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Would you share your secret bait?


Dave H

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Scenario

 

You are catching well and are catching a good head of Carp. This really nice gentleman comes up who has not fished that far away from you has caught nothing. Not a solitary bite in 24 hrs. You are into your double figure head of carp. There are plenty of carp in there so patrol routes etc don't really come into it . Watercraft is not really much of an issue.

 

This bait is your bait, your secret bait that never fails . You keep it in your bivvy in case a passer by gets a sneaky look.

 

The gentleman asks you if he could use some of your secret potion.

 

1. Do you gladly help the man

2. Are you very reluctant but your cinscience gets the better of you

3. Make the man a cup of tea and avoid the topic

4. Tough, Thats fishing and he should never of asked in the first case.


There is not one thing different between ideology and religeon
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Hawk,

 

#1 - and the recipe or brand w/flavor.

 

Phone

 

Edit: In fact, I'd swap swims if he wanted to.

Edit,edit: I wouldn't give him my rod - but he could sure have my end tackle too.

Edited by Phone
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4. Simply because its taken a lot of trial and error and countless hours on the bank trying different baits until I found the one that works. Why should I share some of my own hard work with others who think that they can just scrounge some freebies off me and if word get out what I'm using then it'll be back to trying different baits.

 

Might seem harsh and selfish, but it's actually happened to me before, so I wouldn't want it happening to me again.

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4. Simply because its taken a lot of trial and error and countless hours on the bank trying different baits until I found the one that works. Why should I share some of my own hard work with others who think that they can just scrounge some freebies off me and if word get out what I'm using then it'll be back to trying different baits.

 

Might seem harsh and selfish, but it's actually happened to me before, so I wouldn't want it happening to me again.

 

Well the american and the Englishman have spoken. don't be an old frail angler in England pop across the pond :D :D


There is not one thing different between ideology and religeon
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Hawk,

I got in SERIOUS trouble once. At "paylakes" they GAMBLE against all comers. A a session is a couple hundred bucks. Top winner for the day, on average, is probably $500 - 800. The top 5% of the anglers take 80% of the money week in and week out and have a substantial income from fishing. A friend, who is a "top 5" said, "if I'm going to use his bait and fish with him, I had to turn my back on the lake to bait up"... guys across the pond were using binoculars to see if I was using one "puff" or two. He aways set out a bottle of "yuck" flavoring as a decoy. The "good stuff" of the day was well hidden.

 

Never in my life could I be or was I that competitive.

 

Odd that Si and I posted "back to back" isn't it?

 

Phone

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In your scenario, definitely one. I'll gladly help anyone who is struggling but tbh, I can never picture myself having to decide :lol:

This Years' Targets:- As many species by lure as possible. Preferably via Kayak. 15lb+ Pike on Lure...

Species Caught 2012- Pike, Perch.

Kayak Launches- Fresh-8 Salt- 0

Kayak Captures- 14 Pike, 1 Perch.

 

My Website and Blog Fishing Blog, Fishkeeping Information and BF3 Guide.

Foxy Lodge Wildlife Rescue

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For me it would depend on where I was fishing. At Wingham I wouldn't hesitate to tell other members. This is because the vast majority of us have no secrets. It's rather like an old-fashioned specimen group. By freely sharing information, be in on bait or whatever, we all learn and we all catch more.

 

On a public water it would depend on a number of factors. In general Id be happy to help others fishing there. However there would be some circumstances when I'd be more careful, at least when friends and I were fishing there.

 

For instance, almost 30 years ago I was fishing a fairly pressured stillwater for chub. Now many of you will know that these can be very difficult to catch, certainly more so than their river cousins.

 

I'd found that the chub responded very well to whitebait, that at that time nobody else was using. The problem was that the carp loved whitebait too, and they outnumbered the chub and were much easier to catch. The carp anglers, who were in the majority, saw me regularly catching more carp than they did, and very soon I had several pairs of binoculars trained on me.

 

The carpers then started asking what I was catching on. I always (truthfully!) replied "a high protein special". But I always kept my bait box covered. Eventually one carper "accidentally" kicked my bait box over. The secret was out!

 

Strangely though only a few of them tried whitebait. Even then they didn't catch much as they used the wrong rig and set up, and so quickly went back to their own baits.

 

I've told this story many times since, but rarely if ever has any carp angler followed up on it. I've caught a large number of carp on various deadbaits since then, and if I ever had to fish a commercial for carp then whitebait would undoubtedly be my first choice of bait.

Edited by Steve Burke

Wingham Specimen Coarse & Carp Syndicates www.winghamfisheries.co.uk Beautiful, peaceful, little fished gravel pit syndicates in Kent with very big fish. 2017 Forum Fish-In Sat May 6 to Mon May 8. Articles http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/steveburke.htm Index of all my articles on Angler's Net

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For me it would depend on where I was fishing. At Wingham I wouldn't hesitate to tell other members. This is because the vast majority of us have no secrets. It's rather like an old-fashioned specimen group. By freely sharing information, be in on bait or whatever, we all learn and we all catch more.

 

On a public water it would depend on a number of factors. In general Id be happy to help others fishing there. However there would be some circumstances when I'd be more careful, at least when friends and I were fishing there.

 

For instance, almost 30 years ago I was fishing a fairly pressured stillwater for chub. Now many of you will know that these can be very difficult to catch, certainly more so than their river cousins.

 

I'd found that the chub responded very well to whitebait, that at that time nobody else was using. The problem was that the carp loved whitebait too, and they outnumbered the chub and were much easier to catch. The carp anglers, who were in the majority, saw me regularly catching more carp than they did, and very soon I had several pairs of binoculars trained on me.

 

The carpers then started asking what I was catching on. I always (truthfully!) replied "a high protein special". But I always kept my bait box covered. Eventually one carper "accidentally" kicked my bait box over. The secret was out!

 

Strangely though only a few of them tried whitebait. Even then they didn't catch much as they used the wrong rig and set up, and so quickly went back to their own baits.

 

I've told this story many times since, but rarely if ever has any carp angler followed up on it. I've caught a large number of carp on various deadbaits since then, and if I ever had to fish a commercial for carp then whitebait would undoubtedly be my first choice of bait.

 

Surely you would be plagued by Perch and maybe pike too though Steve. I can see the small perch trying to gobble them up or bootlaces if there are any?


There is not one thing different between ideology and religeon
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Surely you would be plagued by Perch and maybe pike too though Steve. I can see the small perch trying to gobble them up or bootlaces if there are any?

 

Whitebait are sea fish and so would be very unlikely to be picked up by perch. Indeed, I tried for a whole season without success to get a perch to take whitebait on another similar water. I caught plenty of chub and carp there too!

 

Neither of these waters contained pike, so they were no problem. They might be elsewhere, although few commercials (for which I particularly recommended whitebait) contain pike.

 

For more on whitebait for variety of species see this article of mine: http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/Coarse-Fishing..._for_chub.html

Edited by Steve Burke

Wingham Specimen Coarse & Carp Syndicates www.winghamfisheries.co.uk Beautiful, peaceful, little fished gravel pit syndicates in Kent with very big fish. 2017 Forum Fish-In Sat May 6 to Mon May 8. Articles http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/steveburke.htm Index of all my articles on Angler's Net

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Steve,

 

The "link" is not working (at least not right now). If I ask can/will you say?

 

On my rather extensive list of "ingredients and baits for carp" I have "whitebait" as cockles. I have no other "whitebait" ingredients.

 

Just wondering?

 

Phone

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