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Shaping Luncheon Meat

John Newman

John Newman

Senior Member
I was talking to the club bailiff on our water today discussing meat baits and in particular he was recommending Polony Meat which as a newcomer I have yet to try. He did, however, stress the importance, in his view, of shaping the piece of meat to a rough ball by breaking/cutting off the corners of a cube which he said makes the bait appear more natural.

I am a bit sceptical as I think this credits fish with more intelligence than they have. In my view if they come across something they want to eat they are going to eat it regardless of shape.

I do wonder, however, if a rounded shape fits the mouth opening better than a cube.

In my bag were a bag of garlic spam cubes that I had coated in curry powder so I was reluctant to take my nicely prepared coating off plus I caught a couple of fish.

So whats the view cubes or spheres?
 
Hi Steve,
IMHO I don't believe it makes a blind bit of difference, for example, in heavily coloured water would a fish 'know' whether it's round, cube shaped or indeed octagonal!

I very much doubt it.....

Ian
 
If the majority of anglers on your waters used cube's, I'd definitely go for something different.

Fish might not have large brains or be super intelligent but they eventually wise up to baits, IMO.
 
I've tried all sorts of shapes, including triangles and apple cores but I don't think it makes a blind bit of difference. These days I just break a bit off with my fingers.
 
I use a cheese grater to 'rough' the edges of my meat baits up.

I do this before flavouring the meat, and I add the little shaved off bits to the bag of meat also.
The bits stick to the meat, but come off when its in the water, giving a bit of a trail.....

As for shape, I honestly don't think it matters too much.....

Steve
 
Nice one Steve,
I Remember 'textured' meat, cored meat from years ago....
Before:
meatr.jpg

After:
tmeatr.jpg

Textured with a fork.

Also rember meat rings and spoons (a project of mine that didn't quite get there, but used to produce balls of meat.

Cheers
Bob
 
I don't worry about shaping the meat, I just chuck out a big square bit and let the eels shape if for me! :p

Seems to be happening a lot for me these days. :rolleyes:

On a serious note if you give the meat more texture then surely you increase the surface area, and thus the attraction?
 
I tear my cubes rather than cutting so they're fairly irregular anyway. I scrape any sharp edges with a baiting needle, potato peeler style, then I use the end of the needle to rough up any smooth sides. And everytime I do it I wonder if it's really necessary. Especially when I'm using garlic spam ... everything ends up covered in garlic grease — my hands, salopettes, head-torch, bag, tackle, the lot! I stink for days, and so does my car.

Of course, if I was organised I'd prepare it all in advance and have neat, clean bags of nicely prepared cubes of meat in the freezer. But I'm not, so I don't :cool:
 
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