Hook Bait / Feed combinations ?

[Ben Marr]

I was having a go with some worms as hookbait a few weeks back on a plain lead, and I started thinking about using a feeder, but didn't have any groundbait and not many worms.
It got me wondering if there were any particular combinations of feed/ hookbait that people find work well, where the hookbait is different to the feed ?

 

[Daniel Jeffery]

Two feeder fillers I’ve used with success with worm on the hook come to mind.

First is wormery compost mixed with a little sticky groundbait. The well riddled compost is high attraction/low feed. It has lots of interesting small stuff in it (pot worms, larvae, eggs, etc). The gbait helps to hold it in the feeder and get it down. Barbel (and river carp) love it.

Second is a sponge in the feeder soaked in liver & worm extract. Stinks and is messy but again high attraction/low feed. Don’t use if crays present or you’ll be plagued by them.

Both work well after rain (just like the worms).

 

[David Rogers]

Sonubaits Worm Fishmeal groundbait is what I usually use in the feeder with worm hookbait.

 

[Etienne Harvey]

Very interesting Daniel. Something i can try as i have a wormery and plenty of vermicompost. Also i have been thinking of trying strip's of liver as a bait. I think some liver blitzed in a blender and added to some groundbait would work like a charm in a feeder. Thanks for the tips.

 

[Gavin Burt]

On the rare occasion I use a feeder I like to fill it with smell rather then feed. Namely:
-Ground-bait (without any pellets in it)
-Natural sponge (that’s been soaked in a liquid)
-KNORR stock pot

 

[Simon Archer]

I find this topic very interesting. Feeding the fish, or stimulating them to feed with what we put in the water.

I remember years ago when the "baggin waggler" was being first used at Drayton. The method used very very fine fishmeal groundbait around the feeder. The only thing edible for the Carp to actually eat was the hookbait. The fish would smell the fishmeal dropping off the waggler and then sift through the fine G/B coming off the feeder but not being able to feed off the G/B and eventually come across the hookbait and go for that.

Groundbait being thrown in at the start of a match. Loads of balls of G/B but maybe not a lot of feed content in them. More of a carrier of freebies than food. Leam used to enable Bloodworm to sit over it rather than burrow into the bottom. Double leam, one for the Bloodworm to sit over, the other as a binder to enable the ball to be thrown in. Emptying a G/B feeder mid water to let the particles drift downwards rather than in a pile on the bottom. All to stimulate fish to feed.

 

[Simon Archer]

Just remembered one of my team mates saying he'd fished a small blockend feeder with a Lobworm in it that he'd slightly cut slits in it and fished a piece of worm on the hook in a particularly hard winter league match. The lobby was too big to get washed out off the holes of the feeder, but leached out the worm juice/smell.

 

[Gavin Burt]

I find this topic very interesting. Feeding the fish, or stimulating them to feed with what we put in the water.

I remember years ago when the "baggin waggler" was being first used at Drayton. The method used very very fine fishmeal groundbait around the feeder. The only thing edible for the Carp to actually eat was the hookbait. The fish would smell the fishmeal dropping off the waggler and then sift through the fine G/B coming off the feeder but not being able to feed off the G/B and eventually come across the hookbait and go for that.

Groundbait being thrown in at the start of a match. Loads of balls of G/B but maybe not a lot of feed content in them. More of a carrier of freebies than food. Leam used to enable Bloodworm to sit over it rather than burrow into the bottom. Double leam, one for the Bloodworm to sit over, the other as a binder to enable the ball to be thrown in. Emptying a G/B feeder mid water to let the particles drift downwards rather than in a pile on the bottom. All to stimulate fish to feed.

If you want to find out more about feeding stimulants / nutrition / bait science then listen to this Podcast - it's all Carp focused but they do mention Barbel and they have similar ways of feeding e.g. bottom feeders filtering out the gravel and substrate from the food particles.

The Dean Towey ones are a good place to start.

Carp Chronicles Podcast | Carp Chronicles

Carp fishing chats with real anglers

carpanglerchronicles.podbean.com