Excellent, thoughtful piece. Like you I am amazed how much our ideas about bait quantities have changed over the decades. A few years ago I would have thought using a kilo or two in a few days was extravagant. How times have changed. I think people would be completely amazed at how much bait some of the well known anglers put in on pre-baiting campaigns these days – I’m talking literally hundreds of kilos here, of boilies, particles or whatever. Quantities I would never dream of using even if I were able to afford it or I had a limitless supply of bait at my disposal.

For me I guess the key is what are the fish used to and what stands out from what everyone else is doing. Huge piles of bolies closely piled together can quickly become a danger signal. If carp aren’t used to that then this approach can, at times, be devastating. One angler on a syndicate water I fish did well using 15 kg of boilies at the start of every trip, yes, that was 5 kg per rod.

What the carp get used to – and then become wary of – varies from lake to lake and even on the same lake at different times of the same season. And on the same lake from one season to the next. Of course it also depends on how much angling pressure the fish are subjected to and how much they are able to feed on bait without getting caught.

On most of my French trips I have come back with bait. I always take a mix of dry particle and groundbait just in case I need extra bulk food to go with the boilies I am generally using. I always take far more than I need just in case they are really ‘having it’: more often than not they don’t! On some lakes I have seen people “fill it in” – putting loads of bait in – and catch. Occasionally this has worked for me when I have used this tactic as a last resort but there have alos been times when I’ve tried it and blanked. Often I see people pile the bait in and not catch that well. Nowadays I like to build up my swim gradually – small amounts, say fifty boilies per rod to start with – and then add more bait the more I catch. Whatever quantity I am using I will always spread the bait around a much bigger area than most anglers seem to do. The obsession many anglers have with getting every pouchful or every spodful right next to their marker floats is beyond me!

Thanks again for a thought provoking piece.

Elie G

I had a similar experience to yourself on my last French trip, the weather was so inconsistent that it became fairly obvious that we weren’t going to catch lots. But by baiting lightly with the ever reliable Rahja Spice Shelf Lifes i managed 10 carp during the week ,
Paul Cooper who was with me used similar light baiting and took 14 fish during the week. Now we had taken lots of bait with us but there was no way we were going to put it in when the fish weren’t feeding properly, has we would have caught a lot less.

The French and Dutch guys on the venue were piling the bait in and they took less than 10 fish between them all week (up to 20 anglers). Again testament to the qualities of the Quest Rahja.

So as you say take as much bait as you can afford just in case you may have that real special week. But especially if you take the Quest shelf lifes you can always bring it back with you.

Well done on your recent French biggie.

Cheers,
Pat

Just going off on a slight tangent, I have seen many people casting funnel web pva bags out and as they have hit the water they have broken away from the rig, essentially again fishing with a single hookbait yet believing they are fishing a bag.

A couple of kilo of boilies being catapulted out seems a lot but if you were to fire a couple of kilo 40 yards out into a field then go and look at the baited area I know most would be surprised how little it looks.

Also you are so very right in just how quickly a few fish can wipe out what appeared to be a large bed of bait. There are far more single hook bait captures made when anglers thinking they are fishing over a bed of bait than many would like to believe.