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Can you Use Cheese as Fishing Bait?
It may be a U.S. holiday but us anglers could not give up the opportunity to celebrate the upcoming National Cheese Day (4th June 2021). Yes, you may love to nibble on some cheese biscuits or pack yourself a cheese sandwich for your fishing session but did you know that anglers can use cheese as fishing bait too?
To celebrate National Cheese Day, we, here at Angling Direct have listed all the ways you can add cheese to your bait.
What Fish Can Be Baited with Cheese?
It may be news to some anglers but fish such as chub, barbel, carp, trout and catfish can all be attracted to cheese, especially in the winter months. Some anglers say the smellier the cheese the better so if that cheese is growing a bit of mould or you have some leftover stilton from a Christmas cheeseboard, it's time to make use of it!
Despite its high price as a food item, cheese is in fact a low-cost bait, especially when compared to a tub of maggots or casters. You can pick up a cheap block of cheddar and only need a few chunks to be successful whereas a bait box full of maggots might land you the same old nuisance species time and time again.
When is the Best Time to Use Cheese as Fishing Bait?
As previously mentioned, cheese really comes into its own in the colder months through winter and spring. During the winter, the rivers tend to be slightly flooded and the water is highly coloured which is why fish use scent over vision when choosing baits. This is why those cheesy scents travelling downstream will lead to a bite.
How to Use Cheese as Fishing Bait
1). Cheese Paste
Whether it's stilton, parmesan or classic cheddar, cheese paste is a great way to get more attraction from what is likely to be high-quality fish. The best types of cheese to use for your paste are crumbly ones such as Stilton and Danish Blue as these can be kneaded into paste form and then moulded around the hook. You could also use very soft cheeses such as tubed cheese spreads, mixed with powdered cheeses such as Parmesan to thicken them up enough for moulding.
To make AD’s recipe of cheese paste you need the following:
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150g Danish Blue Cheese
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200g Mature Cheddar Cheese
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1 Loaf of Liquidised Bread (In crumb form)
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Bait Liquids
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Water
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50-75g Polaris Pop-Up Mix
Watch the video below for the steps to creating the paste.
Once you have made a batch of cheese paste up, read this blog from former Drennan Cup winner Gareth Goldson on the best ways to use paste for chub fishing.
2). Cheesy Bait Mix
You could try mixing in chunks of cheddar cheese to your bait mix along with your groundbait or pellet spod mix. In small chunks, cheese offers something different for fish to not only smell in your swim but nibble on alongside there rest of your freebies.
To really add attractant to your mix, after adding cheese add some garlic too!
3). Cubed Cheese Hookbait
A bit like cubed luncheon meat, cheese can be cut up into 12mm-20mm cubes to be added to your hook. Ideal types of cheese for this tend to be blocks of cheddar or Edam. Cut down the cheese to fit your choice of hook.
4). Cheese Cocktails
Want to mix up your hookbait of just cheese? We are not talking cheese and pineapple sticks here but more a cube of cheese next to a cube of luncheon meat or some bacon on the hook. You could even take your cubed luncheon meat and softer, crumbly cheeses and mould it around the meat before adding to the shank.
Best Ways to Fish with Cheese
Anglers suggest that you walk the bankside first for the best places to introduce cheese.
For the summer months, this may be dropping in small chunks of cheese between clean runs in the water and weeds. You could add some cheese paste balls beneath over-hanging trees or amongst roots of bushes where fish like to shelter from the sun. You can also cast your cheesy hookbait under the bank in places where the current has created hollowed parts of the bankside.
During the winter adapt your tactics for fishing in deeper waters. Find places with a high flow as this will wash the scent of cheese further downstream, attracting the fish.
