| Of all of the baits available to fishermen there is | | | | The biggest key with live bait rigs is that the bait |
| probably no more popular and effective bait than | | | | is presented in the most natural way possible. |
| live bait. The interesting thing about using live bait | | | | With many types of bait this can be accomplished |
| is that although many anglers do it, very few do | | | | by using a set of gang hooks. These bait rigs are |
| it as effectively as they could. The biggest | | | | simply a pair of small hooks tied back to back and |
| problem most anglers have when it comes to live | | | | attached to your line using a small swivel. These |
| bait is rigging their live bait effectively. | | | | rigs are effective in almost all freshwater fishing |
| Rigging live bait in the most effective manner is | | | | situations such as; under a bobber, drifting a live |
| of the utmost importance when using bait to try | | | | worm in a river, or bottom fishing. |
| to entice a fish. This is especially true when you | | | | Another key point when fishing bait rigs is that |
| are dealing with larger, more experienced fish. As | | | | your bait no only is presented in a natural manner, |
| my fishing mentor used to say, "Large fish don't | | | | but also be as lively as possible. Many live bait |
| become large by being stupid". The point is that | | | | anglers make the mistake of killing (or almost |
| large fish of any species have seen many | | | | killing) their live bait by rigging their bait |
| different methods of baiting a hook and been | | | | ineffectively. They hook their live bait in such a |
| caught (probably multiple times) in the past, so | | | | way that it tends to die quickly, thus defeating |
| fooling them becomes more and more difficult. | | | | the purpose of using live bait. Have you ever |
| This is why rigging bait effectively is so important. | | | | seen someone hook a live worm over and over |
| This is where bait rigs come into play. For the | | | | again on a size 4 hook, creating what I like to call |
| purposes of this article I'm going to focus on | | | | a "worm ball"? When rigged this way the worm is |
| freshwater fish. There are all kinds of bait rigs | | | | neither rigged naturally nor lively for long and |
| available to saltwater fishermen, but in this article | | | | tends to only be effective for smaller, more |
| I will focus on live bait rigs for the freshwater | | | | inexperienced fish. |
| angler. Whether you are fishing with a bobber in a | | | | The bottom line is that when it comes to bait rigs |
| lake, drifting a live worm for trout in a river, or | | | | for freshwater fishing, gang hooks are hard to |
| bottom fishing for catfish rigging your bait | | | | beat. If you like to fish with bait, these fishing rigs |
| effectively means that you will get more bites, | | | | should be added to your fishing repertoire sooner, |
| and thus have the opportunity to hook more fish. | | | | rather than later. |