HOW TO USE PARTICLE BAITS
These old-school baits are cheap, but fish love them
SEEDS, beans, pulses and corn… particle baits come in many shapes and sizes, offering a cheap alternative to boilies and pellets that can be just as effective on their day.
Most of us are familiar with common particles such as hemp, tares, tiger nuts and sweetcorn, but the choice is vast, with a whole range of shapes and sizes that not only catch carp, but are great all-rounders.
If you are new to using particles the simplest option is to buy a ready-prepared bag or tin of your chosen bait from your local tackle shop. Several companies produce
excellent ready-to-go baits that can be left in the car until needed.
A bag of mixed large particles is likely to contain everything from chick peas to maize and tigers, giving you a few different hookbaits and plenty of feed.
You can find a wider range of ready-prepared particle baits in your local supermarket. Many pulses are sold ready-cooked in the tin, and although they can be slightly soft, most can be hairrigged effectively. Look out for black-eyed beans, borlotti beans and butter beans.
Many anglers make the mistake of thinking you have to pile in particle baits to get them to work, but nothing could be further from the truth. Very often a couple of pints is more than enough – feeding little-and-often is the key. This makes particle baits very cheap to use, especially if you prepare them yourself.
Soaking and boiling dry particle baits is essential to ensure that they have returned to their full size and can’t germinate.
A few kilos of maize, wheat, or hemp can be bought very cheaply, making the effort to prepare them well worth it.
TRY PARTI-BLEND
Designed as an alternative to hemp, parti-blend is a mixture of tiny seeds that makes a brilliant loose feed or spod mix.
The dari seeds, rapeseeds, wheat and tares that make up parti-blend are brilliant fish-attractors in their own right, ideal for venues where hemp has been used heavily.
Try fishing a slightly larger hookbait, such as a chick pea, over the top of the tiny seed mix to give the carp a bigger mouthful that is easy to hair-rig.
Particles really are the Cinderella baits of the current scene, and although they have been largely forgotten about, that doesn’t mean they don’t work. Give them a go, you won’t be disappointed.