Single Hook Trace Making by Russ Coburn

Here is my way of creating a tag method trace.

Components:

• Wire cutters
• Hooks
• Trace Wire
• Twiddling Stick (not necessary but makes life easier)
• Rig Sleeves
• Swivel

So, lets make it!

Using the cutters, remove two feet of wire from the roll (I use the depth of the kitchen worktop as a guide) and bend one end over approximately one inch.

Thread your trace wire through the back of the hook's eye.

Make sure that the end of the wire is at the very top of the shank and tie the knotless knot. I do 10 turns around the shank before passing the wire back through the back of the eye. This gives a really strong and secure hold and if done correctly leaves a 'loop' of wire below the knot running down the shank of the hook.

From the other end of the wire, slide on a rig sleeve and pull over the coils, leaving the 'loop' exposed.

Now we attach the swivel at the other end of the trace wire. My preferred method is the twist method but you can crimp if you want.

Slide on a rig sleeve, not forgetting to get it the correct way around if using tapered ones like I do (wire goes in the thin end first).

Pass the trace through the eye of a swivel then back through the opposite way to create a loop.

Put your swivel through the loop and pull tight. This locks it in place.

Using the twiddling stick, place the hook into the same eye as the trace wire and hold the wire with the tag end at 90 degrees to the main wire and spin the twiddling stick slowly to wrap the tag end around the main wire. Maintain a fairly tight grip on the wire to create a neat finish.

When this is done, you should end up with something like this:

Slide up your rig sleeve to finish.

And here is the finished article:

The total finished length should be around 20" which I think is ideal.

Don't worry as, the 'kink' at the hook end can aid in hooking. Just ask anybody who goes carp fishing.

Russ Coburn