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Base Mix? One For Bait Buffs...

Great stuff Ian...very inspirational...you've go me thinking and running through all the options again now, groan :eek:

'Old on....I have just had a great idea. If I can't restrain myself, and upset 'er indoors all over again.....I shall blame you. Sorted. :p :D :p

Nice posts mate,

Cheers, Dave.
 
David Gauntlett said:
Great stuff Ian...very inspirational...you've go me thinking and running through all the options again now, groan :eek:

'Old on....I have just had a great idea. If I can't restrain myself, and upset 'er indoors all over again.....I shall blame you. Sorted. :p :D :p

Nice posts mate,

Cheers, Dave.
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:eek: I shall deny everything :cool:
 
This choice should be decided by your plans.

Really is dependent on what you want to do rather than the bait. The bait really is relatively easy. Go to any fishing shop and there will be at least 4 baits you can use as an attractor bait and usually another couple that can be used as a long term food bait.For example I went up to the Trent for a social and a fish. I knew I wanted to catch. I knew from talking to the people I was visiting there was a fair head of fish with the odd rare double.

So what would you do in those circumstances ?

At the time I was talking to Mike Willmott of Essential Baits a fair bit as he had or was about to launch a barbel bait range. Anyway I had been using his B5 for a bit before we started talking for carping and the occasional barbel trip. I took a bag of B5 breakdown pellets and a tub of B5 pop ups. Small, I mean tiny, PVA string bag of pellets attached to a size 4 that sunk the pop up without and additional weight. As said I knew there was a head of fish. There would of course be chub and bream to get through but there really isn't a way of getting them out of the way without some serious preparation and I wouldn't have the time. The idea was to feeder fish. Just keep enough bait or scent of bait in the water to attract by feeder nothing. Find a spot and keep casting to that spot every 20 - 30 minutes to keep the scent trail running thought the swim. I suppose the trick of this and using any similar attractor bait method is confidence in what you are doing. Shellfish B5 is a stunning bait. I knew from playing with the pellets on the Ouse and Lea that barbel came to them.

Result ? Trent double and 8 or 9 other barbel with about 7 chub. Drove up there with Andy Davies and he used a similar attractor bait method and also caught a double and quite a few back up fish. I think we were the only one's to catch that night but hey that is fishing and probably denotes luck.

Next scenario.

There are a number of rivers that have low stock densities but the average weight of those fish are relatively high. Gt Ouse, Lea, Kennet in places, St Pats, Thames the list can go on for a while. If you are nearby one of those and you either have a specific target fish or weight and know where they have been caught before this one is aimed at you. Keeping that goal in mind is going to be the hardest part of this. Any target that is worth attaining always is.

Pick a bait...I don't know. Nutrabaits HiNuVal was always a bait I used a fair bit either on it's own or cut into other base mixes so let's say 50/50 with Mainline's Grange with a sprinkling of Robin Red. That would be it. Nothing else. This is a food bait. So the idea of this to me is to introduce it on a consistent or in my case persistent way to a set number of areas that I KNEW there were fish of a size I wanted to catch or a particular fish.The feeding was started in September/October with the plan to actually start fishing the areas in November through to the end of the season. Summer I used to spend playing with methods I had thought up during the Closed Season and generally waiting for the silly season to end as the banks heaved with people. Rarely would I use food baits in summer. maybe if something caught my interest an attactor bait with lowered flavour levels but HNV's ? Nope. Certainly some food value but not lots. Mainline's Grange or Activ8 leap to mind or B5.

Anyways back to the food bait. Initial baiting would involve about 50 - 100 baits in areas I wanted to fish. This would continue on at least a weekly basis until a few weeks before I was ready to start fishing. Then I would reduce the bait down to 25 - 50 in very specific areas. Specific areas you say ? Well there is little or no point trying to catch a fish at the height of it's weight in March if the area you have been baiting is unfishable due to rain causing the river to rise. Yes more groundwork for you. Pouring with rain ? Rivers flooded ? Go and have a look to see how it behaves. Where is fishable ? Suffice to say a lot of my prebaiting went into the margins, creases, slacks, eddy's and other areas that I knew I could fish.

Then.....patience and work.

Hopefully someone will follow this and next year will slip their net under a fish they truly want and truly deserve. I have caught any number of fish that are just down to luck but the one's I remember are those I worked for.
 
I was thinking of using as a base mix next season Richworth 50/50 gold .
Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated as to if it is any good .
 
Broadly speaking my approach Andy, a fair bit more bait than i use, and i use a food bait all year round.

Ian.
 
Joe Fletcher said:
I was thinking of using as a base mix next season Richworth 50/50 gold .
Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated as to if it is any good .
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50/50 is always good, but i'm talking carp.
used it alot back in the day. the normal stuff not the gold, very good in winter.
 
