• You need to be a registered member of Barbel Fishing World to post on these forums. Some of the forums are hidden from non-members. Please refer to the instructions on the ‘Register’ page for details of how to join the new incarnation of BFW...

Barbel Groundbaits

Tim Lawrence

Tim Lawrence

Senior Member
I very rarely use groundbait in a feeder when barbel fishing, instead I prefer the straight lead with PVA parcel approach. The fish in my local small river seem to feed more confidently over smaller particles, and when I have tried a feeder with groundbait I’ve never had any luck (albeit only three times). I’m planning to fish a bigger river this season, and I suspect I may need to consider the groundbait feeder to attract fish from a wider area. Maybe not too, I will test out different approaches.

My question is what are you favourite groundbait mixes for barbel? And have you experienced certain rivers where they just don’t like groundbait?
 
I just use plain brown crumb, with home cooked hemp and a micro hali pellets, If I am using corn I substitute the pellets with corn .
I use the hemp water from its cooking to mix the crumb to the right consistency to pack the feeder .

I did once buy some off the shelf feeder mix specifically for Barbel , or so it said in the pack, very expensive in the scheme of things.
In short, the brown crumb as above worked equally well , and perhaps had the edge ,as I fished both groundbaits alongside each other over a week. I have not bothered to even look at commercial groundbaits since then , just making my tried and tested home made crumb mix.

I firmly believe that a lot of commercially made baits catch anglers rather than fish .

I have used the crumb mix on every river I have fished , The Wye, The Swale, The Ribble, The Wharfe plus others ,occasionally blanking as we all do at times, but also having good days as well.


David.
 
I’ve thought about ordering some of the Hinders baits, the barbel bomb mix sounds good and it’s about £5 for 900g. Not as cheap as brown crumb but maybe worth a try to compare.
 
Tim Lawrence said:
I’ve thought about ordering some of the Hinders baits, the barbel bomb mix sounds good and it’s about £5 for 900g. Not as cheap as brown crumb but maybe worth a try to compare.
Click to expand...
If you're thinking of giving groundbait a go I can definitely recommend Barbel Bomb it's quality! Caught loads of fish over the years using it. Get yourself a 4.5kg bag for £19.50, you'll use it👍
 
I've used any of the big companies Halibut method mix groundbaits to good effect. Nice and sticky and really smelly. I've used Hinders, but found the particles too big for what I wanted the G/B to do, but it was/is still a good G/B.

As an ex matchman, we used G/B for all sorts of reasons. For food value, for the smell, as a carrier of bait, for colouring the water, putting something on the bottom that certain baits we used preferred to sit over. A very interesting subject, and not just a mix it and chuck it in scenario.
 
Tim Lawrence said:
I do use pva funnel web filled with a mix of dry pellets, usually attached to the lead and my hook nicked into it. I’m not overly familiar with stick mix’s, what’s the advantage?
Click to expand...
You don't have to use a feeder just make up a dry mix of crumb/groundbait mix with small pellets/broken boilies etc and make up some PVA parcels and attach to the lead. I make them up in advance at home and store in sealed poly boxes so they can be used in any weather.
 
Steven Hodges said:
You don't have to use a feeder just make up a dry mix of crumb/groundbait mix with small pellets/broken boilies etc and make up some PVA parcels and attach to the lead. I make them up in advance at home and store in sealed poly boxes so they can be used in any weather.
Click to expand...
That makes sense, not vastly different to what I’ve been doing last year but adding dry groundbait. Thanks, I will experiment.
 


Take a look at this Tim you don’t have to thread your hooklength through the stick just attach it to the lead using pva clips



There’s so much stuff we can take from carp fishing but apparently all you need is a hair rig a feeder and some pellets 😉😁
 
Tim Lawrence said:
I very rarely use groundbait in a feeder when barbel fishing, instead I prefer the straight lead with PVA parcel approach. The fish in my local small river seem to feed more confidently over smaller particles, and when I have tried a feeder with groundbait I’ve never had any luck (albeit only three times). I’m planning to fish a bigger river this season, and I suspect I may need to consider the groundbait feeder to attract fish from a wider area. Maybe not too, I will test out different approaches.

My question is what are you favourite groundbait mixes for barbel? And have you experienced certain rivers where they just don’t like groundbait?
Click to expand...
Blitzed vitalin and brown crumb, with a bit of crushed hemp and/or lt94 if I have any leftovers from rolling bait.

Mixed up with water leftover from cooking hemp.
 
I've pretty much abandoned the feeder approach, too many fish spook off the mainline.


Last year i started to solely fish a straight lead with a 4ft minimum hooklength with the pva mesh bag on the hook of 3 cut in half boilies and a pinch of pellets and my catch rate improved enormously.



If you want to get more bait down and have the same effect, make a large sausage of bait from PVA mesh (the 35mm stuff) and use a long baiting needle to bring the loop of your hooklength through the sausage lengthways so it survives a big cast. You can get the equivalent of 2-3 spoppers a time worth of bait out this way but without any of it being right near your lead.

Cast to a far bank marker each time and your lead will never be in your bait pile.
 
IMO you only need 3 components for a feeder mix; maize, hemp and pellets. Simmer ground maize in enough water to cover it for ten minutes, add cooked hemp seeds, ground hemp and maize ground bait, cover with boiling water then take off the heat and allow to cool. It should be a claggy mix as the starch will have been released from the grains. Stir well and leave overnight, or better two days, stirring at least every 6 hours or so. That allows it to ferment and adds to the attraction. Also the moisture will be absorbed leaving a dryer mix.

Put some small pellets in just before use. The starch will make the ground bait sticky until it enters the water. Then it loosens up leaving small irregular particles on the river bed and a long scent trail..
 
This talk about using dry mixes in PVA bags, and us learning from carper, sounds good ... but most carpers aren't fishing in rivers. Flowing water can make fools of us all .. and brings to mind Barbel Days & Ways, and how we can get it SO wrong 😂 (I always put my lead in the bag, and hope:))

 
Terry Simner said:
This talk about using dry mixes in PVA bags, and us learning from carper, sounds good ... but most carpers aren't fishing in rivers. Flowing water can make fools of us all .. and brings to mind Barbel Days & Ways, and how we can get it SO wrong 😂 (I always put my lead in the bag, and hope:))

Click to expand...
With the pva clips the bag is attached to the lead but yeah you have to think of the running water aspect
 
Bait dropper, swim rest, straight lead, Job done!

I’m a pretty crap feeder angler to be truthful especially at range and any fish I’ve landed on the rare occasions I’ve used them certainly haven’t come from skills of using a feeder effectively that’s for sure.

I don’t use ground bait very often at all.
The exception for me would be a little cage packed with liquidised bread flicked out for a winter chub. That’s caught me a few fish and it’s a method I can use proficiently but if any distance, accuracy, consistency required in a feeder is to be used I’m pretty much Bambi on ice 🤣
Give me a stick float any day over them daft bloody cages I build 🤣
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top