Bait Guide | Experimenting with bait
One of the greatest things about fishing is that there are no hard and fast rules.
Lots of guidelines have been drawn up by top anglers to help everyone else put more fish in the net, but from time to time it pays to break away from expert advice and try your own thing.
Experimenting with bait is a great way of livening things up and you’ll be amazed at how much difference it can make to give the fish something they have never tasted before.
Take a look at the five different bait experiments we’ve tried and give them a go to help you bag up this summer.
1. Liquid cocktail
There are dozens of liquid flavours on tackle shop shelves but have you ever considered combining a couple to make a deadly cocktail?
IYCF has tried various combinations and have had success mixing Dynamite Baits Sweet Tiger Liquid Carp Food with Robin Red. The concoction creates a strange aroma but when used as a bait glug it certainly seems to appeal to the fish.
2. Paste wrap
In coloured water it is essential you do all you can to make your hookbait stand out to the fish. Using a bright offering can score but if that still doesn’t do the trick then it is time to add extra flavour.
A great way of doing this is wrapping pellets around your hookbait after being dampened in a liquid coating. The scent will leak off at a slow rate as the pellets break down, creating an unmissable hookbait that will prove irresistible to big fish.
3. Coloured corn
Sweetcorn is a deadly bait for a wide variety of species but when you have fed a big bed of it how do you get them to hoover up your hookbait first?
Using colourful flavours and dyes could be the answer. Place a handful of corn into different coloured liquids and allow them to stand for a few hours. During this time the colour will change slightly and it will also add flavour that will ooze off once in the water.
4. Crushed boilies
How do we pick out the biggest fish in our favourite venues? Smaller offerings such as micros pellets and maggots are easily snatched by silvers and little carp but add boilies to your armoury and you’ll have a better chance of ruling out these fish. Mix your favourite groundbait in the standard fashion and take several handfuls of 10mm or 12mm boilies. Use your hands to crush them before introducing them to the groundbait. This added content will be too big for the smaller fish to swallow and that will leave a decent meal. Cup it in the margins and you’ll soon see swirls erupt.
5. Dusted pellets
Commercials face much angling pressure and you need to give the fish a reason to feed in your swim as opposed to those next door. When fishing margins or close to the far bank of a snake lake, a cloudy attraction will help you to catch. Dampen a couple of pints of micro pellets in the usual fashion and then tip on around a quarter of a bag of dry groundbait before blending it all together. Feed small nuggets of bait and the groundbait will break off and create a cloud that will linger for long periods.
Fishing Bait Guide | Best bait to use on the bomb
In March 2012 UK temperatures were recorded as high as 23ºC – yet roll forward a year and the average for the same month was a bitter two degrees.
If nothing else, it goes to show that the weather is highly unpredictable at this time of year and that you’ll need a tactic with the potential to score during an unexpected heatwave, or when you need to de-ice your car before a session.
There’s one obvious choice that comes to mind for many seasoned anglers, and that is the bomb.
Whether you are patiently waiting for the odd bite with a single bait or using your catapult to feed over the top, this approach will serve you well.
Marukyu’s Chris Telling relies on the bomb more than anything else during this erratic period. But it’s not as simple as chucking out and hoping for the best.
“I will always use the bomb at this time of year. The weather on the day and the species I am after will dictate the bait I use,” explained Chris.
“Over the years I have tried pretty much everything I can get my hands on in the tackle shop but I have whittled it down to five baits that have all earned a place in my armoury.”
1. Meat
“Luncheon meat rarely
gets used until it really warms up, but as a single cylinder on a hair rig it can be deadly.
Chop a block of tinned meat into slices around 2cm thick and punch out cylindrical hookbaits. This is my first-choice bait when I am confident of hooking big carp in cold water. I dye it yellow. Big carp have seen every trick in the book but the added colour is likely to be something they haven’t come across and will lead to them falling for the trap. Place a few handfuls of punched meat into a food bag, add a glug of your chosen additive, blow air into the bag, seal it, shake it and place it in the fridge overnight.”