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Are these 50/50 base mixes just flavour carriers for attractor type boilies? ok if you fish a lot of different waters...
 
Ian Grant said:
Broadly speaking my approach Andy, a fair bit more bait than i use, and i use a food bait all year round.

Ian.
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Does depend on the base. The one mentioned for a food bait is not an out and out HNV so I baited accordingly. If I was using HiNuVal on it's own the feed rate would have been reduced by at least a third. Using an out and out HNV by a half or more.
 
Andy Thatcher said:
Does depend on the base. The one mentioned for a food bait is not an out and out HNV so I baited accordingly. If I was using HiNuVal on it's own the feed rate would have been reduced by at least a third. Using an out and out HNV by a half or more.
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My preference of baiting with very small amounts has nothing to do with the nutrional value of the bait Andy.
It's soley from the point of not drawing in unwanted fish.
My baiting is done soley from the point of drawing in the bigger fish in the vicinity, and then encouraging them to dominate the swim.
Too much bait will likley draw in smaller Barbel, but also chub, maybe Bream if they are present too, catching one of them will for certain spook the bigger Barbel off if it's in the swim.
But it's a fine line between giving the bigger Barbel enough quality food to attract them, and make it worth their while to stick around, once they realise that it's being regularly delivered to the same spot. Putting too much in will see them allowing other fish too feed if there's enough to go round.

Which is why the regularity of the baiting is important, the more often the better, and when ( very rarely these days ) i've had the opportunity to bait every day, i've dropped it to 1/2 doz broken skinned baits, the initial 2 or 3baitings are heavier though, and in those early stages i don't mind the other fish finding the bait first, i think they attract the bigger Barbel in, they'll get kicked out quick enough once the bait is reduced to only enough for one.

When i have been able to bait like that (only working about half a mile from one of my favorite venues and passing the gate every night, and two other stretches not much farther ) after two weeks of baiting a swim, often, and i do mean often, the take from a big Barbel has come within 15 mins of casting in.

When fishing the same stretch when baiting like that, i stay well away from that baited area, and fish another keeping bait going into another swim, when i catch, i bait another perhaps 10 or 20 yards away, and start again, but all the while keeping the first baited, until it's time to fish it.
Once i fish that first baited swim, i'm priming another long term in the same way, when i catch from the first, i move a few yards again, and fish, and bait regularly, whilst baiting the other long term this time.
Once i'm going i can just keep rotating areas like this.
It sound complicated, but it's not, but obviously baiting with that regularity, needs the opportunity to be able to visit the river easily everyday.
These days that's just not possible for me to do on a regular basis, but even if you can only bait whilst fishing a few times a week you can still rotate swims in this manner, keeping one baited long term, whilst fishing another.

It's the reason though i pick lightly fished venues, and areas of them which see the least anglers.

Ian.
 
This is a great thread, thanks very much for your input Ian, very good reading and advice.

Jon
 
I fish a little swim called the Atlantic most often at the moment, well when I can get out.

Have been catfishing a little on a local river that see's people whose height of sophistication is a worm on a size 2 hook so do ok.
 
Andy Thatcher said:
I fish a little swim called the Atlantic most often at the moment, well when I can get out.

Have been catfishing a little on a local river that see's people whose height of sophistication is a worm on a size 2 hook so do ok.
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Well thats easy peasy over there, i seen it on the telly, you just jump in the water, bend down and grab one, job done, you don't even need worms ! :p :D
 
Talking about sophistication Andy, when you strip away, the full stops commas, and the ' I went to ' and moved to that swim,

I could have said .... Went down the river a few times, chucked in a few bits of food ( nice food mind you ;) ) let the fish do all the work chasing off the little stuff, then went back, and put my bait in, and.... Job done :D ..... Suckers ! :p
 
Jon Frisby said:
This is a great thread, thanks very much for your input Ian, very good reading and advice.

Jon
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Totally agree Jon - very enlightening - great posts Ian.:)

Anyway, being a bit thick, like what I is, what is HNV?

What is truly nutritional for a barbels well-being - betaine, yeast, milk/vegetable proteins / seeds / meat, pellets, maggots ?

And what do they find easily digestible and why ?

Too many questions, I know - just trying to understand the nutrition/food bits and why they are good for fish that would naturally feed on insects/larvae etc.

I used to use JB base mixes/flavours etc. but more recently have made my own basic semolina/rice/soya (much cheaper) mixes - nutritional for fish? - I really don't know.

Then looking at the CC Moore site, with so many ingredients, I'm thinking perhaps I should be buying a more refined base mix.

Can be confusing - perhaps a massive lump of Spam might be better !
 
Just seen your post Mark, i'm off to bed and going fishing tomorrow so i'll come back to you tomorrow evening.
 
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