What is a Rotten Bottom Link?

A Rotten Bottom Link is a simple piece of tackle that minimises your losses when your line gets snagged on rough ground. It works by providing a strong link to your weight during the cast that opens upon impact with the water leaving a weak link for retrieval. Generally when your line gets snagged, it’s the weight that causes the snag. Unfortunately when this happens you normally have no choice but to cut or break your line potentially losing all your tackle along with the huge fish that you’ve just hooked! Enter the Rotten Bottom Link. Now when your weight snags, a sharp tug will snap the weak line that is securing your weight freeing up the rest of your tackle to be retrieved as normal. OK so you’ve lost your weight but it’s a small price to pay compared to losing your whole rig, and potentially a decent length of line.

How do I make a Rotten Bottom Link?

There are many ways to make a Rotten Bottom Link but safety should always be carefully considered. The last thing you want is the weak link being tensioned during the cast. If this happens, the weak link is likely to break sending your weight in some random direction! Our favourite solution is to use the Rotten Bottom Link – Bits 26 designed by ‘Anyfish Anywhere’. It’s inexpensive and provides a safe and efficient means of introducing the weak link to any of your favourite rigs. If you’re fishing over rough ground where the chances of snagging are higher than usual, add a couple of these to your tackle box or you could end up losing more than you bargained for!

In the above diagram, the blue line represents the weak-link. Notice how the force of the water pushes the ‘top-hat’ up the line causing the weight to eventually be released from the strong casting link. If the weight snags on retrieval, it will be the blue line that breaks first so all you lose is your weight!

Dave Dominy