2. Boilies
“On days when I know it’s going to be a waiting game, I will use a pop-up boilie on the hook. Unlike bread, it won’t disintegrate over time and will stay in its original form underwater for an absolute age. If I am chucking to an area where I know fish are living, I will leave the bait in place until the tip goes round, even if that takes half an hour or more to happen.
Experimenting with the size and colour of the pop-up is key, and each day will be different. Take a range of baits in sizes between 6mm and 10mm, with white, orange and bright yellow all very effective colours. When the tip goes round, you can expect a lump to be attached!”
3. Pellets
“Pellets are unbeatable if it turns into T-shirt weather in the coming weeks. Use a banded 6mm for F1s or an 8mm for carp but never put the catapult down. Fire four or five pellets over the top every couple of minutes, recasting frequently to make a little noise that draws fish in. Most anglers use brown pellets that are available in every tackle shop, but switching to another colour such as red can help put more fish in the net when the going gets tough. Pellets really are the ultimate warm weather bomb bait and I’ve put some of my most memorable catches together when it has been warmer than average at this time of year.”
4.Sweetcorn
“This is probably the most versatile bait of the lot as it can be used when it is cold or warm. When the temperatures are low I will simply hair-rig two grains and cast out and look for signs on my tip. If it doesn’t nudge at all, it tells me there are no fish in the area and I will then recast to a different spot around 15 minutes later.When it gets warmer, I will get the catapult out and fire a few grains of corn over the top every now and then. This works especially well in shallow and clear water. A couple of tins are enough for a session and the noise of the bait impacting draws fish in, when they can’t miss the bright yellow kernels.”
5. Bread
“Fish don’t always sit on the bottom, and when I feel they have risen off the deck I will turn to white bread. Use a punch to take three small cylinders from a slice and hair-rig them. Make sure you use quite a long hair, as bread expands underwater. Bread is really buoyant so it will pop up off the deck. How long your hooklength is will dictate how far off the bottom it comes. I start with a foot-long version in open water. If I am not getting any bites I will step up to as long as 4ft in deep pegs.
Give your bread an extra edge by spraying on a generous dose of Marukyu Choco Cream. This has a distinctive smell and definitely helps attract extra bites on tough days.”
Fishing Bait Guide | Know you particles
Particle baits really come into their own as the weather starts to warm up and will often produce better results than fishing over boilies.
Particles are extremely versatile. You can fish over a large spodded carpet of them or set marginal traps with just a couple of handfuls.
Another advantage is that the small items of food will hold fish over your baited area for longer than a bed of boilies.
Maize
Used heavily on the Continent, maize is often overlooked by anglers in the UK. But do so at your peril! Maize is a fantastic bait and can be used as free offerings and as a hookbait.
Not only is it visually attractive to fish but it’s also packed with attractive natural sugars and contains high levels of energy-boosting carbohydrates.
Because it’s so cheap, maize is an excellent choice if you’re planning on embarking on a prebaiting campaign and you don’t want to spend a small fortune on boilies.
preparation
Soak: 24 hours
boil: 30 minutes
Partiblend
Partiblend is a mixture of different particles including millet, dari, buckwheat, hemp, linseed, groats and tares. This combination of small, oily, spicy and sweet attractors provide the fish with different-sized baits and releases a milky cloud of attraction.
Unlike other particles, Partiblend doesn’t need soaking beforehand – just cover well with water and as soon as the water boils it is ready to go.
preparation
Soak: no need to soak
boil: 30 minutes
Maple peas
If you’re looking for a bait that carp adore and that no-one else will be using, maple peas tick all the boxes.
They were hugely popular in the 1980s but have fallen out of vogue in more recent times, and for no apparent reason. If your venue sees a lot of bright baits such as sweetcorn, maple peas could be just the ticket when it comes to fooling the more cautious specimens.
preparation
Soak: 12 hours
simmer: 30 minutes
Hemp
Hemp is one of the most popular particle baits, especially in spod mixes. Being so small it will hold fish in your swim for a long time while they hoover up the grains.
