The amazing
CLEVER WINTER TACTIC ATTRACTS WITHOUT FEEDING
new flavoured bomb lures
WHEN the frost is biting and the lakes are close to frozen, carp don’t want a lot of food. However, one thing they are often prepared to do is pick up the odd single high-visibilty, high-attract hookbait such as sweetcorn or boilies, presented on a simple bomb rig.
Bomb and corn is a well-documented coldwater tactic, but to take this timehonoured approach to the next level, Middy media co-ordinator Craig Butterfield reckons you need to ‘put a cork in it’.
Using a 6mm drill bit to pierce a hole in his bomb, Craig then fills it with a 6mm diameter piece of cork which has been soaked in flavouring. The result is a bomb that imparts flavour to the water without feeding the fish.
“As a match angler, you are always looking for that killer edge over your fellow competitors,” Craig says.
“The idea of drilling out my bombs was one of those ‘lightbulb’ moments.
“I have used flavoured hookbaits in the winter for years, but having to loosefeed lots of bait never sat well with me. To get the most potent flavour trail you can, you need to feed more, but this can see a winter carp peg being killed stone dead almost before you start fishing.”
The beauty of Craig’s approach is that he can make as many casts as he wants using his flavoured bombs, building up this trail of attraction without loosefeeding a single pellet or grain of corn.
The advantage of this is that it allows him to use tried-and-tested bomb tactics of casting around, looking for the shoals, without depositing small piles of loosefeed all over the place.
In winter, the carp will often shoal up very tightly and won’t move for bait, regardless of the amount fed. So, by casting around, you can look for line bites or proper takes in order to find the fish without the risk of ruining your session.
CRAIG’S BOMB TACKLE
Craig pairs typical bomb tackle – 0.20mm Middy Lo-Viz mainline to a free-running drilled-out 14g Middy bomb – with a 12ins Middy 0.16mm hooklink to a size 18 KM2 hook.
“I find that 12ins is the ideal length,” he explains. “Because the bomb is pumping out flavour, there is no point in having a 3ft hooklength as the hookbait will be too far away from the scent trail. Any shorter than 12ins, though, and you run the risk of bringing the fish into contact with the bomb, which in clear-water conditions could easily spook them.”
In addition to his cork-filled bombs, Craig also uses others plugged with
“Sponge bombs are effective when you have found the fish.”
sponge, which release their flavour much faster. Cork bombs can be left soaking almost indefinitely in flavouring, but he flavours his sponge plugs just before casting by dipping them into his chosen glug and squeezing so the liquid is drawn in.
“The sponge ones lose their flavour much quicker in the water, so they are most effective when you have found the fish and are looking to cast more regularly,” Craig says.
“The cork ones are more subtle, and these are the ones I will start a session with, casting around the swim in an attempt to locate a shoal.”
You can, of course, use whatever flavour you want, but Craig prefers Sonubaits F1 as it is very sweet, along with Dynamite Baits Krill and Betaine. Krill is very fishy, while the betaine is more of a halfway house between the two.