(All loaded & ready to go)
On one of the lakes I fish you need to place your baits out a good old distance and in a good size amount. But not having to worry too much about placing them exactly on the same spot every time but being able to create numerous feeding beds. So my initial approach was to opt for a simple throwing stick, and dot boiles around a marker, but soon came to realise that it was an option that had serious disadvantages. On one hand there is the limit to the bait that can be used and on the other hand there is the annoyance of seagulls. Many of you reading this most
likely at some point have experienced seagulls picking up your boilies in mid air or as they hit the water. Gulls have come to recognise the sound of the boilie as it
leaves the throwing stick and quickly gather in large flocks
ready to pick up the bait in flight; those baits that escape are soon picked off as soon as they hit the surface of the water. Therefore I decided to give myself more of a fighting chance and get the trusty spod out.
(Gulls that’s what you get when living by the sea!)
Just got back from a day session on a local water of mine and have managed to surprise myself by the amount of thought that was given to my baiting tactics. I was only there for what could only be described as a few hours but I probably spent an equal amount of time deciding on and preparing the bait. Just thought I’d mention two approaches I used, which I’m positive is nothing new to anyone but sometimes overlooked in favour of new and improved methods.
Paste is a brilliant but underused bait and when used the results can be devastating. There are loads of self pastes on the shop shelves you can buy these days but it still can be a minefield choosing the right one. The one I go for is Quest BaitsFruityTrifle, a bait I can use all year round that doesn’t let me down even in these colder months of the year. I like to wrap 15mm boilies with paste on my hooklink alongside small paste balls mixed with the pellet in a PVA bag.
Below is a quick exchange of emails I felt may be useful for a few other readers…
A question to Shaun.
I am doing some winter fishing this year and wonder what bait you would recommend and what size. I like the look of the FruityTrifle.
Tom
Hi Tom, FruityTrifle is one of my favourite winter baits. The basemix I started using right back in the 80’s and have caught literally hundreds of carp on it. It is very easily digestible so the carp will feed again quite quickly – very important in the winter as many baits stay inside them for too long. Size wise I always try and mix the sizes in my own fishing and if the distance being fished allows I always crumble baits up for loose feed as well as offering whole ones.
Ideally I would introduce a small amount of 10mm’s, 15mm’s and 20mm’s whole and broken But if I were limiting myself to just one size of bait I would take the larger 20mm’s simply because there is plenty of scope for breaking them into smaller pieces and trimming them down etc.
Hope this helps
Best fishes
Shaun Harrison
Tom replied.
Thanks for the reply like most nowadays I read you must use 10mm in winter and so on. Just to give you the (more…)
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