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Monday Top 5 - Bait Edges
Buoyancy…
Always consider the buoyancy of your bait especially your hookbait. Try and make your hookbait behave as if it were one of the free offerings you are throwing in, rather than being attached to a hook. This can be done in a number of ways; for example, when carp fishing, using cork to balance your boilies can be a real edge, as the famous KD rig used by Tom Dove has demonstrated in the past. In match fishing, the use of floating maggots - which are maggots soaked in water (watch out they don’t wriggle out your bait tub though!) can be a huge edge to any wary fishes that have seen it all before. Finally, air injected lobworms, and adding popup mix to your cheese paste can be devastating ways of altering the buoyancy of your hookbaits to match your loose feed on rivers.
Additives…
There’s no shortage of things you can add to your bait to make it individual, and also increase its pulling power. A classic for trotting on the river is turmeric on your maggots. The addition of spice such as chilli or masala paste can be dynamite on particles for all manner of species. Those carp fishing specimen hunters can opt for bait dips such as Betaline, or a matching bait booster flavour to their boilies all work, and give you something to make your bait stand out. One word of caution; don’t put all your eggs in one basket; have some unflavoured, and maybe two different, successful flavoured baits,, and see which works best on the day.
Variety…
As with our diet variety stops you getting bored, and is also better for you. Imagine eating a pot noodle for every meal, every day! After a while you wouldn’t feel like eating, plus you'd feel pretty sick. In a fishing context, using a combination of baits can be deadly, allowing you different hookbait options and also appealing to different species. This is ideal for match fishing on a river, where you want as much attraction and fishing in your swim as possible. In carp fishing terms the use of a variety of different food items in your spod mix helps avoid the fish singling out a hookbait, and thus ensures they feed harder. Try it next time; take a selection of baits.
Feeding…
As the famous saying goes, you can put it in, but you can't take it out. Whatever you fish for, feeding can be just as important as what bait you are using. If you tip in loads at the start and the fish aren’t up for feeding, you have dramatically lessened any chance of catching. The best policy is to feed little and often, and let the bites and fishes' response tell you if more needs to go in
or not. For example, if you are match fishing, feed regularly via a pole post until bites come, then adjust the feeding so that your bites are positive and being converted into fish in the net; keep feeding to this pattern, and keep bites coming. In carp fishing terms 5 spods on a spot is a great starting point and then top up after. Try and avoid feeding at bite time (usually first light or early evening), as this will reduce your chance of a bite and spoil things for others. Finally, river specimen hunters; apply bait to likely areas and then revist them after an hour and see if the fish are there feeding, waiting for you. This way you can cover lots of ground, and, when you do come to fish, you have the fish feeding and location sorted.
Fresh Is Best...
Just like food for us, fresh is always best, I know some people think that it may not matter, but for myself, I have to have the freshest bait when I head out fishing. This goes for dace fishing through to targeting 50lb carp. I will prepare my bait the night before, but I will make sure that everything is as fresh as I can get it to ensure the attractors, food signals and content is as good as it can be for the fish. There’s no substitute for high quality, proven fresh bait. The fish are definitely worth it.
I hope the following tips help you when it comes to all things bait, and I also hope that it helps you bag that fish of a lifetime the next time you are out on the bank.
