right out of view.

The way around this is to pop the deadbait up so it remains visible and snag-free at all times.

What you will need

To do this effectively you will need a pair of forceps, some wire, a baiting needle, wire cutters and either one or two red, buoyant Fox Bait Poppers. The amount of Bait Poppers you use will depend upon the size of the deadbait you are fishing with. The larger the bait, the more poppers you will need.

STEP 1 Thread a pair of Fox Bait Poppers onto a baiting needle, like this.		STEP 2 Take a 12in length of wire and fold over the last 4in. Hook the needle onto the wire.
STEP 3 Pull the poppers onto the wire, then pull the tag end around both poppers before twisting the wire to lock the poppers in place.		STEP 4 If your shop-bought pike rig has silicone tubing around the base of the bottom-most hook, slide it up the wire. Now thread your popper wire through the eye of this treble hook.
STEP 5 Double over and twist the wire many times to lock the poppers onto the treble hook.		STEP 6 Neaten the popper wire by trimming the tag end as close as possible to the twisted length. Remember to push the silicone tubing back over the treble hook.
STEP 7 The finished pop-up rig will look like this. The bait will sit up off the bottom. Remember to use a few split shot on the trace to anchor the bait in position when you are float fishing.		STEP 8 Finish the mounting process by hooking the bottom trebles' barbed point into the flank of the deadbait.

Here's the finished pop-up rig. The bait will sit up, on top of the weed, begging for a pike to snap it up.