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Balling in groundbait


The Flying Tench

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I normally use Sensas Gros Gardons, and I think I get the consistency about right in that I see it breaking up as it starts to sink, which is what I want in a still water at least.  And I don't have any problems using feeder or bait dropper. My problem is when trying to ball it in. I find it hard to get it to cohere into a ball before throwing, and when it leaves my hand it immediately breaks up so that it hits the water in a range of places and I'm not really concentrating the feed.

Do others have a similar problem? I'd be grateful for any advice.

john clarke

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Sorry. Can't help. My groundbaits these days are almost exclusively limited to pellets and/or vitalin with a liberal mix of hookbait samples.

That would almost certainly overfeed lots of smaller fish, which is sort of the aim.

If you're fishing at a fair distance and really want to lay down some feed, there are various bombs/rockets that have been developed by the carp boys for putting out particle baits, and you might find them better than balling it in.

Species caught in 2020: Barbel. European Eel. Bleak. Perch. Pike.

Species caught in 2019: Pike. Bream. Tench. Chub. Common Carp. European Eel. Barbel. Bleak. Dace.

Species caught in 2018: Perch. Bream. Rainbow Trout. Brown Trout. Chub. Roach. Carp. European Eel.

Species caught in 2017: Siamese carp. Striped catfish. Rohu. Mekong catfish. Amazon red tail catfish. Arapaima. Black Minnow Shark. Perch. Chub. Brown Trout. Pike. Bream. Roach. Rudd. Bleak. Common Carp.

Species caught in 2016: Siamese carp. Jullien's golden carp. Striped catfish. Mekong catfish. Amazon red tail catfish. Arapaima. Alligator gar. Rohu. Black Minnow Shark. Roach, Bream, Perch, Ballan Wrasse. Rudd. Common Carp. Pike. Zander. Chub. Bleak.

Species caught in 2015: Brown Trout. Roach. Bream. Terrapin. Eel. Barbel. Pike. Chub.

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Obviously you need to mix your groundbait to do what you want it to to attract the desired species.

I never bother buying expensive groundbaites, I just use brown or white crumb,  mix in whatever particles I want .  I just mix 8t to do what I want it to do when it hits the water, mix it powdery/crumbly if I want it to break up higher in the water and mix it,like mortar if I want the crumb to keep the particles together until they hit the deck.  

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Tigger's spot on there & you can also make a hole with your thumb & put some goodies inside then squeeze it shut. (Maggots, Casters, Hemp, Pellets etc, are all good to get fish Grubbing around for tasty morsels & dropping their guard)

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Fishin' - "Best Fun Ya' can 'ave wi' Ya' Clothes On"!!

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1 hour ago, The Flying Tench said:

Thanks, Tigger, I could try some crumb, possibly mixed with the other groundbait. How do you choose between white and brown?

People often choose the colour of the crumb on the clarity of the water.  Personally I just get whats available in the shop, for the biggest part I would go with brown crumb.  If you have a decent blender you can make your own bread crumb but by the time you've bought bread etc etc it's easier to just buy some.  It's usually cheaper the more you get and if kept in an air tight container it lasts foe yonks.  For me the crumb is only a binder to keep my particles closely grouped when they hit the bottom of the water.  If using a method feeder I use crumb, you can mix it like glue so it's still on the method feeder when you bring it back in, unless something has pecked it all off.

Regarding your other groundbait, yes, mixing it in with crumb is a good idea as it would be cheaper and if using the other fancy groundbait gives you confidence you have the best of both worlds.  One thing I sometimes did was mix in a bit of robin red with the crumb, in reality I don't think it made a jot of difference lol.

Because cumb is cheap to buy you can add extra particles with the savings onfancy geoundbaits.  You can mash up some prawns, add some maggs and casters, corn, pellets etc and imo it's a better option than flavoured powders.

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I haven't done this for years but I used to buy Sausage Rusk from a local butcher - a lot coarser than crumb & didn't have to go into town as butcher was end of the street where I lived at the time.

Fishin' - "Best Fun Ya' can 'ave wi' Ya' Clothes On"!!

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The bread counter at the local supermarket is worth a check because they have to clean the slicing machines.

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Species caught in 2020: Barbel. European Eel. Bleak. Perch. Pike.

Species caught in 2019: Pike. Bream. Tench. Chub. Common Carp. European Eel. Barbel. Bleak. Dace.

Species caught in 2018: Perch. Bream. Rainbow Trout. Brown Trout. Chub. Roach. Carp. European Eel.

Species caught in 2017: Siamese carp. Striped catfish. Rohu. Mekong catfish. Amazon red tail catfish. Arapaima. Black Minnow Shark. Perch. Chub. Brown Trout. Pike. Bream. Roach. Rudd. Bleak. Common Carp.

Species caught in 2016: Siamese carp. Jullien's golden carp. Striped catfish. Mekong catfish. Amazon red tail catfish. Arapaima. Alligator gar. Rohu. Black Minnow Shark. Roach, Bream, Perch, Ballan Wrasse. Rudd. Common Carp. Pike. Zander. Chub. Bleak.

Species caught in 2015: Brown Trout. Roach. Bream. Terrapin. Eel. Barbel. Pike. Chub.

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One of my precious memories was in the early 60s when bread was delivered to nearly all of the houses in bread vans; my dad used to stop off at the local ‘Bob freestones’ bakery at 4:30am on a Sunday morning on our way to the river Thames, and he used to get a big fresh bag of bread crumbs for free, and buy a fresh loaf of bread straight out of the oven for use as our hook bait.

When we arrived at the river there was often a thick mist on the surface and we could barely see our floats, but it was (and still is) a magical time to be out fishing, with the sounds of the dawn chorus all around us and the occasional sound of a milk float delivering its milk in the distance; while almost everyone else was still tucked up in their beds. ?

Keith

Edited by BoldBear
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Happiness is Fish shaped (it used to be woman shaped but the wife is getting on a bit now)

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