River Fishing Tips | What does it mean when fish cough up bait? - Darren Cox

Greedy species like perch and chub tend to regurgitate bait the most, but I’ve had roach and dace do it too.

When it happens, it tells me two things…

Firstly, that the fish are ravenous and eating well and secondly, that there may not be that many fish in the peg as the ones I catch are eating everything I’ve fed.

In this situation I then feed less bait, meaning there’s more chance of my hookbait being taken by the few fish that are present. 

Fish coughing up bait can be a sign you need to limit the feed