A complete guide to wafters

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Introduction

Anyone who goes fishing on commercial fisheries will almost definitely have heard about wafter hookbaits. Over the last few years wafters have become the go to hookbait for method feeder fishing on just about every commercial fishery in the country.

The wafter is basically a critically balanced or semi bouyent hookbait. These baits had been around on the carp scene for a number of years before match anglers caught on and started using it to their advantage.

Carp anglers and specimen hunters started off by using a combination of pop up and sinking boilies on a hair rig, These would be then trimmed down until they created a hookbait that was as close to neutral buoyancy as possible. The result is a hookbait which acts completely natural underwater mimicking free offerings perfectly. Bait companies targeting big fish anglers soon caught on to this and started making what is now known as a wafter. The first wafters weren't really ideal for the match angler simply down to size. The 10-15mm baits where too big for most match fishing situations and too big to be used in conjunction with lighter lines and smaller hooks. It wasn't long however until the match fishing scene took notice of these baits and adapted them to fit perfectly into the commercial anglers armoury. The same hookbaits where then created in the smaller sizes required so they could be used in conjunction with the modern day match fishing tactics, Mainly the method feeder.

My fluorocarbon D-rig

A semi bouyent hookbait needs a bit of movement to be able to do its job which is waft just above the hook. Most people opt for a bait band presentation or a standard hair rig and although these will catch fish I find they don't allow the hookbait to sit correctly on the bottom.I have come up with what I think is a far superior presentation that leaves your hookbait sitting perfectly every time.

How to tie the D-rig

Components

1. lighter
2. Flurocarbon
3. Bait spikes
4. Hooks
5. Scissors
6. Wafters

Step 1

Cut off a length of flurocarbon approximately 6 inches longer than you want the finished hooklengh to be and thread the line through the back of the hook as shown above.

Step 2

Next perform the knotless knot. This is achieved by taking the line coming out of the eye at the bottom of the hook and wrapping it around the hair and the shank of the hook until level with with hook point as shown above. Then simply thread the line once again through the eye of the hook going through the back of the eye.

Step 3

Thread a bayonet or bait spike onto the hair

Step 4

Place the tag end onto which you have just placed the bait spike through the back of the hook so it looks like the photo above.

Step 5

Get a lighter and blob the end of the tag end to stop it from pulling back through the eye. This is done by simply melting the end of the line being careful not to burn the hooklink itself in the process.

Step 6

Now with the rig finished simply trim the rig to the desired length and add your hookbait.

Top tip

Have a bowl of water on your side tray so that you can check the bait is sitting perfectly everytime before you cast out because some wafters can vary in bouyency.

See the finished rig below.

The finished presentation should look like this when tested in water with the hook laying flat on the bottom with the wafter hovering just over the top of it. Because of its bouyency this rig will re set itself even after being picked up and dropped by a fish by slowly falling and re settling perfectly on the lake bed.