Pike Fishing Rigs & Traces

Pike Fishing Rigs:

Making your own pike rigs & traces can be very enjoyable, especially if you catch a fish using one you have just made. You will also save some money because it's cheaper to make your own pike traces than purchasing them from your tackle shop.

Before you start you will need some necessary equipment. This equipment consists of...

Treble Hooks
Crimping Pliers
Swivels
Trace Wire (Aprox 20 inches in length)
Fishing Silicone Tubing
Sharp Scissors

pike fishing accessories

Making a pike fishing trace only takes a few minutes, once you have the hang of it. Start by simply cutting Aprox 20 inches of trace wire and insert a crimp over one end of it. (See below).

Pike fishing Trace

Now you need to add your choice of hook, in my case I'm using a Drennan size 8s. Slide your hook on to your trace length ensuring it stays below the crimp you have added.

Fishing for pike

Insert the tail end of the wire through the crimp and you should now have something that looks like the picture below...

. Trebble hooks

Slide the crimp up close to the eye of the treble hook, then take your crimping pliers and crush the end nearest the hooks eye. Once you are satisfied with the position of the crimp and it is not interfering with the hook, crush the crimp at each end and once in the middle. You can snip the tail end off with sharp scissors to keep things neat.

You only need to crimp it 3 times

At this stage you can add a small length of silicone tubing to the trace wire, enough to cover the crimp you have just crushed. Now add the second treble hook to the trace wire followed by another length of silicone.

Pike Fishing Rigs

Setting the hook distance all depends on the size of dead baits you are using, in this case I have set the hook distance at around 6 inches. This is an ideal distance to fish with an average size Sardine as dead bait..

You should now have something which looks like the picture below. The back hook slides up and down so that you can adjust the distance depending on the size of bait you are to use. The silicone attached to the hook shank holds the hook in place, the bottom hook holds the weight of the dead bait.

Making your own pike traces can save you money

Lets move on to the the other end of the terminal tackle, the swivel. The attachment of the swivel is done so using the same procedure as you have done with the treble hook. Add your silicone tubing & crimp to the trace wire followed by your swivel, thread the tail end back through the crimp...

Pike fishing trace

Slide the crimp towards the swivel (pictured below) ensuring the crimp does not interfere with the swivels rotation.

The Fishing swivel

You can now proceed to crush the crimp, remember you only need to crush it 3 times! Once at each end and in the middle. Slide the silicone over the crushed crimp and over the swivel eye.

Pike Fishing rigs, making your own pike trace

Below is the finished pike fishing rig, I have used this method for a number of years now. In all that time I have never once lost a fish due to the properties of this fishing rig.

Pike fishing rigs.

Now you have your trace, you will need something to store it in, pike fishing rigs soon tangle and get caught in your clothing if they are not stored adequately. Rig bins for pike fishing are an excellent choice for storing rigs, below is a picture of one which we currently stock.

Fishing Rig Bins for Pike and Sea Fishing rig storage.

Pictures of pike, Andy Commons pictured with a pike caught from Bolton Lancashire.

For a slide show showing how to make a pike fishing trace a different way click here.

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