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Pre baiting.......

Jamie Armitage

Jamie Armitage

Senior Member
Anybody got any advice or baiting routine ?
Its a small swim with a few big fish in but your not able to see them.
Can anybody tell me how you've gone about it ? do's on don'ts?

cheers jamie
 
Have a read of the BFW articles Jamie. Lots of questions you have no doubt will be answered there.
I'm no expert but have dabbled with some degree of success. On small rivers use a quality bait and prebait little and very often. I fish short sessions into the evening far too often so can feed my chosen swim while fishing if I choose to fish that way. Haven't yet this season as exploring new venues.
A word of caution if i may. You get a few grumpy anglers stuck in their ways who do not like to embrace change. Past experience has told them that their chosen method works all the time. So they are quick to blame others, even though the reasons for their failure is obvious to you. Be wary of these anglers but be polite, even though they gossip like some ladies do. :D:p
 
From my limited experience and what better anglers than myself have said: don't fish into their place of sanctuary, but draw them out. Good luck and here's to you posting a few photos in the not-too-distant future!
 
I agree with Anthony .I am no expert but I would also add that you need to think hard about the reason why you are pre baiting / groundbaiting . The main reasons as I understand them is variously to attract fish in to the swim , to encourage them to stay , to get them used to your bait , become pre occupied with feeding and thus lose caution and take your hookbait . My view is that many anglers overbait with filling examples of their hookbait , with this approach the barbel may get used to the bait and lose caution , but they may also eat it all , become full and clear off to sleep it off as it were ! Keep them lean and keep em keen is my view , over feeding is very easy to do . I think some anglers over feed as it psychologically makes them feel better . If you want to chuck things in make sure its none filling like hemp / maggots etc , these will attract barbel [and often everthing else that swims] in and retain them but unless you actually throw tons it is difficult to over feed . I am a great believer in using single high attractant hook baits with minimal free offerings .I also think it is also well worth trying natural baits like black slugs , lobworms etc particulary in coloured / high water , after all this is what barbel spend most of their time eating , although I do accept that in rivers where the barbel see a lot of pellets going in they do see the pellets as normal ' natural ' food
 
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First you need to assess what is the target and what is the likely nuisance fish in order to decide what bait or baits and tactics to use. For example larger more durable baits such as meat or boilies will deter small fish, fishing in faster water will result in less nuisance bream or chub taking the bait (although chub will go into fast, shallow water at this time of year).

What I tend to do is to introduce bait in several areas at first in order to expose as many fish to the bait as possible. Then I will reduce the areas I bait until I've just got one or two swims to go at. Latterly the bait will be put into small, specific areas that give the best chance of the target species.

With barbel and carp I would start with maize and boilies simply because it is cheap and readily accepted by these species. Hemp is also worth considering if you are targetting barbel as is luncheon meat, but maize and boilies will serve you well in most cases.

Make your peg accessible so that you can get down to the water with your rod already made up. Just take the basics; net, rod rests, bait and a few bits of tackle such as a spool of line, a few hooks and weights. Set up quietly, bait up and fish as quietly as possible. Don't wind in unless absolutely necessary. Leave the bait out there undisturbed.

Best of luck.
 
Some good advice here. Jamie - it sounds like you've already located your target fish so any pre-baiting would be to get the fish used to eating your chosen hookbait in which case you don't need a lot - just a handfull will do, as regularly as possible - every day if you can, and if possible at roughly the same time as you intend to fish.

I don't live close enough to any Barbel rivers to make pre-baiting a viable option these days but when i lived in Nottingham, a decent chuck from the Trent, i kept a couple of swims ticking over with a cup full of pellets each day. Sounds odd on such a prolific Barbel river with so many other species present but the intention of my baiting was to educate the fish that food could be found in those swims. I wasn't trying to hold every fish in the stretch to those pegs, just get them used to visiting them on their daily routine. It worked very well.
 
jamie, just put in a dozen boilies well placed and grouped together, ie a webtube ect. accuracy is vital as you need to hit same spot and if possible every day, dont fish the swim! keep bankside as untouched as possible ( worn swims attract anglers);) after about 2-3 weeks if the barbel come through the swim they will be having it confidently, thats the time to fish, you can use squared up chops to stop em rolling along
dont overdo the bait and keep it grouped tight, :)
 
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