Boilies and bolt rigs for big chub

[BobH]

Thanks Bob.

 

If crays weren't so much of a problem, would you be as confident fishing for those chub with mashed bread and flake, or cheesepaste?

 

Or is part of the reason to use boilies that you're waiting a long time for a bite and want to use bolt rigs, and boilies are an easier bait to use with that method? The method dictating the bait rather than the other way around?

Anderoo

 

Before the explosion of Crayfish on the Lea Navigation I use to wonder around the Lea at night using a 12ft quiver tip rod, with starlight attached, link leger, baits were fished on the hook, Bread, Cheese Paste and worm were my main baits and I caught numerous chub in that manner including 5x7lb chub.

 

But of course it's far easier to fish with bolt rigs and boilies in atrocious conditions with a bite coming every 3 or 4 trips in winter, not that it's an easy method to convert bites into Chub on the bank, it takes time to work out the mechanic's of the rig.

 

Bob

[BobH]

Bob were they a high flavcour impact type bait or just 2kg of something you trusted to get them used to feeding in those areas ?? did you get may barbell as a by catch??

JV44

 

Funny you should mention that, Simon and I started off on a different section of the Relief and blanked in a big way, we would often talk of the " good Old Days " before the Big Fish Kill in 2006, when it was not unusual to catch Barbel and Carp in the Relief Channel.

 

After two months we decided that we had to move to a different area, I went off to Carthagena ( just for a confidence boost with my tweaked rigs) and Simon moved to a neglected area of the Channel, but before we moved I was just saying it would be nice to get a run of any sort of fish, when Simon's buzzer burst into life and the culprit is the Barbel below.

 

It was the only other species fish we caught that season ?

 

Bob

Edited October 4, 2014 by BobH

[Anderoo]

I hope you don't mind me picking your brains too much on this topic Bob!

 

Imagine this scenario. You have a stretch of medium-sized river that contains some big chub, crayfish, and (in winter) not much else. You've fished it for a few years and have a good idea of where the best spots are to present a bait. On this stretch a good day is 2 fish, blanks are not uncommon. Good average size of chub.

 

How would you go about pre baiting/baiting if you were to use a boilie approach? How early on the year would you start, what quantities would you use, would you scatter bait all over or concentrate in a few spots, etc!

 

Also I assume you make your own bait to keep the costs down as much as possible?

[JV44]

Anderoo you read my mind

[BobH]

Androo,

 

I would try to keep my pre-baiting to myself, so I would walk the stretch with a rod, leading around and finding the outcrops of gravel, as I believe Crayfish don't like gravel and your hard baits last longer.

This is exactly what I did in the summer off 2012, once I found the gravel areas I marked them on a map and waited until early Autumn to start pre-baiting, this I did at night, as I did not want my efforts to go to others who live off the results of your hard work.

I just regularly kept the bait going in on the spots that I felt would give the results and so it proved, but not at first, we concentrated on one area that had produced a lot of Chub for us in previous seasons, but in two months we only had 3 Chub and a Barbel.

Simon moved to another area we had been pre baiting, which had been neglected by the Chub Fishermen of Fishers Green, but it had a history of producing Big Chub and so it proved.

I worked for a well known Boilie firm for a number of years and have made my own bait since the 1970tys, so yes I can and do make some bait, but as my health is not so good these days I buy my bait at a reasonable cost.

If this option was not available to me, I would have to make it !!

 

Hope this helps, off to Sainsburys with the Mrs. now ?

 

Bob

Edited October 4, 2014 by BobH

[Anderoo]

Thanks Bob. What kind of quantities would you put in each spot?

 

Oh and any preference for milk protein or fishmeal?

[BobH]

Anderoo

 

These days it would have to be Fishmeal, milk protein's are just to expensive.

 

The amount I would add to each spot depends on the size of those area's, about quarter to half a Kg per spot, depending on the area to be covered and I would do that a couple of times a week.

 

Don't forget, fish are not the only thing that eats boilies, you have Crayfish and Bird to contend with on the Lea System.

 

If I could not afford to use Boilies I would do the same with flavoured Pellets.

 

Bob

[Anderoo]

Thanks for that Bob

[BobH]

Anderoo

 

No problem, I hope it helps ?

 

And one more plug for The Osprey Specimen Group and Friends book-- 360 pages- lots of stories- some good information- from well known anglers and some not so well known- £25.00- makes a good present for any angler and all profits going to Cancer Research UK.

 

http://www.calmproductions.com/

 

Thanks

 

Bob

Edited October 6, 2014 by BobH