How to hook a bait so it behaves naturally

THE THREE THINGS EVERY HOOKING DECISION IS TRADING.

MOVEMENT. A worm hooked once through the head trails and works naturally; the same worm threaded up the shank is a lifeless tube. On live bait the difference is starker: a fish hooked so its swimming is impeded behaves like a distressed animal, which is sometimes exactly what attracts a predator and sometimes stops it swimming at all.

DURABILITY. A bait hooked lightly casts off. A bait hooked securely moves less. Every soft bait fished at distance is a compromise between these, and the compromise is why bait elastic, hair rigs and bait clips exist.

POINT EXPOSURE. A hook buried in bait cannot hook a fish. This is the failure most often mistaken for something else — an angler getting bites and no hook-ups is very frequently masking the point rather than striking badly.

HOW THE MAJOR BAIT TYPES ARE ACTUALLY HOOKED, AND WHY.

WORMS. Through the head or the saddle for movement; threaded and nicked back through the tail for durability at distance. For big worms, doubling one over the hook so both ends move is the usual compromise. Leaving a substantial tail free is the whole point — it is the moving part.

MAGGOTS. Nicked lightly through the tough skin at the blunt end so the maggot stays alive and wriggling. Through the body kills it and it hangs straight. Several on one hook is a size decision rather than a hooking one.

SOFT MARINE WORMS. Threaded onto the hook and up the shank, because they will not survive a cast otherwise. The head is left towards the point. This is the case where durability wins outright.

CRUSTACEANS. Peeler crab is bound to the hook with bait elastic, because there is no way to hook it that survives casting and it comes apart. Prawns are hooked through the tail so they retain shape.

FISH BAITS. Whole small fish through the lips or the back near the dorsal, depending on whether the intent is a moving bait or a static one. For deadbaits, hooking arrangement decides how the bait sits and, critically, how quickly a hook can be set — which is a welfare question, because a predator allowed to swallow a deadbait is a deep-hooked fish.

SOFT PREPARED BAITS. Bread, meat and paste hold badly. The answers are a wide-gape hook, a hair, a bait band, or accepting that the bait will need replacing every cast.

THE TEST THAT SETTLES MOST OF IT: hold the baited hook in the margin and look at it. If it moves the way the animal moves, and the point is visible, it is hooked correctly. That takes five seconds and is done by almost nobody.