best baits for different fish

[carphead100]

Dear fellow fishermen,

 

I've been fishing for only about 1 and a half years so far, but haven't found out what bait is best for what species of fish. Could anyone help me with this one?

 

Tight lines

[gozzer]

Dear fellow fishermen,

 

I've been fishing for only about 1 and a half years so far, but haven't found out what bait is best for what species of fish. Could anyone help me with this one?

 

Tight lines

 

Sorry to disappoint you mate but there ain't one.

 

It depends on the water, the angling pressure, time of year, temperature, amount of food available, (natural and introduced) and a hundred other things, that we can only guess about.

Each will have their own favorite bait, for certain fish and conditions, and for the way we prefer to fish. But to say that X bait is best for Y species is impossible.

For myself, I can say that if I had to choose just one bait, that would catch anything that swims, it would be the humble worm.

 

John.

[Anderoo]

Wow, that's a virtually impossible question! It depends on so many factors such as the type of water/fishery, time of year, conditions, behaviour of other anglers, the method you choose to use and what size fish you're after.

 

However, if I could only use 1 bait for certain species for the rest of my fishing days I'd go for:

 

Tench - caster/fake caster

Carp - bread

Roach - bread

Rudd - sweetcorn

Dace - maggot

Chub - bread

Barbel - ?? meat

Bream - worm

Perch - worm

Pike - live roach

Zander - live roach

Eel - worm

Grayling - maggot

Catfish - pellet

 

Not that these are the 'best' baits overall (other people's lists will be different), but I think that's what I'd go for. Bread, for example, is extremely versatile and can be used in loads of different ways, so offers a lot of flexibility. If I could only use one bait for everything, it would be worm.

Edited August 15, 2007 by Anderoo

[carphead100]

Oky doky

 

ill take all that into consideration when im next fishing

 

thanks for your advice

 

tight lines

[Steve Burke]

Sorry to disappoint you mate but there ain't one.

 

It depends on the water, the angling pressure, time of year, temperature, amount of food available, (natural and introduced) and a hundred other things, that we can only guess about.

Each will have their own favorite bait, for certain fish and conditions, and for the way we prefer to fish. But to say that X bait is best for Y species is impossible.

For myself, I can say that if I had to choose just one bait, that would catch anything that swims, it would be the humble worm.

 

John.

 

You beat me to it!

 

Generations of anglers have asked this question, and there simply isn't a "magic" bait.

 

I'm sure you'll get lots of suggestions from other members. However I'll just confine myself to some general principles.

 

1) On the heavilly fished waters that I suspect you're fishing then a bait that the fish have rarely or never seen is likely to be a good bet. For instance, whitebait has caught me lots of carp in this situation when I've been after chub. So much so that the unwanted carp have been a confounded nuisance! Blast-frozen whitebait (the fry of sprats and herrings) can be bought from any fishmonger.

 

2) Some species rarely get caught on certain baits. For instance whitebait, like any other sea fish, is next to useless for perch, although most other species (with the possible exception of zander) love them. In fact predators will rarely take anything other than animal-based baits such as fish and worms.

 

3) How you feed your bait is usually far, far more important than the actual bait you use. This is especially so on heavilly-stocked waters.

 

4) On more naturally stocked waters, the choice of swim and where you cast to in the swim are likely to be even more important than feeding, and both are more important than the choice of bait.

[carper_AJ]

YEP, I HAVE TO AGREE MAYBE YOU CANT ANSWER THAT QUESTION OVERALL BECAUSE DIFFERENT VENUES PRODUCE DIFFERENT OUTCOMES!!!!!!!

SOME VENUES THE FISH BECOME TIRED AND BORED OF MARKET BAITS SUCH AS SWEETCORN AND MEAT SO IT PAYS FOR A MORE THOUGHT TACTIC LIKE A HAIR-RIGGED FAKE CASTER ETC...........

IT REALLY DEPENDS WHERE YOUR FISHING AND WHAT FOR!!!!!!

[Guest tigger]

Best all round bait for me would without doubt be the Maggot followed by worm and corn then meat and bread.

Edited August 17, 2007 by tigger

[BoozleBear]

No matter how many times I have used it, I have never caught a fish on sweetcorn.

 

I love redworm if canal fishing for perch, and the odd roach, rudd, gudgeon, skimmer will come to that too.

 

You can't beat a good old red and white maggot combo for all the above and bigger bream too.

 

As others have said it's all very venue specific.

 

For example, there are 2 kinds of eels, with different shaped mouths that feed on different things, worms or deads. Pike on some waters love mackerel / sardine / spratt and on others may prefer a coarsefish from their water. Personally I always go fo sea deads as I'm not keen on killing what I catch.

 

And I challenge anybody to name 1 bait good for carp! Not possible.

 

Cheers,

 

Simon

[Anderoo]

And I challenge anybody to name 1 bait good for carp! Not possible.

 

Cheers,

 

Simon

 

I'll name two - worm and bread!

[gozzer]

And I challenge anybody to name 1 bait good for carp! Not possible.

 

Cheers,

 

Simon

 

I've been trying for years to find one that they don't like, not found one yet.

 

John.