Barbel Baits

[Jeffwill]

Just about everyone is using Halibut pellets these days but what about worms, slugs, corn, bread, hemp, maggots. Is anyone having any success on some of the old fashioned baits? Also

Regarding boilies, has anyone had any luck? I tried the chicken flavour ones and had a few fish.

 

Pellets are used so much now I am wondering if the bait is blown on some waters. The River Wye is fishing more and more difficult and I am wondering if it is because every man and his dog is using hair rigged halibut pellets.

Edited September 25, 2008 by Jeffwill

[Errrm]

Just about everyone is using Halibut pellets these days but what about worms, slugs, corn, bread, hemp, maggots. Is anyone having any success on some of the old fashioned baits? Also I fancy giving the garlic meat a go, has anyone had any luck with it? I think only Morrisons stock it now.

 

Regarding boilies, has anyone had any luck? I tried the chicken flavour ones and had a few fish.

 

Pellets are used so much now I am wondering if the bait is blown on some waters. The River Wye is fishing more and more difficult and I am wondering if it is because every man and his dog is using hair rigged halibut pellets.

 

I caught a barbel the other day on maggots.... all 8oz of it! I've stopped using pellets as I've found Chub take take the large ones so i've currently gone back to sweetcorn for a bit but I'm getting bothered by small chub :-(

[seph]

Maggots can be deadly on their day, especially on waters that have quite a few matches on them. An under used bait and a pretty good one for winter fishing. I still use pellet and boilies most the time though as i would rather wait for the bigger fish and boilies and pellets deter the smaller fish. I flavour my own meat and mainly use this on coloured flooded water. Worms are good also at the start of the season and on flooded water. I don't bother with sweetcorn at all but hemp well worth a try, bit fiddly getting a few grains on the hook or hair but can easily be done. One of my favourite baits though is paste, making my own it is guaranteed to be unique.

[lyn]

I use Hinders Elips pellets but do use meat, maggot, worms etc in the winter once the water temp drops. I tend to carry an option in the summer months as sometimes if a water is being fished a lot one of the 'old fashion' baits as you call them will outfish the more modern trend.

 

You use what is working/catching, It's very rare for me to go out with just one type of bait.

 

lyn

[Steve Walker]

Most of the barbel I caught last season were on lobworm. I did feed pellets and hemp, though.

[Chris Plumb]

Most of the barbel I caught last season were on lobworm. I did feed pellets and hemp, though.

 

Nearly all my barbel come on either ledgered halibuts or trotted maggot - with around a ¼ in any given season coming on the floatfished mag (7 from 34 so far this season). I will occasionally pick one up when fishing lobs for chub or perch...

 

C.

[lutra]

Just about everyone is using Halibut pellets these days but what about worms, slugs, corn, bread, hemp, maggots. Is anyone having any success on some of the old fashioned baits? Also I fancy giving the garlic meat a go, has anyone had any luck with it? I think only Morrisons stock it now.

I think hemp and caster or maggot will always be a winner in clear water.

 

Regarding boilies, has anyone had any luck? I tried the chicken flavour ones and had a few fish.

Boilies and paste make up most of my colour water barbeling baits. Good scent trails being important in big coloured rivers. As for flavours, TOP SECRET cant tell you, but Ive heard good things about the chicken ones.

 

Pellets are used so much now I am wondering if the bait is blown on some waters. The River Wye is fishing more and more difficult and I am wondering if it is because every man and his dog is using hair rigged halibut pellets.

Still plenty of barbel getting caught on them up here.

[Steve Walker]

Nearly all my barbel come on either ledgered halibuts or trotted maggot - with around a ¼ in any given season coming on the floatfished mag (7 from 34 so far this season). I will occasionally pick one up when fishing lobs for chub or perch...

 

If I'm honest, I like to use lobs to hedge my bets of a big clonking perch! The chub I could do without, when I'm really after barbel, but in my experience there is nothing barbel will eat that chub won't. In fact, I think there's nothing that chub won't eat, full stop!

[great_badir]

If I'm honest, I like to use lobs to hedge my bets of a big clonking perch! The chub I could do without, when I'm really after barbel, but in my experience there is nothing barbel will eat that chub won't. In fact, I think there's nothing that chub won't eat, full stop!

 

To be honest I had little success with pellets and always found meaty baits, sweet baits and boilies to be the best. As others have said the only problem with meaty baits, of course, is that the chub tend to get in first and with sweet baits (sweetcorn especially) the bream nose down.

 

It's weird though - I was of the understanding that chub relied more on noise to find their food than smell, so why is it a chub can seemingly sniff out a piece of luncheon meat from five miles upstream, yet when it comes to a pungent meaty boilie, they completely ignore it!?!?!?

[Anderoo]

To be honest I had little success with pellets and always found meaty baits, sweet baits and boilies to be the best. As others have said the only problem with meaty baits, of course, is that the chub tend to get in first and with sweet baits (sweetcorn especially) the bream nose down.

 

It's weird though - I was of the understanding that chub relied more on noise to find their food than smell, so why is it a chub can seemingly sniff out a piece of luncheon meat from five miles upstream, yet when it comes to a pungent meaty boilie, they completely ignore it!?!?!?

 

This is just a guess, but it may just be down to the way those baits are hooked. You'll catch more chub with bait on the hook than hair-rigged. Chub certainly love boilies (and everything else!).