Make your own rig bins for pike fishing

Shop-bought rig bins leave a bit to be desired when in comes to storing traces. Apart from those fiddly pegs to trap the swivels, they're a little on the small side - especially if you use larger hooks, like size twos on your traces. 

You can make your own for a fraction of the cost, if you keep your eye out for those plastic cannisters that peanuts and cocktail snacks sometimes come in.

Buy a length of 6cms pipe insulating foam next time you're in one of those DIY superstores, cut it to fit and you can store your traces by pushing the swivels into the slit and wrapping them around it.

The foam was 99p a metre last time I bought some, which is enough to make several bins. Much cheaper - and better than shop-bought rig bins.

The main advantage is they're bigger, meaning it's easier to get traces on and off them without tangles or getting a hook in your finger. You can also store traces with links or poppers attached, meaning less faffing about on the bank.

I find one of these will easily store 10 or 12 traces, which is more than enough to see me through most days' fishing. I've also gone from carrying traces of different lengths, with different-sized hooks, spacings etc to just a basic 24ins trace with two size fours for most of my fishing, with a couple made up with size twos for bigger baits.

This makes things simpler too. And simple's usually best when it comes to pike fishing in the Fens..

Mason's Multistrand trace wire for pike fishing

This isn't just a steal at £26.10 inc P&P for a 200yd spool of 30lbs from Veals of Bristol - it's also a seriously good wire for bait fishing.

Sold as a trolling wire by US tackle firm Mason, of Otisville, Missouri, it's a little thicker and stiffer than most seven-strands for the same breaking strain.

It twists up easily, if this is your chosen way of making up traces. Just heat the tag end for a neat finish. It also seems more kink-resistant and a lot less prone to tangles than some of the thinner wires on the market.

No more changing traces every other jack. No more running out of wire either, as a spool of this will easily see most pike anglers through a couple of seasons.

Probably the best compliment I can pay it - apart from the price - is you can just forget about it and get on with your fishing. It won't let you down. You can also get it in 45 and 65lbs breaking strains for slightly more on the pennies front.

Bearing in mind other wires are £5 or more a spool, usually for between 10 and 25m, this stuff works out half the price.

So if you use around 3ft of wire to make a trace, allowing for all the twisting, going round the hooks etc, you can make 200 of them from one spool of this stuff. Click here for a link to Veals website.