Fish 'nicking' bait.

[funjodon]

Hi

 

Ive been taking my son on a local water Carp fishing.Boilies etc are not allowed there so we have been using hair rigged cubes of luncheon meat.

 

Now our problem is that just about every cast the bait goes missing.The problem is the bites are extremely fast and we miss the majority of them.We have tried quivertipping and normal ledgering using bite alarm but not having much success.

 

I have tried a fixed rig,sliding rig and big lumps of meat but the little buggers are persistant.

 

Question is really what are we doing wrong? When i use a fixed ledger the bait seems to go without regestering any bite at all.How do we get the fish to basically hook themselves, could it be possible i am leaving the hooklength too long?

 

Any tips/advice from the more experienced anglers would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you.

[Newt]

You could try heat hardening the bait (I leave mine in the sun for a few hours but I get more sun than you do so cooking might be needed). Then put a small piece of tubing through the cube to run the hair through which will prevent the line from cutting its way free.

 

Also experiment with different lengths of hairs.

 

Maize might be a good option as well since it is pretty tough.

[Worms]

Try putting the bait on the hook, turn the hook through 90 and sliding a piece of dried grass into the hook bend to stop the meat flying off. The fish has to pick the hook up if it wants the bait. Don't get hooked on hair rigs

[funjodon]

Hi guys thanks for taking the time to reply.

 

I have tried putting the meat directly on the hook using the technique you describe but the same thing seems to happen.I rarely get the bait coming off during casting etc it's the fish that seem to be related to houdini! How the hell do they take a cube of meat from around the bait without hooking themselves? We have been using size 12 barbless hook is this too small?From my understanding the fish mouths the bait then gets 'pricked' by the hook then bolts?

 

Thanks for the tip on cooking the bait to 'harden it' i will give it a try.

 

Don't get me wrong we are catching the odd fish and we caught our first Carp which weighed 10 pounds! and we have had some nice bream but i feel with all the bites we miss and all the bait that goes missing that we should be doing better.I know when the bobbin liftes an inch or so then drops back, then the bait has gone leaving another fish happy.

 

Will using Chick peas deter the Roach and the Bream?

 

I recently had some great advice from you guys regarding a 'method feeder' and i intend to try this aswell very soon but dont want to keep bunging out loads of groundbait only for these buggers to take the mickey!

 

Thanks again for the replys.

[Andy Macfarlane]

Hair -rig some hard pellets. They're absolutely small fish proof but the carp suck them up no bother. It might be a good idea to flavour a few or even colour them.

 

 

 

...andy...

[funjodon]

Thanks for the tip Andy about 'Hard pellets'

 

Errr what exactly is that? Ive seen some 'Halibut Pellits' in the Fishing shop would they work?

[terry t shirt]

Devils Advocate time.

Are the fish taking the bait or is it coming off when you strike?

Luncheon meat is quite soft and i suspect it is more likely liners that your striking at and the boily stop is pulling through the bait when you strike. Try a combination of Meat and a fake corn putting the stop against the corn.

[mike1234]

Thanks for the tip Andy about 'Hard pellets'

 

Errr what exactly is that? Ive seen some 'Halibut Pellits' in the Fishing shop would they work?

 

i fish on a water where boilies are banned and started using dynamite baits pre-drilled pellets and have caught a good few fish on them large bream and tench as well as carp

 

worth while picking a bag up and giving them a go you wont have any problems with them coming off and as someone said you can experiment by adding flavour to them although they work pretty good at tempting fish as they are out the pack

[DavyR]

Try a 12mm section of Pepperami - tough as old boots and carp love it. I usually scrape off the outer skin on three quarters of the section (which increases the flavour leakage) and then hook through the middle and out via the remaining skin. That won't come off in a hurry!

 

You can even experiment with 4 different flavours - original (green packet), chili (red packet), firestick (black packet) and BBQ (brown packet).

[Andy Macfarlane]

Thanks for the tip Andy about 'Hard pellets'

 

Errr what exactly is that? Ive seen some 'Halibut Pellits' in the Fishing shop would they work?

 

Yes exactly that. There's loads to choose from. Some will need drilling. Some come with a hole already in place. Either should do.

 

....andy....