Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
GIVE THEM PARTICLES GALORE
Carp are at their most hungry right now and Dan Wildbore reveals the baiting strategy that results in big hits of fish
ONE thing I have noticed in the last few months is how quiet the banks have been. It isn’t a surprise, with it being one of the hottest summers on record it can be incredibly uncomfortable to fish. But with it being so hot for so long, the fish have had a really good spawn and are now actively searching for food. It is at this time of year when the fish are at their hungriest and with the banks so quiet, now is the time to capitalise. I don’t get an awful lot of time to fish, but the warmer months are when I get my opportunity and there has been one tactic that has worked to increase my catch rate tenfold!
Particles, and lots of them!
I always include boilies in the mix because they are my hookbaits, but I use a lot of particles to get the fish feeding heavily. They have a number of advantages, one of which is that they are cheap. The ability to use a lot of bait will not only help pull fish in but enable you to hold them on the spot for longer periods. Getting the fish to compete for food will make them easier to catch and having a large bed of bait will create competitive feeding. Baiting up accurately will also help to get fish to butt heads and feed harder. Picking a spot that the fish visit regularly is vital. An obvious feature like a raised hump or gravel bar will have a lot of traffic and if they are swimming over it, the bait will do its job in pulling them down to feed. Of course, what you feed is important too. Using good bait on a spot that they are prepared to feed on is key. I use a mixture of pigeon conditioner and maples. If I can get hold of good quality hemp I use that too. Pigeon conditioner and maples are incredibly cheap and easy to prepare. You can get 40kg of dry mix for less that £35 and by the time it is cooked you have closer to 100kg of bait.
Bait preparation
To prepare the particles, I soak them in water for 24 hours. I then bring the water to the boil and let it simmer for 20 minutes. Once the bait is nice and soft, I turn off the heat and let the water cool. While the water is slightly warm, I add some salt and Liquid Liver to give the particles a meaty aroma and taste. As the water cools, the particles will take on that liquid and make the mix more milky and gloopy. It also aids in the fermentation process, which in my opinion makes particles even better. The natural sugars and salts begin to come out, making everything super active. I then divide it between buckets or jars and freeze them. Before using the bait, I remove it from the freezer the night before I go fishing and add boilies and Ellipse pellets when it’s thawed.
Use boilies to carry liquid
I am a huge fan of liquids because not only do they attract carp, but they leave a wonderful residue on the lakebed should all the solid food items be eaten. I chop my boilies and add Pure Tuna Liquid to them, before popping them back in the freezer. When they come out, they have absorbed all that liquid, giving them a highly pungent aroma. The oily pellets will go soft because of liquids from the particles and release their oils into the mix. When the fish are feeding on the bait, a small flat spot will appear, alerting me to their presence. If I don’t get a bite, I know I need to tweak to rigs. While I am putting out 80% particles, I do like to use a boilie on the rig. With particles being such light baits, I want a hookbait that is well balanced so that fish can inhale it with ease. I use half a Krill Tuff One and half a Krill popup, trimming one or the other depending on the buoyancy. The aim is get a hookbait that sinks slowly and leaves the rig sitting like a claw. I fish the rig fairly short, as the spots are usually very clean. The fish don’t have to move far for each mouthful, so once the bait is sucked in I want them to come into contact with the full weight of the lead as soon as possible. This is something that I used a lot last summer and it worked brilliantly. I have also been using it this year, while the banks have been quiet, and the fish are hungry and once again it hasn’t let me down. It is amazing how much bait carp can get through. For just one night I will take 8kg of mix, often running out by the time I pack up in the morning. The action can come thick and fast and having plenty of spare rigs is key to getting the rod back out and ready to catch.
“For just one night I will take 8kg of mix, often running out by morning”