Two Questions

First question, I was wondering how most people keep an eye on the rod tip after dark? I'm still fairly new to bait fishing and last night thought I might have been missing bites so I ended up leaving my headlamp on most of the time and pointing at the rod tip so I could keep an eye on it.

Are the lights / glow sticks that you can attach to rod tip any good? Would I be correct in saying if you can't see the rod tip properly (and aren't holding the rod), you'll miss bites?

Second, I was wondering if anyone can give me a tip on rigging ragworm - in particular roughly how much tail should be hanging free from where the hook protrudes? Last night I was rigging them so that the head of the rag ended up at the top of the hook, but sometimes this meant that there was a long section of tail hanging below the hook - when these rigs came back most of the time that section of tail below the hook was gone. I was thinking that maybe the bass where chomping off the tail and leaving the rest of the worm on the hook shank?

Hi Ronnach

Myself and the fishing buddy for night fishing use a bell unit with a light attached that we got from Veals, the lights are the dogs you know what the bell is a great indicator if you are rebaiting or have your back turned.

We use lug and thread the worm right up the hook and tip it with a sandeel tail to keep it in place, i don't know would this be the same for lug but hope this helps

Regards

get a bell for your rod tip or a starlight/tip light.

the bottom section of the rag was probably snapping off when you where casting out. if your only lobbing it out you can leave a bit of the tail off the hook. if it was little fish nipping the tail off you might want to look at the hook size you are using. 1/0 probably best for general fishing.

Im not a fan of tip lights, bells or any of those things.
I use reflective tip tape on my rod and it works better then anything iv used before. Just shine your headlamp on it and it lights up. You dont need to watch your rod tip all the time but i watch it a good bit of the time. Bass fishing would require watching it a bit more.
As for the rag, just thread the rag half way up the hook, let the tail dangle and tip it with something like a small and thin piece of mackeral.

Hi I favour the tip starlights over bells as the bells can drive you crazy on a breezy night, not sure where your based but up here in donegal there are a lot of breezy nights

I use tip lights and tape its like las vagas when im fishing ,bells i never tryed but i will now. when the head is down you dont know whats going on at the tip end .for the end of the rag coming back gone i think its from the cast .dip the rag in the water before you cast, it helps to keep it on

forgot to mention, set your ratchet on your reel and you will hear the bite if your not watching the tip

Usually i thread them all the way up to the bait stop when casting depending on size use an impact shield

get the bell u can give it the odd kick too make it ring

Thanks for all the tips, I think I'll avoid the bells I was thinking alright it would be constantly ringing if it was any way windy. I'll probly get hold of some rod tip tape and invest in a better headlamp also.

Regards rigging the rag, that sounds like very good advice on tipping it off with a small sliver of mackerel to help it stay on the hook.

tip tape and one reason rag is so good is cos it wriggles i use baitholder hooks for my rag and often just head hook some small ones the reason your rag loses it,s tail is cos you are threading too much up the hook,what size hooks are you using/ and what size rag?
if the head hooked rag hasnt been molested by a fish you can normally get a second cast from them, one you impale right up the hook will soon stop wriggling

tip tape and one reason rag is so good is cos it wriggles i use baitholder hooks for my rag and often just head hook some small ones the reason your rag loses it,s tail is cos you are threading too much up the hook,what size hooks are you using/ and what size rag?
if the head hooked rag hasnt been molested by a fish you can normally get a second cast from them, one you impale right up the hook will soon stop wriggling

I was using 2/0 hooks on the flapper, and the hook was a bit bigger on the pulley not sure what size it was. The rag varied in size but I was using mostly the larger ones, which were around 5/6". By 'head hooking' do you mean to insert the hook into rag's head (between the wee pincers), and then just run a short length of the rag (around 2 inches?) up the hook?

id go for the bell and glowsticks

ya i would recommend to use
bells on the tip of your rod