Making your own bait.

[Graham Elliott]

To be honest the best bet is to send 10kg to a few of us and gain a view after the first couple of months.

Four more anglers needed

 

[Richard Dawson]

I trialled mine on the lower Derwent when creating boilies.

Low stocked but did know there were fish in there over a few stretches, and knew most people who did an overnighter either blanked or banked one fish typically.

I fished it for ages with off the shelf "shelf life" and freezer boilies like Sticky Krill and Source and never had any luck over my first season fishing from June until late into October.

It was season 2 i started making my own baits and pretty much instant results, it was a rare occurance to blank, and most visits ended up in a brace of doubles, one particular visit ended up in a brace of doubles and also 2 lost runs (one hook pull and one lost to snags) so the potential for 4 fish in a single night which is unheard of on there.


I think middle trent is useful to see if your bait is palatable, but it's highly stocked so chances are something will pick it up anyway, and then you don't know if your bait is any better than all the commercial mainstream stuff that goes in there.

I think if you can test your baits at a lower stocked venue but choose pegs you know have produced fish, and fish your baits over several visits, you'll get to see if they work. Could also fish 2 rods and have a mainstream bait on the other one to see if yours outfishes it.

 

[Joe Winstanley]

I trialled mine on the lower Derwent when creating boilies.

Low stocked but did know there were fish in there over a few stretches, and knew most people who did an overnighter either blanked or banked one fish typically.

I fished it for ages with off the shelf "shelf life" and freezer boilies like Sticky Krill and Source and never had any luck over my first season fishing from June until late into October.

It was season 2 i started making my own baits and pretty much instant results, it was a rare occurance to blank, and most visits ended up in a brace of doubles, one particular visit ended up in a brace of doubles and also 2 lost runs (one hook pull and one lost to snags) so the potential for 4 fish in a single night which is unheard of on there.


I think middle trent is useful to see if your bait is palatable, but it's highly stocked so chances are something will pick it up anyway, and then you don't know if your bait is any better than all the commercial mainstream stuff that goes in there.

I think if you can test your baits at a lower stocked venue but choose pegs you know have produced fish, and fish your baits over several visits, you'll get to see if they work. Could also fish 2 rods and have a mainstream bait on the other one to see if yours outfishes it.

Do you really think the Middle is that heavily stocked that you couldn't determine over a decent number of sessions if a particular bait is providing an edge?

Two-rodding...that downstream rod is always going to have an advantage, ime, which would skew the results.

 

[Joe Winstanley]

I’m not sure Joe
I think the upper is perfect if the bait is a good HNV and Simon wants to try and establish it, then I absolutely believe his returns will improve.

If it’s just about experimenting with different colours and flavours and just used on the day to see if they’ll eat it then yes 100% agree, chuck it in at east stoke and I’m sure you will pick up a handful on them.

Personally I'd need a very high degree of confidence in the bait I'd be using before starting a baiting campaign on the Upper.

 

[Richard Dawson]

Do you really think the Middle is that heavily stocked that you couldn't determine over a decent number of sessions if a particular bait is providing an edge?

Two-rodding...that downstream rod is always going to have an advantage, ime, which would skew the results.

I'd alternate the baits between upstream and downstream rods to see if there's any difference.

Depends where on the middle, somewhere like BDAAS stretch at Fiskerton fishes well even in the daytime, 2 or 3 fish achievable particularly in September onwards when they seem to be on the munch.

 

[Robert West]

When alls said and done there’s no right or wrong way, it’s about what you want to get out of the experience.
Myself I make my own baits, make my own mixes and they’ve been effective, but I’ve been known to use a northern special
At the moment ive been blending mealworms adding it to ground pellets fishmeals and binders plus a couple of hydrosates
To make a bait that works, but more importantly ive enjoyed the journey

 

[Richard Parsons]

One thought that occurs to me Simon, if you don't mind me sharing it, is that the Upper Trent probably isn't the best venue to be experimenting with baits. It's just too sparsely stocked, it doesnt matter how good your bait is if the nearest barbel is half a mile upstream. I think you'd find the more prolific Middle a better testing ground, and arguably on the more pressured stretches.

Ha - tell me about it. I did actually catch a brace on homemade boilies, but it took me over a season. I'd be sitting there all night wondering (over quite a few sessions) if it was the bait, then I'd lose faith and put on a shelfie. And still blank. In the back of my mind I reasoned that there were probably no barbel about, but I just couldn't get any confidence in my own bait. The thing is (as you've pointed out, Joe), I realised I blank more often than not on that stretch so decided to not take an alternative option and stick it out for a few sessions. Came good in the end, even if I've mainly blanked since. It's a hard river, but worth persevering in my view.