Weirdest baits?

[Coral Maestro]

When I was a teenager I remember catching small Rudd from a Sussex pond on chewing gum.

[Homer Simpson]

Great fun catching chub on small plugs. They hit them very hard so there's no mistaking them, and you have to hold the rod against little extra.

Agreed. I’d love to see film of a Chub taking a lure as they don’t feel like any other fish I’ve caught lure fishing in fresh or salt, the closest being Wrasse I think. I’ve managed to see takes by Perch, Pike, Bass, Gar, Mackerel, Coley, Pollock, and even Wrasse (back in the 1970s on the rocky reef along the inside of Holyhead breakwater) but never a Chub.

Phil

That would be an expensive pastime for me.
Had a two hour session yesterday, caught three fish and six willow trees.

[Santiago]

Does catching them with a magnet count. I once caught a bullhead (apologies for those who have already heard this story) with a homemade ship's magnet whilst searching the river's bottom for anything made from iron /steel. The bullhead somehow attached itself into a small gap between the two magnets!

[Barbelbonce]

One of those soft, chewy, foamy-type tooth-rotting sweeties in violent pink and white, in the form of a set of human false teeth accounted for a smallish Spurdog in a coupla hundred feet of Scottish water! Poor old Mr Dog didn't know what bit him....and those long, rubbery, variously-coloured soft sticks of gelatinous nastiness also act like 3" sandeels!
Only a couple of of a variety of "Interesting" sweeties always carried to sea in a miniature dustbin. Truly, they belong in a real dustbin.
Mike

[Carl Hier]

I’ve also caught some small chub on silver paper, and of course, perch are very happy to take a small strip of silver paper.
Given the commonality of mackerel taking silver paper, almost don’t see it as a ‘weird’ bait ?
Only other thoughts from younger days are porridge as (sloppy) ground bait and yes, pink chewing gum shaped like a worm

[Carl Hier]

Sorry, should also have added ‘chicken mash’ used as ground bait in the 70’s - bags of chicken food from pet shops.
Anything was used to cloud the water as a ten year old. Mud from the bank if nothing else available.

[Olly]

Still usable if/when you can get it!

[Homer Simpson]

Sorry, should also have added ‘chicken mash’ used as ground bait in the 70’s - bags of chicken food from pet shops.
Anything was used to cloud the water as a ten year old. Mud from the bank if nothing else available.

Do you mean layers mash?
I use this frequently as a ground bait/ loose feed.

[Carl Hier]

Yes, layers mash
I guess the slang term in our parts was chicken mash - some pet shops bagged their own mix (???), but others had branded sacks as layers mash.
I well remember competitions on the Wye in the late 70’s when everyone on the bus seemed to be using it

[AshbyCut]

In my early teens, I once spent a couple of hours on a warm summer evening (during a one night stop-over on a very boring family caravan holiday) on the bank of a riverside touring site just outside Stratford-upon-Avon ... catching very small fry on tiny bits of cotton wool tied onto the end of a spool of sewing thread.