Dave Lane’s step-by-step guide to tying one of his favoured winter set-ups…

I HAVE  often seen fish cruising in the upper layers of a lake during sunny days in January and February when the air pressure has been high.

These are thought to be the hardest months of the year for angling, but maybe we are fishing in the wrong places. I have had some good success in winter fishing well off the bottom with the Zig Rig shown below.

Tying Dave’s Winter Zig Rig

STEP One Use a light mono hook link. Drennan Double Strength is excellent and a great winter choice.	STEP Two Tie a lead onto the end of a length of lead core. Use a tail rubber over the swivel on the lead.
STEP Three Thread some shrink tubing down the core. Place a swivel over the tubing and sandwich with small ESP beads.	STEP Four Shrink the tube and position inside tail rubber. Ensure hook link can move up lead core for safety reasons.
STEP Five Use small, bright coloured pop-ups as hook baits on zig rigs. These can work very well in winter.	STEP Six The hook, a small size 8 or 10 pattern, should be tied to the hook link with a knotless knot.