baits that just worked !!

[Clive Kenyon]

On those days where the river is absolutely piling through you’ll be hard pushed to beat a match box sized lump of cathedral city.
you’ll not get pestered by other species in these conditions and barbel absolutely love it.
I fish cheese on one meat on the other and the cheese 80% of the time is found by barbel first in these conditions.
ideally it’s best kept for the most hardcore conditions because if the chub are out they can’t leave it alone but from my experience it absolutely knocks the spots off anything else in a proper swollen river

An old French technique is to coat large flat stones with grated Emmental cheese and bake them until the cheese melts. Once cooled the stones are thrown into the river and cheese is used on the hook. Cheese cubes are a popular barbel bait over here, but I wouldn't class it as a top bait. Sometimes I'll wrap another bait, such as maize grains, pellets or Frolicks with cheese paste as a change bait.

About 40 years ago I knew a couple of anglers who fished the Wharfe using well matured Gorgonzola cheese paste for large barbel to good effect.

 

[Kevin Copping]

Darren trust me you dont wanna know.
But just between you and me ,i understand that a leading bait manufacturer has his chemist working on a copy locked in under a dry cleaning unit on an industrial estate in New Mexico.
But you didnt hear that from me.

If the bait is to be boilies, be sure that you’re not breaking bad eggs into your base mix! and the best colour is pink man

 

[Joe Winstanley]

Darren trust me you dont wanna know.
But just between you and me ,i understand that a leading bait manufacturer has his chemist working on a copy locked in under a dry cleaning unit on an industrial estate in New Mexico.
But you didnt hear that from me.

It's not Mike Ermentrout is it?!....


......I'll get me coat...

 

[Bob Edwards]

What a show,a modern day classic.
Wise words earlier Joe,as usual.I am also a big fan of the caster and maggot approach in conjuction with hemp,although its become more of a gamble these days with less fish about.
I usually only treat myself to a few pints when ive found a few fish visually on the Avon or Stour ,or ive been getting liners and no takes on less visual venues such as the Kennet,Loddon, and Rother on boilie or pellet.
Theres certainly something about casters that can just unlock certain swims and you can even use them when pestered by crayfish thanks to the excellent rubber hookbaits available these days.

 

[Chris Allcock]

Time Severn slips , and lamprey pellets and boilies. One of the best baits I've ever used was tulip canned hazlet from a local discount store, I bought all the stock and have never seen it anywhere since

As my love for barbel is off the chart.... it would be extremely hard to part with hazlet. Never seen it In a tin mind. Only sliced in the local deli.

 

[Deleted member 2708]

When I moved to France 4 years ago I had little idea of how to fish a big river. A friend back in Scotland had made me up a couple of hair rigs and told me to try boilies as bait. When we arrived I found some Decathlon brand strawberry flavoured boiles and gave them a try.....several trip later and not a nibble, I went back to natural baits and caught fish!

Some months later and I am on Facebook talking to an old sea fishing buddy, Martin, who had turned to coarse angling. I knew he ran a small fishery in the borders but did not realise he was a partner in a bait making company. Well, he explained a few things to me and I was convinced enough to put in a largish order, the most economical parcel size to be sent to France.

My very first short session on the Lot with these Slayer Triple S 20mm boilies brought three chub to over 5lb and a small carp! Since then I have had so many fish on the Triple S, including barbel to 8lb and several carp to over 40lb. Despite my eventually having to freeze them they remain my best bait for chub, even when chub just pluck at other boilies they usually take the Triple S properly!

The advice Martin had given me was that the base mix of a boilie is most important, and his brand has proven to be reliable. Since Brexit I have not ordered from him but I have found other brands that are quite good (though the chub still prefer the Triple S), but when the going gets tough I dig out the old favourite!

One recent surprise to me was my angling buddy Alistair picked up some Decathlon brand boilies in Monster Crab flavour - and started catching fish! When I checked the packet I found the main ingredient is corn - no fishmeal at all! In the summer sweetcorn is a reliable bait here and this fairly soft boilie actually attracts fish. No idea if the Monster Crab flavouring has much to do with that though!

 

[Adam Wylie]

I have a lot of confidence in Bolies ,I used to use the mini version but now use 15-20 mm ,
Squid and Tuti fruit. Halibut pellets , 15- 25 mm hook baits
King prawns have also been successful at times.

 

[Jon Elliott]

The original Elips were just different class. Caught so many fish for a few seasons. Dynamite Source was alwasys good, but seemingly became less effective - though still has its days.

 

[Richard Isaacs]

I’ve used a lot of these wonder baits that have changed or discontinued and are believed to of been “better” but I’m not convinced they are any better than some of the quality baits available now.
we have fewer barbel in the rivers than we did when they were around so it stands to logical reason that we are waiting longer for bites.
baits get far too much credit for the success and failure in catching barbel.
bait application and choice based on what’s infront of you is a much more likely factor to success.

like joe rightfully said your not gonna better the maggot feeder on a clear sunny day.
Drop a big boilie in the main flow when the light drops.
Coloured water in summer and a hali will get accepted just as quickly as an eclipse would of with number of present fish being equal.
bit fat smelly single hook baits in winter floods go down a treat and sweet baits in all winter conditions do the business too.

The last thing I’ll blame my piss poor catch returns on is the fact that mainline dropped the active8 because I bet if the barbel numbers were the same as they were the John baker frost and flood would of been just as productive

 

[Terry Harman]

Anybody heard of Worms ?

No chemicals, no long nights preparing the baits, , no mixing , no need to peruse the bait shelves in tackle shops , no magic mystery ingredients .
No advertising blurb, no carp ( or barbel) tax , no waste, no stink in the kitchen.

David

but catch loads of other species i don’t want to catch i’ve caught rudd on 14mm boiles this year on the nene .. i don’t want to encourage them any more using worms