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into dark bait.

Neil Partridge

Neil Partridge

Senior Member
im starting to struggle with baits now as the light goes, usually a couple of 8mm pellets or a small boilie will catch just before dark then for a hour or so into dark its as if the fish change their minds & feed on something else. i know they are there because they show themselves, toppin & rolling etc. what would you suggest. please dont say meat because its an eel magnet at the moment & it just gets mullered all the time.
cheers all
 
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If meat is out of the question (and assuming this also includes other related baits-meatballs/chorizo etc) then I would be going large with boilie or pellet and incorporating a glug to up the scent. Never tried big lobs at night so don't know if they would work.
 
sometimes the witching hour can suddenly end and the barbel stop feeding until the morning twilight, if you want to persevere thru the night then try a nice blob of paste with plenty of smell/taste but only free feed the feeding area once___before___ the light starts to fade, and use bait only
 
so john, do you think my useing a mix of differant size pellets in the feeder (no GB) not a good idea then. i will certainly cut right on them though.

thanks too to yo howard, i do have some glugs but never use them enough.
 
boilie or large pellet wrapped in a big ball of paste or belachan.....they will find it.......;)
 
Neil, once the light starts to fade your freebies should already be laid out in swim rather than disturb and startle the fish as they come out of their hidey holes ect, mixed pellets are fine but not too big unless your feeding the swim with big freebies only, you wanna draw them onto your hookbait not feed em off mate as i said i prefer a solitary hookbait (stiff paste around an enterprise pellet)strongly flavoured, not dunked in glug just a bit heavy on the flavor
overflavoring the hookbait shouldnt turn the fish away as once its in the gob its job done, the fish can only get the overflavored bait if its on the hook;)
 
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All this talk of eels has got me thinking. Because my little river is connected to the the GU canal in several places....which is in turn connected in some way to half the lakes in the Colne valley...eels used to be a regular catch. however, since they became an endangered species, we VERY rarely see one now. Oddly though, they seem just as plentiful on the H. Avon as ever, and I gather on some other rivers. I can't really believe this has any connection with the upsurge in crayfish, one way or the other....but it makes you think.....

Cheers, Dave.
 
David Gauntlett said:
All this talk of eels has got me thinking. Because my little river is connected to the the GU canal in several places....which is in turn connected in some way to half the lakes in the Colne valley...eels used to be a regular catch. however, since they became an endangered species, we VERY rarely see one now. Oddly though, they seem just as plentiful on the H. Avon as ever, and I gather on some other rivers. I can't really believe this has any connection with the upsurge in crayfish, one way or the other....but it makes you think.....

Cheers, Dave.
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I remember fishing the GU canal on the running pound 25 years ago where the sluice is under the road bridge by the fisheries pub, there used to be hundreds of bootlaces, it really was amazing stuff, one a chuck, guaranteed.
get a wet night and the canal tow path used to be alive with em.
 
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David Hall said:
I remember fishing the GU canal on the running pound 25 years ago where the sluice is under the road bridge by the fisheries pub, there used to be hundreds of bootlaces, it really was amazing stuff, one a chuck, guaranteed.
get a wet night and the canal tow path used to be alive with em.
Click to expand...

I know Dave...but I fear we will never see the like of that again. There is too much HUGE money in commercial elver fishing for the eel population to ever be left alone to recover. Mind boggling shortsightedness...but there is nothing new about that concept is there?

Cheers, Dave.
 
I believe you are partially right about the fyke netters Dave. However the current eel situation suggests they are not solely responsible. The tiny bit of up to date research suggests that a realignment of the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic drift are responsible for the increase. Double edged sword, eels eat crays and eels are top of Mr and Mrs Otters want to meet list. On the other hand apart from Scuba and one or two other highly suspect characters :) who wants to see a wet slimy snake in their net.

If the realignment is sustained you may yet again look down at your boots on a wet night and wonder if a Barbel will take one of these little perishes.

Non mod edit, much against my better judgement smiley inserted
 
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Hi Malcolm
I am not advocating doing it mate, Eels are a protected species so its illegal and in my book quite rightly so!
I hate them, hideous creatures, but vital to the balance! I just want to find a bait that Anguilla Anguilla and Brim hate but works like magic for everything else.
 
I remember reading an article by Tony Miles many years ago when he had eel problems. He solved it by making a hemp paste. Not sure what all the ingredients were but obviously mostly hemp. It caught barbel and chub I think and was avoided by the eels.
 
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