Hemp can be purchased as a natural seed which has to be soaked and boiled at home, or ready-prepared in jars or tins.
PVA-friendly hemp is also available – lethal with fake corn on the hair.
preparation
Soak: 12 hours
boil: boil until split
Tiger nuts
If you told a group of top big-carp anglers they could use only the one hookbait, tiger nuts would undoubtedly come high on their list.
They are highly selective, as most other species won’t touch them. It is best to use them sparingly, though, and there’s no need to pile in kilos at a time. Two tigers on the hair over a couple of handfuls of freebies is more than enough to tempt a bite or two.
preparation
Soak: 24 hours
boil: 30 minutes
Fishing Bait Guide | How to pop-up your peperami
Peperami has to rate as one of the best alternative winter hookbaits. It’s durable, cheap and highly attractive and you should always have a stick or two of ‘rami’ in your bag during a winter session.
To make it more attractive, turn it into a pop-up so it stands off the bottom and in the carp’s eye line.
1) Cut a 1in chunk of Peperami and leave the outer skin intact
2) Remove centre of the Peperami with a bait corer or meat punch
3) Insert a cylindrical cork plug so it fits snugly
4) Cut off the excess cork plug so that it is flush to the bait
5) Hair rig the hookbait and place a small split shot underneath
Fishing Bait Guide | Best winter fishing baits
Struggling to catch this winter? Then maybe you aren't using the right baits while out on the bank fishing. Don't worry though as we are about to point you in the right direction when it comes to using the best winter baits when out fishing that are guaranteed to help you catch more. Check them out below.
Make a corn-aligner
Everyone has heard of the mag-aligner rig. But have you ever tried a corn-aligner? This clever little set-up uses a piece of fake corn over the eye of the hook rather than a maggot and is great when fished over a spod mix of hemp and corn or with a small PVA stick.
The rig can be fished with just the single grain of fake corn over the eye of the hook or with a grain of real corn on the hook too. here is how to make one for yourself...
1) Tie a short braided hooklink to your hook using a grinner knot
2) Pierce fake corn with a gated baiting needle from thin end
3) Attach the end of your hooklink to the needle and thread the corn down towards the hook
4) Position the corn over the hook. It should sit so that the eye of the hook is in the middle of the corn
Coat your maggots for added attraction
Maggots are attractive in their own right, but you can make them even more irresistible by flavouring them. A good way to do this is to give them a dunk in a liquid glug before dropping them into your chosen powder.
Krill powder is hard to beat but don’t be afraid to think outside of the box and try things such as Angel Delight from the supermarket. Dip the maggots into the dry powder just before you cast.
Add some hi-viz to your PVA bag
A hi-viz pop-up cast out with a small mesh PVA bag of pellets is a classic winter offering. But if you want to increase the chances of carp being drawn towards your trap, crush a couple of pop-ups and add them to your PVA bag. As well as the increased visual attraction, this will make the mix much more active as the small buoyant flecks will float up in the water and pull carp from up in the water down towards your hookbait.
Fishing bait guide | Fishing for carp with corn
With carp queuing up down the margins, Phil Reynolds was determined to make the most of the final hour of his session.
Piling in the bait throughout the day had led to his tray being almost empty, but a few scraps could still be found in the bottom of his corn tub.
Tails that looked bigger than anything he had landed suddenly began to show in the shallow water and, in a desperate bid to catch the owner of one, he latched on several scraps of the supermarket offering that remained.
In went the rig, and moments later the float rocketed under, the elastic shot out and it was game on. Minutes later a giant 15lb mirror was nestled in the bottom of the net.
“That day at Willow Marsh Fishery a couple of years ago put me on to a tactic that has caught me so many big fish since, and I have to confess
I stumbled on it by accident,” explained Phil.
“I used the skins of a few grains of corn that I could find and I did it again several times that session and banked numerous other double- figure lumps in a short period.
“Since then I have used corn skins as a hookbait almost every time I have been to a commercial and there is no doubt it has helped me pick out bigger fish.”
