Making hook baits more visually appealing
Marcel Dolderman | Tips & TricksAngling During Colder Months
We’re heading into the cold season again, so we need to adjust our fishing approach. Like the rigs, the size of the bait, and the type of bait. The fish become more passive in colder water and eat less. They have feeding periods then. So as anglers, we need to search for the fish again. I call that static stalking. Fish as compactly as possible with minimal gear to move quickly. The bait also needs to be made more attractive to encourage the fish to feed.
Making your hook bait more visually appealing
This time we make the hook bait visually attractive by means of feathers. For this I use Maraboe feathers, which you can order very easily over the Internet. In the past I have also done this with the zig rig and for surface fishing. That has brought me quite a few more fish. But this time I want to use it also in the cold period. And for that I have chosen the ronnie rig. 
What do you need to make the hookbait attractive?
Requirements:
Ronnie rig with micro ring swivel
Micro ring
Pop-up
Bait floss or strong polyester thread
Small leads or tungstens or putty
Marabou feathers in red and white
This is how you make the visually appealing hook bait
- Grab the ronnie rig and remove the hook bead
- Remove the micro ring swivel from the hook
- Take a piece of bait floss or polyester thread and insert it through the micro ring
- Grab the feathers
- Cut some of both colors
- Place it lengthwise next to the micro ring
- Now tie this with two regular knots, as tightly as possible so that it becomes and bunch
- Cut off the excess yarn as short as possible
- After the knot you will also have a tuft of excess feathers, cut this as short as possible
- Now place the micro ring with springs over the hook
- Then reinsert the micro ring swivel and hook bead
- Place the pop-up on the ronnie rig
- Lead him out into the water
- Make sure it stands up nice and straight for the perfect hook-up
To place the springs on the micro ring you can go back to a standard ronnie rig in no time.
To make everything extra attractive, you can fill a pva bag with pellets and crunched boilies. Inject these with a syringe with injection needle filled with the soak flavor of your choice. You can prepare these pva bags a day before you go fishing. In this way the soak can soak in well. When this combination is under water the red feathers look like a bunch of bloodworms. This can be just the trigger to make the fish bait.
Good luck on the waterfront!
Marcel Dolderman
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