Critically balanced baits for carp
Mar 01,2006 00:00
by
Julian
I often favour the use of critically balanced baits on waters where the fish are pretty clued up. Many anglers think that any carp they hook has literally just come across their baited patch, picked up the hookbait immediately and that’s it, job done. In reality, it can be very different!
I’ve fished waters and watched in awe as clued-up carp carefully mop up all the freebies one by one; wafting them all about off the bottom of the lake to see how they react before even deciding to sample one. Often they will sample, reject, and sample again. I’ve seen them do this many, many times. For me, a pop-up that’s anchored with some sort of weight will not act like any other freebie when the carp blows it about on the lake bed, and thus carp will often reject them as suspicious and move on to another bait to repeat the whole process. The same thing can happen with bottom baits, the weight of the hook and braid will make it heavier than the freebies, so again, when the fish blows it about it will act differently to the rest and will often be rejected.
As such, I favour a critically balanced approach for the majority of my fishing. The easiest way to balance a bait is to have a little bait punch and some foam with you. All you need to do is hollow out the middle of the boilie, tiger nut, or whatever bait you might be using, and then plug the hole with foam. Attach the bait to the hair in the normal way and then drop the completed rig into the water. Ideally the bait should *just* sink. The result is that when in position with the rest of the freebies, when Mr. Carp comes along and wafts his pectoral fins to dislodge the baits, the hookbait is now much lighter and buoyant and reacts in the same way as the freebaits.
I use the same approach when fishing naturals like maize; just use one grain of maize and one piece of fake corn on the hair. In almost every case, this method has scored better than my mate who favours a pop-up approach. Mind you, he does have more bream!
Tight Lines…
Julian Grattidge
February 2006
I’ve fished waters and watched in awe as clued-up carp carefully mop up all the freebies one by one; wafting them all about off the bottom of the lake to see how they react before even deciding to sample one. Often they will sample, reject, and sample again. I’ve seen them do this many, many times. For me, a pop-up that’s anchored with some sort of weight will not act like any other freebie when the carp blows it about on the lake bed, and thus carp will often reject them as suspicious and move on to another bait to repeat the whole process. The same thing can happen with bottom baits, the weight of the hook and braid will make it heavier than the freebies, so again, when the fish blows it about it will act differently to the rest and will often be rejected.
As such, I favour a critically balanced approach for the majority of my fishing. The easiest way to balance a bait is to have a little bait punch and some foam with you. All you need to do is hollow out the middle of the boilie, tiger nut, or whatever bait you might be using, and then plug the hole with foam. Attach the bait to the hair in the normal way and then drop the completed rig into the water. Ideally the bait should *just* sink. The result is that when in position with the rest of the freebies, when Mr. Carp comes along and wafts his pectoral fins to dislodge the baits, the hookbait is now much lighter and buoyant and reacts in the same way as the freebaits.
I use the same approach when fishing naturals like maize; just use one grain of maize and one piece of fake corn on the hair. In almost every case, this method has scored better than my mate who favours a pop-up approach. Mind you, he does have more bream!
Tight Lines…
Julian Grattidge
February 2006