Carper’s Web - Carp Fishing News

Pete Castle looks in detail at mass baiting and carp bait campaigns to catch carp in the summer months.

Mass baiting is a strategy best described as arriving at the lake with the aim of putting out something like three-to-five kilos of boilies and a good sized bucket of mixed particles or pellets to fish over for the coming session. Some people seem to like to fish over lots more bait than others and anglers that regularly fish over a lot of bait are generally more confident in this approach than when they are fishing light, as they see their tactic as the best way to stimulate the fish into confident feeding.

Heavily baited spots are something that I really like fishing over every now and again and this technique has produced some fantastic results for me in the past. There are definitely certain lakes that fish well when you put out loads of bait, but even on those lakes you have to make sure that you mass bait only in the right circumstances. There is no point filling in any water if the fish are off the feed. However, if conditions are right and the fish look like they’re having it, then have a go at mass baiting because this baiting strategy can not only catch out the odd fish, but it also regularly produces multiple captures.

Bait Campaigns

A bait campaign is often the chosen baiting strategy for many of the leading carp anglers. With this technique the aim is to establish your bait as a main food source so that the carp are literally hungrily looking for the chosen bait. It can sometimes take weeks to establish, but when the fish start to see the bait regularly then your hard work will start to take effect and you will begin to enjoy the benefits with hopefully outstanding results.

Key Tips for catching Carp:-

1 I like to put in a variety of bait when I’m mass baiting.

2 A huge framed fish caught by regularly baiting the same spot.

3 Choose a high quality food source bait if you’re going to start a long-term bait campaign.

4 Try using large quantities of maggots as alternative baiting strategy.

I’ve had three successful bait campaigns over recent years – one of these was done on my own and the other two took place with a little help from a few carp fishing friends. The most recent of these bait campaigns was on a relatively difficult water where there was only around thirty-to-thirty five fish in over forty acres of water and a bait campaign seemed the best way forward.

Everyone in the bait team agreed to get as much boiled bait into the lake as they could during the spring months to see if we could establish the bait as food source in this lake, which was also producing a lot of natural food items. It didn’t take long for us to notice that it was only the anglers that were on that specific bait that where getting the results. It was still very difficult, as you can imagine with such a low stocking level, but when fish were being caught it was usually on the bait that we had been putting in.

I had blanked for first few weeks, but I was confident that if I could get on fish with the bait that I would eventually catch. On one evening I managed to move onto a few fish and as I had full confidences in the baiting strategy we had been using, I thought that it was only a matter of time before I got a run. I actually managed four runs that night and banked not only a cracking upper-twenty, but also a mid-thirty and a pretty double. I also lost another fish after it tore off and stuffed me in a large weed bed – it felt like it might have been a bit of a chunk. The established bait played a big part in the capture of those sparse carp and it was only good teamwork and a belief in the bait that helped everyone that took part in the campaign to reap the benefits from establishing a bait as a food source.

Some Recent Success

I recently went on a trip to a local lake where a heavy baiting strategy proved to be very successful. I turned up to fish a three night session and put out about 15 kilos of crushed and whole boilies, pellets and particles to sit over for the next three nights ahead. The first night proved to be very slow and I only managed a lost fish early the following morning - I started to think that I had maybe made a mistake with the amount of bait I’d spodded out. However, things started to look up when just as I reeled in to go for a walk, a few fish started to move into the area.

By the second morning I’d caught a several good fish, but then things went very quite again by mid-morning as though the fish had cleaned me out of any remaining bait and had moved on into other areas. I spodded some more of the mix on the spots ready for the evening. The main lines were all already marked and in the clips and I spent most of the day spodding three buckets of mix to the chosen spots. I was confident that I was going to have some further success and things went really well throughout the third night and I wasn’t let down as I caught some more fantastic fish from the heavily baited areas. It took a little time to get swim working with the mass baiting technique, but as soon as the spot started to produce the odd fish it was just a case of topping it up to get even more runs.

Summary

It sometimes pays off to put out masses of bait into a swim and in other situations you’re probably better off fishing with single hook baits. Heavily baited areas can stop fish as they’re moving through, but if they’re off their feed then a lightly baited area might be more suitable, so try to choose your baiting strategy wisely. The best way to get the carp to pick up your chosen bait is to establish it as a food source. Most carp anglers (myself included) rarely take advantage of the idea of starting a bait campaign, but it is one of the fundamental tactics favoured by many of the leading carp anglers.