HOW TO HOOK CORN SKINS
1) Take a grain of sweetcorn and squeeze out all the pulp from the middle
2) Once the pulp has been discarded, hook the remaining skin
3) Place five or six skins on the hook to create an easily visible bait with minimal food content
Fishing bait guide | How much to feed when fishing
After location, what bait to use when fishing and how much to introduce must rank as the biggest conundrums facing the angler. For most coarse fishing there is always a trade-off between using enough bait to attract and entice the fish into feeding confidently and not overfeeding and ruining your chances of catching.
A good place to start in trying to shed some light on this question is to look at how much food fish need to consume to survive and grow. This question in itself is not straightforward. As fish are cold-blooded animals their metabolic rate will vary in relation to water temperature. The colder the water the less calories fish need to consume, the opposite of most warm-blooded animals. At the optimal temperature, with all other factors being equal, fish can consume around 2% of their body weight in food per day. For a 10lb carp this equates to just over three ounces of food per day. This is at a temperature in the mid-twenties centigrade, something that is rarely seen in the UK, except in shallow ponds.
Each species has a slightly different optimum temperature for food consumption, with cold-water species being significantly lower than those that prefer warmer conditions. For all species, though, food consumption falls away rapidly as the temperature drops. In winter fish will need only a fraction of this optimum amount.
As water temperature decreases the time it takes for food to pass through the gut also increases. From as little as a few hours in the summer, gut passage time can extend to several days in winter.
This has a knock-on effect, as fish will only eat when they are hungry and this is partially controlled by the fullness of their gut.
In the controlled environment of a fish farm, where environmental conditions and stocking density of the ponds is known with a degree of accuracy, it is possible to control the amount of food applied to maximise the growth of the fish while also minimising waste. The chances are that when fishing your local river or pool there is no way that you are going to know exactly how many fish are in your peg and if they happen to have fed prior to your arrival. This makes estimating the amount of bait you are going to need virtually impossible, although we can use a few rules of thumb to remove some of the guesswork.
The first thing to bear in mind is that fish have very acute senses which enable them to determine what is edible and its location with a great degree of accuracy. A carp, for instance, can easily find a grain of sweetcorn on the bottom. Most fish will also have a clear memory of eating bait in the past. Rather than having a ‘five-second memory’, most fish have a very good recollection of their environment, the food within it and what is edible. Thirdly, fish will be stimulated to feed by the behaviour of their shoal-mates, so once one fish begins to feed, the others are likely to follow suit.
So it makes much more sense to introduce bait sparingly to begin with and build-up the swim as more fish arrive, or as the food is consumed. Underwater filming tells us two things; often the hookbait is one of the last baits to be eaten and that fish are messy eaters, often spreading out bait as they wash it around the swim. The old adage of feeding to your bites, and topping up after each fish, makes good sense.
Attempting to estimate how many fish are in your peg is very difficult, but it is likely to be several times the number that you manage to catch. Should you then feed as if there were more fish in your peg? Often the answer is no, as these fish are likely to be the ones that are feeding less confidently, either because they are timid, or have eaten recently elsewhere.
In small enclosed venues, limiting the amount you feed is also eminently sensible as bait can lead to the water quality being affected, whether it is eaten or not.
Bait, whether it is maggots, groundbait, boilies, or any other, will introduce extra nutrients to the water. All nutrients will be broken down by bacteria, which will proliferate where there is an excess of waste.
In turn, algae can bloom where there are high levels of simple nutrients, which again can lead to poor conditions for fish. While we sometimes think of uneaten bait as being the most polluting, it can in fact be bait that has been broken down, but not absorbed, as it has passed through the gut of the fish which has the biggest short-term effect on the environment.
So, ironically, introducing too much bait can lead to poor water quality, which can adversely affect the appetite of coarse fish. This is why many fisheries limit the amount or type of bait that can be used, especially during the summer months when the stressors on the environment can be particularly acute. While the type of bait used can have an effect, often it is the amount of bait that is much more important to limit.
