Fake Bait

[Shanghai Lilly]

I was recently inspired after reading about Dave Lumbs method feeder rig on his lumb land blogg, http://www.lumbland.co.uk/2007/06/method-feeder-rig.html I’ve bought the bits and pieces and I shall be giving fake baits, well fake sweetcorn a go this spring, would be nice to hear any other views or experiences of using such baits. I’m hoping to eradicate the worry of having my hook stripped by roach, when feeder fishing for tench and bream.

 

Do they only work when the fish are carelessly hovering up the contents of the feeder?

 

Any other interesting uses, or fake baits worth trying? rubber casters seem to make sense.

 

Cheers in advance! //A fallen traditionalist!

[Anderoo]

I like to think of myself as a traditionalist in principle

 

I have only fairly recently started to properly use fake baits, mainly for tench, and I am a total convert. As you say, they do work best when a fish that feeds by sucking (carp, tench, bream) is feeding on the contents of a feeder, loosefeed, or PVA bag, and the fake bait gets sucked in. A lot of their success is, I'm sure, because in many cases the hookbait is critically balanced, so a fish sucking anywhere near it will suck it in. The high visibility of them (especially yellow corn and red maggots) is also a benefit for sight feeders like tench.

 

Best fished with a bolt rig and hair rig I reckon (method feeder or linline lead + small PVA bag). A useful trick, if you're fishing 2 or 3 rods, is to fish one rod with real bait straight on the hook and a sensitive running rig. That way you can keep a close eye on what the nuisance little fish are up to and will give you an idea of how often you need to recast the fake bait rig to ensure it's not sitting out there all on its own with all the loosefeed eaten.

 

I haven't tried the casters because the real thing is so expensive, but if you're feeding casters I would definitely put a couple of fake ones on the hair and have complete confidence in them.

 

The other thing you can try is flavouring them. I have a selection of fake baits soaking away in a sweet flavour for this spring's tench and bream fishing.

 

It's a bit of a mental block casting out a couple of bits of rubber, but once you've had a few fish on them you won't look back!

[Guest tigger]

I always wonder how a fish would go on if it managed to swallow a plastic bait. I think it might have a problem passing something like that through it's system and would possibly finnish up killing it. The bits of polystyrene etc put in Pike baits to make them pop up etc must be a serious hazard and to be honest I think they should stop selling them and come up with a safe alternative. JMO folks.

[Jeffwill]

I was recently inspired after reading about Dave Lumbs method feeder rig on his lumb land blogg, http://www.lumbland.co.uk/2007/06/method-feeder-rig.html I’ve bought the bits and pieces and I shall be giving fake baits, well fake sweetcorn a go this spring, would be nice to hear any other views or experiences of using such baits. I’m hoping to eradicate the worry of having my hook stripped by roach, when feeder fishing for tench and bream.

 

Do they only work when the fish are carelessly hovering up the contents of the feeder?

 

Any other interesting uses, or fake baits worth trying? rubber casters seem to make sense.

 

Cheers in advance! //A fallen traditionalist!

 

If P.E.T.A had their way it would be FAKE FISH

[lutra]

I always wonder how a fish would go on if it managed to swallow a plastic bait. I think it might have a problem passing something like that through it's system and would possibly finnish up killing it. The bits of polystyrene etc put in Pike baits to make them pop up etc must be a serious hazard and to be honest I think they should stop selling them and come up with a safe alternative. JMO folks.

Watching the fish in my fish tank feed they suck all sorts of stuff in and spit it back out and it doesn't kill them.

[mjbarnes12]

I always wonder how a fish would go on if it managed to swallow a plastic bait. I think it might have a problem passing something like that through it's system and would possibly finnish up killing it. The bits of polystyrene etc put in Pike baits to make them pop up etc must be a serious hazard and to be honest I think they should stop selling them and come up with a safe alternative. JMO folks.

 

My club have put a ban on them for that very reason, fish welfare!!

[Newt]

The bits of polystyrene etc put in Pike baits to make them pop up etc must be a serious hazard and to be honest I think they should stop selling them and come up with a safe alternative. JMO folks.

I seriously doubt that a smallish bit of foreign material would even be noticed by a fish's digestive system, much less cause any damage.

[Shanghai Lilly]

Thanks for your thoughts Anderoo.

 

It’s the psychological element I have trouble with, but there’s an ever growing number of anglers swearing by fake baits so I’ll have just keep that in mind. An interesting spring for me, over thirty years of fishing, and I’m going use bolt rigs for the first time. I had been against such things, but subsequently changed my mind, life’s to short, and I’m not getting any younger, plus when your nick names the “perpetual blanker” its maybe time to do something about it.

 

I have no issues regarding fake bait; firstly I live and fish in Sweden. Secondly a very little piece of plastic that’s more than likely not going to be swallowed is not really anything to worry about; in fact it’s rather hypocritical is it not? Its not like im pre baiting with the stuff in vast quantities, it would all float away! I'll shall run this past my good friend Dr H, fish biologist, specimen hunter, and bastard extraordinaire. I think he’s actually used fake baits if my memory serves me right.

 

I’ve got the feeling the tench and bream wont be a problem, but I can foresee my local crucian carp turning there noses up at rubber sweetcorn, in fact I’d eat my trousers if one them falls to such a bait!

[Newt]

I've got the feeling the tench and bream wont be a problem, but I can foresee my local crucian carp turning there noses up at rubber sweetcorn, in fact I'd eat my trousers if one them falls to such a bait!

Would you please have someone photograph that and post the photos?

 

[Anderoo]

Unless I see some very clear cut evidence it'll take an awful lot to convince me that fake baits are harmful to fish. As for banning them on 'fish welfare' grounds, well, I think I've heard it all now. Still allow hooks, do they?

 

I'm not even sure how a fish could swallow a fake bait - if they're on a hair rig, it's simply not possible, and if they're on the hook they grip like, well, a lump of rubber! Besides which, fish spend a lot of time sucking in huge mouthfuls of detritus, blowing out the rubbish and eating the food. I'm sure a bit of rubber would come within the first category. Most float anyway...

 

Anyway, Shanghai Lilly if you fish somewhere with lots of nuisance fish, they're a godsend. I was exactly like you until recently, but by using fake maggots last year (together with a little PVA bag of real ones) I didn't catch a single little roach, rudd, perch, or eel, but the tench picked them up again and again.

 

Try to balance them so the bait just manages to sink to the bottom (either under the weight of the hook or with a little extra weight added near the hook, if needed). Fished like that with a heavyish semi-fixed weight (2oz ish) sharp hook and short (3-4"), soft and strong hooklength they really do take some beating.

 

EDIT: oh, and I remember reading about a good catch of big crucians taken on scaled down bolt rigs and fake corn...!

Edited April 16, 2009 by Anderoo