If you are using mackerel as bait, your carefully cut strip or fillet will not stay fishlike after you have cast it out. The fish bait tends to slide down the shank of the hook and lie, doubled over, in the bend of the hook..... not looking a bit like a fish but obscuring the hook point. To overcome this I tie a double overhand loop in the end of the line and put the hook on as shown below.
The piece of fish bait, I've used a piece of paper to demonstrate, is hooked through and back again and the small end put into the loop that holds the hook.
The loop is then pulled up tight trapping the small end and preventing the strip sliding down the hook. If you want to be doubly sure then a few winds of bait elastic around the small end and the hook eye will do the job.
The technique can also be used to keep sand eels on if you are float fishing or 'spinning' with them.
