SPECIMEN TIPS OF THE WEEK
GIVE ’EM SOME GRUB!
AS WE move into autumn most wild creatures are looking to get into peak condition ready for winter.
Fish are no different – there is only one way they can do this, and that is to eat.
While a well-positioned single bait
CHUB
Small fish such as roach and dace can be a nuisance when trotting the flow for chub. You have two options – introduce more maggots to try and feed them off, or try bread.
A steady stream of mashed bread with a piece of flake on the hook is a great way of drawing chub in, and if roach are present it is likely you’ll only catch the big ones.
CARP
A large bed of boilies will draw carp to your swim at this time of year. In heavily stocked waters even 3kg of 4kg of boilies won’t last long once the fish get their heads down.
Topping your swim up regularly will stop the carp moving off to look for food elsewhere.
BREAM
Bream love pellets and fishmeal groundbaits. I like to get a really big bed of a mixture of these out before dark and will always add liquid attractants such as Sonubaits Bait Boosters to my bait mix.
These additives are easily spread by underwater currents, drawing in bream from a long way away.
I usually fish with non-matching hookbaits, and will use heavily flavoured sweet, fruity baits over is always a good tactic, at this time of year you can make the most of the natural cycle and bait heavily.
This will enable you to catch good bags of a wide variety of fish.
Here are some suggestions of what to feed for different species…
the top. I’ve found these stand out from all the groundbait and are taken quicker than a pellet bait.
BARBEL
Look no further than pellets and boilies for barbel. I like to increase the size to at least 15mm to reduce the attentions of small chub.
If large shoals of bream are present it is worth trying double boilies or real ‘donkey-chokers’ up to 24mm if you are fishing for really big barbel.
ROACH
In autumn a hemp and tares approach for roach works a treat!
These baits will single out the bigger fish. It may take a little time for the roach to switch on, but when they do it can be a bite a cast, from roach generally much bigger than any you will catch on maggots.