BOTTOM BAITS STRAIGHT FROM THE BAG

Q When fishing over boilies, would you ‘match the hatch’ or fish an altogether different hookbait? Also, would you be happy using a boilie straight from the bag, or would you ‘pimp it up’ first with a glug? Paul Franks, Droitwich

A Shaun McSpadden: This depends largely on the kind of lake that you’re fishing. If it’s one where the stock is high and you’re expecting a few runs, then often a high-attract hookbait works quickly. Another scenario is when fishing a fairly ‘localised’ area, such as a spot with three rods on it. In this case I’d use bottom baits straight from the bag on two of the rods, and maybe air-dry them slightly first to make them a bit more robust and avoid the nuisance species whittling them down. I would then fish a little ‘trap’ just off the baited area, in the form of a different hookbait altogether. This needn’t be a bright pop-up, but would certainly be something that has a bit more attraction. I use the new Link as well as my old favourite Activ-8, and have made plenty of my own ‘special’ hookbaits in the latter. I add all sorts of goodies to these, glug them and then also have some rock salt in the tub with them, which sticks to the baits. I’d be extremely happy fishing one of these off a bed of bait and have caught no end of carp when doing so.

I feel that the bigger fish can hang back from the feeding zone, especially at certain times of year, almost like the generals sending in the troops before they themselves get involved in the fracas!