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Anyone using milks this winter?

I usually have one rod on them in floodwater conditions Graham, but haven’t found them to be any more effective than fish meals tbh.
 
Used them for many years usually from the first frost on wards.
I sweeten them up a bit with a jb flavour and they have produced the goods for me on lots of winter coloured water sessions in the past. they’ve not produced for me this season mind but I’ll put that down to the fish not being there rather than a fault with the bait. Do they work better than other good winter baits? I wouldn’t of thought so but they will be as good. I use them purely because I’ve got confidence in my mix from a few good fish out.
 
Can somebody tell me what "Milks" are.... not got a clue.

I have been fishing for Barbel, reasonably successfully for the last oh. .... maybe 27 years plus, using Pellets, Spam, home made pellet paste, worms,and maggots, and thought that the above baits covered all the bases, well, for me they do.

Have I been missing out , or are "Milks" something else that has sneaked in from the Carp fishing fraternity ?

Old dog and new tricks methinks ?

David.
 
David Craine said:
Can somebody tell me what "Milks" are.... not got a clue.

I have been fishing for Barbel, reasonably successfully for the last oh. .... maybe 27 years plus, using Pellets, Spam, home made pellet paste, worms,and maggots, and thought that the above baits covered all the bases, well, for me they do.

Have I been missing out , or are "Milks" something else that has sneaked in from the Carp fishing fraternity ?

Old dog and new tricks methinks ?

David.
Click to expand...
Look at this David https://www.johnbakerbaits.com/product/supermilk/ ....then be content with the baits you've been using 🤭
 
David Craine said:
Can somebody tell me what "Milks" are.... not got a clue.

I have been fishing for Barbel, reasonably successfully for the last oh. .... maybe 27 years plus, using Pellets, Spam, home made pellet paste, worms,and maggots, and thought that the above baits covered all the bases, well, for me they do.

Have I been missing out , or are "Milks" something else that has sneaked in from the Carp fishing fraternity ?

Old dog and new tricks methinks ?

David.
Click to expand...
Your not missing out on anything David it’s like any bait you find that works and establishes confidence. No need to change something that’s working for you. Milks definitely have a place in winter barbel fishing for me because they suit the waters and the fish i target quite well. I’m fishing rivers where the barbel are very few and far between. I’m seeking 1 or 2 fish at the most and it’s usually quite a special one but more often than not it doesn’t show. Milks stand out like a prick at a party in coloured water and have a bit of a different sweet scent, very very high in protein so certainly don’t want to be feeding much if anything at all when targeting 1 fish
So this type of bait suits my winter/flood fishing perfectly and has inspired my confidence because it’s worked for me a good few times. I’ve found It’s a very good bait for catching the fish attention in coloured cold water. I’d like to think they perhaps might move a little more to seek out a bright, sweet protein bait but then that may not be the case.
I wouldn’t use them in rivers where barbel are plentiful. I’d use something more suitable to lose feeding in this case. I have a bag of Smilk that I’ve had for the last 2 winter seasons now this is the 3rd.
thar should give you an idea of just how much I use .Practically nothing so the cost isn’t an issue. I used some on my last session in coloured water and probably only used about 4 boilies total.
 
I've had all my best fish on milk protein baits in high coloured water, mainly at the back end of winter. A bunch of us (including @Andy Bebbington above) were fishing the Bristol Avon (plus some other rivers) 10 years ago and all using the same recipe, all seemed to do very well. I had such confidence in the bait at the time that I found that it compensated massively for my significant lack of angling ability to the point I felt I could catch anywhere. Confidence in what you're using is king, isn't it?
 
Years ago I underwent a long and drawn out pre-baiting campaign on the Teme with a Supermilk/HNV home-made boilies. Just a few, same swim, every day, various shapes and sizes, round to oval to dumbell, 4mm-12mm, for over a week without actually fishing with it, or in that unfished swim. I then left it a day, and then fished that swim, with that bait. I caught bream after bream and bream 🤬
That's when my hatred of snotties truly started 😂😂😂
 
I have never believed that a “magic” bait exists and as Mark rightly said taking a bait and applying it properly is the key to making one work.
I’d be hopeless on a river like the Wye as general baiting tactics needed are completely foreign to my style of fishing and it would be like learning from scratch for me.
it also makes me chuckle when I see big river barbel lads coming to the smaller rivers I fish to pick up that special double and pile in half a ton of bait and wonder why they are picking up millions of bream and chub. If Mrs barbs is feeding in your swim and can find your bait then you’ve done it. The bait becomes irrelevant. I use milks because I don’t need to or want to pre bait them, they stand out in coloured water, they are very effective at scent release in the coldest of waters. If I want to put in free offerings I’ll break a single large smilk boilie into 3 or 4 pieces and drop that right on the line I want to fish. Certainly no more unless I want a net full of dustbin lids.
 
Andy Frances said:
I've had all my best fish on milk protein baits in high coloured water, mainly at the back end of winter. A bunch of us (including @Andy Bebbington above) were fishing the Bristol Avon (plus some other rivers) 10 years ago and all using the same recipe, all seemed to do very well. I had such confidence in the bait at the time that I found that it compensated massively for my significant lack of angling ability to the point I felt I could catch anywhere. Confidence in what you're using is king, isn't it?
Click to expand...

Andy, Was that the mix Dr Davies was involved with also?
 
Re. colour (milk = white) Whatever the attractive qualities milk/smilk baits may have in flood conditions, it won't be down any visual aspect. In IMO, in coloured water the colour of your bait will be irrelevant.
 
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