Pre-baiting

[frankthebass]

Some pals and I have been targeting large perch on a local canal. We tend to loose feed with maggots all day little and often and fish with live baits on top of the feed.

 

We have had fair results with perch to 3.8lb, sometimes we catch one or two in the middle of the day but the best time is the first and last hour of light as is typical of perch.

 

I intend on fishing this Sunday but will be in the area the evening before and am contemplating baiting up with a few pints of maggots the night before.

 

I understand that in the colder months it’s not considered correct to over feed the fish, however it has been very mild so mild in fact that last week I was banging out skimmers and other silver fish and even caught one eel of 1.4lb.

 

This canal isn’t really affected by the heavy rain we have had and is still fairly clear with around 3 feet viz.

 

There are many other fish hear so could pre-baiting help us to catch some other fish while we wait for the witching hour?

 

Your comments and thoughts would be most welcome.

Edited December 11, 2006 by frankthebass

[Dick Dastardly]

I dont know Frank to be quite honest!

 

When Im perch fishing with lives I always feed the swim with maggots as well.Same as you say "little and often" to build up the swim with smaller hopefully prey fish. Ive never really considered "prebaiting" as in chucking them all in at once and returning later.A lot of it is because I also want to snatch a few baits while Im there.In the winter (when I do most of my Perching) silver fish dont want as much food.I really think that its not just the silvers in the swim that attracts the big perch but more the "commotion" the silvers are making through feeding.As they say the best fish attractor going is another one feeding.

 

I would be tempted to say that as you would create more of a competitive feeding situation and therefore more commotion=more attraction the "little and often" aproach would be better than pre baiting.

 

But Im guessing so let us know how you get on if you try it.

[david t]

give it a go, its worth a try.

[frankthebass]

I wouldnt normally concider the pre-baiting approach for my winter perch fishing, it was just that Im in the area the evening before and that coupled with the fact its been so very mild hear with just two mild frosts to my knolledge.

There is always a quiet period before the witching hour so I thought by pre-baiting I may incorrage so better roach or chub to while away the hours.

[wurzel]

Hello Sam

 

I doubt it would do much good, although it won't do any harm either.

A better ploy would be to suspend a bucket of maggots over the water, hung from under a bridge or the side of a moored boat this time of year might be good, have just one or two holes in the bottom of the bucket so over a period of several days there is a constant trickle of feed slowly entering the water, keeping enough feed to keep the bait fish shoaled in that area, in turn attracting the predators.

[Jigotai]

Hello Sam

 

I doubt it would do much good, although it won't do any harm either.

A better ploy would be to suspend a bucket of maggots over the water, hung from under a bridge or the side of a moored boat this time of year might be good, have just one or two holes in the bottom of the bucket so over a period of several days there is a constant trickle of feed slowly entering the water, keeping enough feed to keep the bait fish shoaled in that area, in turn attracting the predators.

 

Or you could try this link

[Andy Macfarlane]

Why don't you get a hold of an old blender, take you maggots, casters, worms etc. and lightly blitz your ingredients into smaller particles and then add that to you normal groundmix. That way you are still attracting the Perch into the area without actually overfeeding them.

I've used this method in summer for roach. I see no reason why the same principle wouldn't work for perch.

[wurzel]

Or you could try this link

 

Thats it, as a kid I used to wade around my local river hanging dead things in bushes during the summer, got the idea from some thing I Read by Fred J Talor. worked well for dace and chub.

[Lee Hall]

Use a bag of powdered blood mixed with some groundbait, it will bring in the perch and also the prey fish but without realy feeding them, all you are doing then is creating a source of attraction that will keep them looking for food and in the area of the baits,use small egg size balls of the mix and chuck 2 to 3 in every half hour

[frankthebass]

So it would be a bit like chuming for bass where you liquidise fresh mackerel. All this does is drew the fish without feeding them very much.