About twenty years ago, pieces of strawberry jelly were taking the carp ponds by storm. Of course, by jelly I mean the cubes of jelly that we melt down in boiling water to make trifles etc.
I never tried it as bread was still my favourite and " if it aint broke, dont fix it" came to mind. But I seem to remember it made headlines in some angling publication. Not much later Strawberry flavoured meat was the big thing, then tandoori flavour, garlic, etc etc.
I do wonder if the bait manufacturers invent these stories and the press get back handers for writing about them.
I did however try the tandoori meat and caught my first catfish.
Wal.
The most versatile of all!
- Wallys-Cast
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- Peter Wilde
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Re: The most versatile of all!
Simple bread baits still can come into their own, especially for winter chub.
On my local stretch of the Wey, arriving this morning I heard from a barbel fisher that results throughout January had been very poor. Well, admittedly I had personally stayed away since mid-December due to cold, wind and rain, so what follows is not a definitive test!
But … a less than 4 hour session of light legering produced two very nice chub for me, 4lb 5oz and 5lb 10oz. Lovely looking fish, in peak condition! All needed for them was one small loaf; used mashed, for free samples, and cut into crust cubes on the hook plus a bit of paste to help get the bait on the bottom. Admittedly I grated a little bit of cheese into the paste this time, but I don’t usually do that and past results suggest it may well be an unnecessary frill.
(I know swimfeeders work too, but I don’t like their clunkiness - so usually fish with a plasticine rolling leger. I don’t fish at long range, this river is not wide enough to need that).
It all made it well worth braving the seas of mud, the collapses of steep banks, and the fallen trees. Take care out there in the wild! But it was pleasing to find, despite poor recent press coverage, that the river smelt clean with no whiffs of sewage.
On my local stretch of the Wey, arriving this morning I heard from a barbel fisher that results throughout January had been very poor. Well, admittedly I had personally stayed away since mid-December due to cold, wind and rain, so what follows is not a definitive test!
But … a less than 4 hour session of light legering produced two very nice chub for me, 4lb 5oz and 5lb 10oz. Lovely looking fish, in peak condition! All needed for them was one small loaf; used mashed, for free samples, and cut into crust cubes on the hook plus a bit of paste to help get the bait on the bottom. Admittedly I grated a little bit of cheese into the paste this time, but I don’t usually do that and past results suggest it may well be an unnecessary frill.
(I know swimfeeders work too, but I don’t like their clunkiness - so usually fish with a plasticine rolling leger. I don’t fish at long range, this river is not wide enough to need that).
It all made it well worth braving the seas of mud, the collapses of steep banks, and the fallen trees. Take care out there in the wild! But it was pleasing to find, despite poor recent press coverage, that the river smelt clean with no whiffs of sewage.
- Catfish.017
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Re: The most versatile of all!
And Summer Tench! I was fortunate to catch more than fifty last Summer and of those only three weren't caught on bread, either plain and simple flake or balanced crust and paste.Peter Wilde wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2025 8:00 pm Simple bread baits still can come into their own, especially for winter chub.
On my local stretch of the Wey, arriving this morning I heard from a barbel fisher that results throughout January had been very poor. Well, admittedly I had personally stayed away since mid-December due to cold, wind and rain, so what follows is not a definitive test!
But … a less than 4 hour session of light legering produced two very nice chub for me, 4lb 5oz and 5lb 10oz. Lovely looking fish, in peak condition! All needed for them was one small loaf; used mashed, for free samples, and cut into crust cubes on the hook plus a bit of paste to help get the bait on the bottom. Admittedly I grated a little bit of cheese into the paste this time, but I don’t usually do that and past results suggest it may well be an unnecessary frill.
(I know swimfeeders work too, but I don’t like their clunkiness - so usually fish with a plasticine rolling leger. I don’t fish at long range, this river is not wide enough to need that).
It all made it well worth braving the seas of mud, the collapses of steep banks, and the fallen trees. Take care out there in the wild! But it was pleasing to find, despite poor recent press coverage, that the river smelt clean with no whiffs of sewage.
- Ian.R.McDonald
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Re: The most versatile of all!
I remember standing close to ( carp superstar) Dereck Stritton at the Eagle pond in the 70s. Waiting for him to leave so we could jump in the margins and find the " wonder bait" he had dropped in the margins.Wallys-Cast wrote: Wed Nov 13, 2024 9:08 am About twenty years ago, pieces of strawberry jelly were taking the carp ponds by storm. Of course, by jelly I mean the cubes of jelly that we melt down in boiling water to make trifles etc.
I never tried it as bread was still my favourite and " if it aint broke, dont fix it" came to mind. But I seem to remember it made headlines in some angling publication. Not much later Strawberry flavoured meat was the big thing, then tandoori flavour, garlic, etc etc.
I do wonder if the bait manufacturers invent these stories and the press get back handers for writing about them.
I did however try the tandoori meat and caught my first catfish.
Wal.
It was ground trout pellets- and of course his success was about position and rig- the bait was of low importance
- Catfish.017
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Re: The most versatile of all!
The advent of early, home concocted high protein baits had a remarkable effect on the park lake in the mid Seventies. Historically a Roach water teeming with fish in the two to six ounce bracket there were bonus fish to be had, Tench and Bream mainly which were rarely caught in any number. All that changed abruptly when a few of us began using a paste made from ground up Go Cat biscuits. Suddenly we were catching Tench and Bream in undreamed of quantities and Crucians everyone believed had died out began to show too. It was quite transformative and certainly livened up the club competitions somewhat!