John Roberts run rings reviewed

These might not look like the most exciting bit of kit, but two quid's worth will last you a season and enable you to make what's probably the perfect rig for legering deads. Thread one of the rings up your line, followed by one of the rubber beads and that's it - job sorted.

The bead will snug down over a size eight swivel or a Breakaway clip. Tie a link to the run ring and attach your lead to it. Simples.

Some people like a lead link longer than the trace. This looks all wrong to me, surely the fish will foul it with a hook point when it picks your bait up or get the link in its laughing gear, ergo lost lead or a pike with a headache after you smack it on the nose with your lead.

Mates tell me this is my usual paranoia, don't worry four eyes tie the lead on a three foot link and hull it out there. I tend to ignore this and have a link shorter than the trace, so the lead is just ahead of the bait.

Either way, you can cast a lot further than you can with a bomb running on the line straight off a bead or clip, with no link. You also get less tangles.

If the link wraps around the trace on the way in, get your scissors out and do like what we do - cut the tail off the bait, which is what makes it spin on the way back when you're reeling in. It also stops the tail masking a hook when you pull into a fish, so the ironmongery goes into the pike's gob, not the bait's tail.

The rings eventually groove if you use braid. I chuck them when this happens, as they're only 10p a throw. I've never had one break on me, even when using 4oz leads for distance or when the Ouse is flowing hard.

John Roberts make several other little bits and bobs that are usually a couple of quid for enough to last yonks.