FISHING is a dynamic activity that rewards anglers who are willing to experiment and innovate.By spicing up your rigs or simply trying something different, you can maximise your chances of enticing fish and landing that prized catch.
In this article, we will explore how to enhance your fishing rigs using novel baits, flash, colour and some innovative knot and lure enhancements. These elements will add excitement and effectiveness to your rigs, allowing you to elevate your fishing game and increase your chances of success on the water.
Novel Baits
When it comes to attracting fish, bait selection is key. While traditional baits like worms and prawns are reliable options, embracing novelty and changes to your bait offering can make a difference during challenging periods.
Experiment with hybrid combinations by combining baits with other baits or lures. A cocktail of baits on the one hook allows you to hedge your bets and give a broader offering that might temp fickle fish or attract a broader selection of species. You can dress up baits with the addition of an octopus skirt or you can thread on a strip of bait to the exposed hook on a soft plastic rig for added appeal. Old school pudding baits like chicken fillets soaked in fish oil or aniseed and coated in parmesan cheese may sound far-fetched but there are plenty of old bream fishermen with bucket loads of bream that swear by it. The point here is that experimentation is key and by offering fish a unique and enticing combination, you can significantly increase your chances of eliciting a strike.
Flash and Colour
Visual appeal plays a crucial role in attracting fish to your rigs. Incorporating elements that create flash and vibrant colours can make your rig stand
out and attract nearby fish. Attaching luminescent beads above your hook will draw attention underwater, especially in deeper water where visible light is all but absent. Coloured soft plastic dips can stain an otherwise bland white or dull lure adding a flash of red or chartreuse the tailor a soft plastic can dramatically enhance visibility and appeal to predators. Heat shrink wraps with lifelike baitfish patterns can be used to overwrap a lure and make it look like the real thing while floats with reflective tape glimmer in the sunlight and can attract predators to the bait dangling below. Fishing glitter when coupled with a gel base and smeared on a lure, is another novel way of leaving a trail of shimmering flakes that resembles a wounded prey shedding scales and can pique the interest of predators nearby.
Sound and Rattles
Sound plays a significant role in attracting fish beneath the water’s surface and by incorporating additional auditory stimuli you can often interest fish that might otherwise be unaware to your offering. Buzz baits are a popular overseas lure with blades that act as a propeller, causing a significant disturbance as it churns the water. A soft plastic or skirt is typically trailed behind the buzz bait for added appeal. Foam cup faced poppers are often added to surface flies but are a novel way of fishing unweighted baits for bream. A live or fresh prawn fished a few centimetres below a foam cup that if wedged in position with a toothpick or float stoppers on either side can he a highly successful and quite novel rig. You cast the bait into the shallows and twitch the rod tip causing the popper to create an audible distress signal mimicking a flicking prawn with the real thing not too far away. The key point is to experiment with different types of noise-making additions to find the ones that work best for the target species and conditions.
Scent
Fish have a highly developed sense of smell, so it stands to reason that addition scent is a valuable addition to your lure rigs. Scents infuse your lure with irresistible aromas that trigger a fish’s primal instincts and entice them to strike or hold onto the lure more readily. These attractants come in various formulations and are typically designed to mimic natural prey or trigger feeding instincts.
There are several commercially available products on the market that come in convenient applicators, or you can opt for the more traditional and natural scents like tuna oil or liquids that contain aniseed or garlic. Berley is another natural attractant that seems to have fallen out of favour as more and more anglers use artificials however one of the successful salt water fly fishermen I know berley’s heavily before casting his fly through a fish loaded berley trail! Remember, the key to spicing up your offering lies in experimentation and adaptation. Don’t be afraid to try new techniques, change bait combinations, or adjust your rigging based on feedback from the fish. Keep a record of what works and what doesn’t and use this to help guide you in refining your rigging strategies over time.