Fishing bait guide | Dobbing bread for carp
'Dobbing' for bread in the depths of winter is probably one of the best ways to keep the carp biting when everyone else around you may be struggling. We asked three times Fish O’Mania champion Jamie Hughes about some of his best dobbing tips that will give you a fighting chance of catching a carp at this time of year.
“On the face of it, lifting and dropping your rig all day sounds incredibly simple but there is much more to dobbing than that,” explained Jamie.
“You need to build up a strategy and make decisions on several factors. Make the wrong choices and you could be sat on a huge shoal of fish and still suffer a blank. “Get things right, though, and you could have over 100lb when the odds are well and truly stacked against you.”
Swim choice
Picking the correct location is imperative if you want to succeed in winter. A large proportion of pegs on your favourite commercial will be devoid of life, with the fish holding up in a select few spots.
These swims are likely to have a number of features that will make them an obvious choice when you first arrive on the bank.
“If a peg has plenty of cover then there is every chance it will be full of fish. Overhanging trees, big beds of rushes or other snags offer sanctuary from bad weather. The cover they provide could make the water very slightly warmer which the fish will be able to detect.
“On snake lakes where every peg looks the same, it is important to gain information from local experts and match results to learn where the fish have been showing,” he advised.
Jamie always starts to dob close to the cover, but won’t hesitate to enthusiastically investigate open water spots.
“I pay close attention to where nearby anglers are fishing. If they tip some bait in open water and catch a few fish, I will have a look at a similar area in my peg.
“I won’t feed a thing as adding bait might catch you a few quick fish but they soon get full and back away. I simply lift and drop the rig regularly over the area trying to nail the hookbait right in front of them, which is usually enough to convince them to suck it in.”
Depth decisions
One of the first duties when you first set up your pole is to plumb the depth.
Understanding the contours beneath the surface can be key but this is one style of pole fishing where Jamie prefers to leave the plummet in his box.
“No matter how subtle you are, dropping a plummet into the middle of a shoal of carp can instantly spook them.
“I prefer to have a rough guess at what the depth will be. If you speak to the fishery owner they will be able to help you build a picture up of what is going on underwater.”
The depth at which you set the rig depends entirely on how much water you think you have in front of you but enabling the bait to sit off the deck works wonders.
“Big carp don’t sit firmly on the bottom in winter because this is often where the coldest water sinks too.
“More often than not they are just off it in a slightly warmer layer. If I have 2ft of water I will try and get my hookbait 6in off the bottom, and a foot off if it’s 3ft-6ft.
“That said, it is all about trial and error and shallowing up or going a few inches deeper can make a massive difference and help you locate fish that won’t budge from where they are sat.”
Bread the best bait
You want to give the fish every opportunity to spot your hookbait and then suck it in so your offering must have two important qualities.
Firstly, it must be bright and visual so that is stands out like a sore thumb. Secondly, it needs to be light so that it sinks slowly. Bread is the ideal solution and is Jamie’s first choice every time.
“A punched disc of bread offers everything you want. I use a 7mm disc as it falls through the water at the ideal rate. Give it a gentle squeeze to remove air and stop it from floating,” he added.
A loaf that is fluffy yet has fairly thick slices works best and Jamie uses Warburtons Toastie.
On the move
If you start dobbing and fail to get any bites don’t be downhearted. The fish could be sat a metre away and their sluggish nature means they won’t budge.
In order to cover every inch of his swim, Jamie has come up with a routine that makes sure he keeps the bites coming.
“I will lay the rig in on its side so that the hookbait falls in a natural arc and then give it 30 seconds. If I don’t get any bites I will lift the rig out and drop it in the same spot again.
“If that still doesn’t work, I will drop the rig in somewhere else, either next to another snag or a gap in the reeds. No matter how small a feature is, it is worth investigating. On snake lakes I will simply move a metre away and try again, repeating the process.”
By exploring dozens of different areas and constantly adjusting depth, Jamie rarely fails when dobbing.
“You wouldn’t think it would be possible to catch 100lb of fish without feeding, but a few slices of bread is all you need to bag up in freezing conditions.”