• 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...

Fishy / meaty groundbait

Duncan Dimbleby

Senior Member
Can someone recommend me a fish meal / meaty groundbait suitable for stick mixes and feeder applications when using meat or pellet / boilie as a hookbait. I have been using Sonubaits spicy meat groundbait but it has caught me very little and I've lost confidence in it.

Thanks.
 
Whatever happened to the days when you could mix up your own groundbait?
Kenny Collin's shop in Sutton used to have shelf loads of ingredients, ..all this ready made lark has taken some of the fun out of trying to outdo yer mates with the "special" mix.
Did cockup once many years ago on a first Royalty trip though. After spending ages in Davis Tackle deliberating on a suitable Avon concoction that would attract barbel,...could be balled in ...and would be heavy enough to sink and stay in the swim, I decided on adding plenty of sausage rusk as a binder with a stone in the center of tennis size balls.
After introducing four or five specials into 'Mugs' first thing in the morning I was disappointed to note that they were still there in the evening, ..worse still,..and much to the everlasting amusement of my mates,..they were still there on my return to the swim the following day!
Great delight was taken by all that I had in fact created a brand new feature in the swim, rather like the salmon stones that Pete Stone used to recommend looking out for!
Lesson learnt, don't overdo the sausage rusk,.... . :D
Must say that I haven't used groundbait on the rivers for years for barbel, pva and baitdroppers totally changed my approach , ...rightly or wrongly I've ignored the method tactics.
 
Thanks for that Derek, couldn't see any dried blood, but seeing that was kind of like going into a boozer and asking for a whiskey mac without the staff giving you a blank look! :D
 
Use other stuff ad well.

No problem with sonubaits spicy meat , mix with the cheesy one add paprika , turmeric etc in a good sized container , then keep putting your mixed pellets, casters in the middle, fill the feeder in the middle then block the ends with the groundbait. Have frozen the groundbait after session ready to reuse next time with topping up with some fresh groundbait , different feeders release the whole lot at different speeds in the water some faster than others, try using a mix of feeders.
 
Back when I was young (in between fighting off dinosaurs) I used an Efgeeco marketed groundbait called 'Meaty mix'. I used to mix a bucket full fairly dry and mash a large tin of 'Red heart' or 'Chappie' dog food into it and ball that in. Worked a treat, barbel or chub.

Obviously you can't get it now, but I think it was probably the strong smelling dog food that was the main attractor, so any similar groundbait would do. You need to mash the dog food up fairly fine by hand, then rub it into the groundbait so that the ball breaks down fairly soon after hitting bottom....you DON'T want stodge (depending on the depth and current power of course).

Cheers, Dave.
 
Back
Top