Carpfishing has certainly been developing at an amazing rate over recent years. Just the other day I was sat having a chat with a good mate of mine and we got on to the topic of bait.
Now this conversation went down the route of how much bait you would use in certain circumstances, which has got my brain really working.
In my early days this bag would have lasted me weeks
Going back to the late eighties and very early nineties I would knock up a four eggmix and expect it to last me a couple of weekendsessions at the very least. Well I reckon that a four eggmix equates to about a pound and a half of 14mm baits, which would be a couple of hundred at the most. Generally that would be it, no pellet, hemp, corn or anything else. On arrival I would generally put in a couple of pouch fulls and if I caught I would add another pouch of boilies and so on. I remember putting in half a bag one day and worrying about ruining my chances. It’s crazy to think that way now but I was naive at the time and having come from a coarse background of fishing a few maggots and the odd grain of corn, 14mm boilies seemed so big.
Between our group we would commonly use the term I have filled in when in reality we weren’t even scratching the surface of what they could devour.
Over the years I have witnessed some occasions where I am certain you cannot over feed them. On one occasion I watched two Carp that probably weren’t even doubles munch down 2 pints of maggots in no more than a few minutes. That same day on a commercial fishery I had probably 300 Carp climbing over each other to get at my floaters, they were in a complete frenzied state. (more…)
I relearned and old lesson last weekend, you may think you have the lake sorted out but no one tells the carp the rules.When I joined Shaun on our syndicatewater Grenville Lake he had already fished for 24 hours.He was fishing a swim in a bay that he knows well and has fished successfully over the last year. I chose a swim at the other side of the point on his right.Conditions for us both looked good.Within an hour I was getting liners over the Surf n’Turf and after three hours I had a run that I did not connect with.I sat confidently for another 24 hours; while the new wind that should have pushed the fish towards swung slowly around 360 degrees and the temperature cooled considerably.Was I worried was I hell? The fish in this lake always fish off the back of a cold wind.Don’t they?The wind picked up and I sat it out. (more…)
By Mehdi Daho I like to mixdumbellshapeboilies with normal round boilies in my baiting spot.
I think it confuses the carp, even the most spooky specimens. This is especially true when nobody else is using the dumbells on the water.
I fished a spot very close to the margin where I baited by hand a mixture of hot hemp and partiblend with 30% of dumbells Liver B8 and 70% of 15mm Liver B8 boilies. I placed my rig with a small dumbellLiver B8 followed by a plastic yellow corn on the baiting area.
Thirty minutes later I had a run !!! After a long fight under the rod tip, I landed a superb 37lb brown mirror.
I repeated the same situation for 3 days fishing only 1h in the evening, and I managed a run each night. I really believe the shape of the bait can increase runs.
Mike wrote:
Hi all, I’m planning to make my own boiles in the near future, after buying the basemix,then the additive,etc etc, I’m wondering could you give me a basic guidline on how much bait I would get from a 1kg basemix?. kind regards Mike…
Hi Mike,
Most of the commercial base mixes come in 500 gram bags. Depending on the density of the basemix, will determine if a 4, 5 or even 6 eggmix is required. 5 medium sized eggs weigh around 350 to 400 grams, add some liquid additives to your mix and the total weight should be around 1 kilo, give or take 50 grams. (more…)
The location of carp is not such an easy task when we move into the colder months. My time on the bank tends to be shorter, fishing time is at a premium with the shorter days, and time for fish spotting is limited. Rolling and leaping carp are rare, as are the tell tale feeding bubbles so often seen when the fish are more active. They are less likely to be actively moving around the lake seeking food, so one answer is to take it to them. When I’m winter fishing at least one of my rods will be roaming. Every half to one hour I will recast to a different area of the swim? I like PVA mesh tube as it breaks down very quickly and releases the bait. Attaching a small bag of crumbed boile or Quest Maximum Action Pellets to the hook increases the attraction without feeding the carp too much. This will often stimulate a feeding response and put that bonus winter carp on the bank.