Personally my angling style is more eclectic, as I’m usually fishing different waters every week – this often makes a formal bait campaign unfeasible for me to do on a regular basis. Nevertheless, if you’ve joined a syndicate or club that you will fish regularly and you have a few trusted friends that will put the bait in on a regular basis, then I would seriously consider trying to establish your bait as a food source.

Many of the leading bait companies produce excellent mixes that will offer a quality food source to the carp. It might take a little time for you to notice the results, but if you strategically put in enough of the stuff then the carp can soon become so dependent that they end up being caught on little else.

Good Luck, Pete Castle.

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Particle baits, which include practically every seed, bean, pea or nut, can be every bit as successful a carp catcher as the most expensive boilie. What is more, with the vast majority of them, success is much more instant.

Some of the most widely used particles are;

• Tiger nuts - Preperation - Soak for 24 hrs & boil for 30 mins.
• Peanuts - Preperation - Soak for 12 hrs & boil for 30 mins.
• Sweetcorn - Preperation - Straight from tin or bag, keep in own juice.
• Maize - Preperation - Soak for 24 hours & boil for 30 min.
• Chic peas - Preperation - Soak for 12 hours & boil for 30 mins.
• Black-eyed beans - Preperation - Soak for 12 hours & boil for 30 mins.
• Hemp - Preperation - Soak for 12 hours & boil until split.
• Tares - Preperation - Soak for 12 hours & boil for 30 mins.
• Dari - Preperation - Soak for 12 hours & boil for 30 mins.
• Broad beans - Preperation - Soak for 12 hours & boil for 30 mins.
• Almonds - Not sure about this one - Anyone?
• Hazel nuts - Preperation - Soak for 24 hours & boil for 30 minutes
• Maples peas - Preperation - Soak for 12 hours & boil for 30 mins.
• Partiblend - Preperation - Boil for 1 minute.

For those that still remain cautious of preparing their own particles they can be purchased ready to use from the likes of Hinders or you can buy Dynamite prepared particles from most good fishing stores.

All of these particle baits have, and still do, catch lots of carp.

There are drawbacks to particles in that none, with the possible exception of tiger nuts, are selective. The more that go in a water, the more other species get turned on to them. In fact other species need only have tuned on to one or two particle baits before they go for any new ones right from the start.

With the first ones used however, it is often carp which are the first onto them.

Maple peas, chic peas, black-eyed beans and peanuts are probably the most widely used and overall, successful, of the particle baits. There are few waters where they will not succeed in the first instance.

Tiger nuts are an exceptional carp catching bait. These nuts are very selective because of their hardness - other species find them difficult to digest. You’ll still catch the odd bream and tench but not as often as with most of the other particles. They are very hard to break down, and the chances are any thrown in will stay where they are until they are picked up by carp. A lake may respond to them for several seasons, on a kind of on/off basis.

On most waters they are not as instant as say sweetcorn, maize, chic peas, black-eyed beans or peanuts, but once fish are on to them, you can expect great sport. In the past tigers have received ‘bad press’ because there may come a time when, after heavy feeding on these nuts, a lake will go completely dead for weeks on end, when it seems practically impossible to catch on any bait. I’ve never experienced this myself so I’m not sure how true it is.

Smaller dark seeds, particularly hemp, can be very effective when fished along side other baits. That is to say, they get carp feeding, but catching them can be a devil of a job, even when you fish hemp hook baits. At other times, hemp will provide a feeding response when carp are quite willing to pick up other baits fished over the hemp. Tares and dari seeds are both likely to give similar responses. Consider allowing them to germinate before you cook them. Germination can usually be achieved by first leaving them out in sunlight in a shallow tray, the seeds being covered in water, for a full day. Then bring them slowly to the boil. Twenty minutes simmering and they are ready to use.

Less widely used, but still effective are broad beans, sweet lupins, almonds and hazel nuts. With nuts it can be very hit and miss. Ones that have been in stock a long time will very likely float, so make sure the ones you buy are fresh. Sweet lupins are not commonly used in the UK but vast numbers of carp have been caught on them, particularly on the continent, where some anglers regard them as the particle supreme.

The most used and universally regarded particle bait would have to be sweetcorn, but there are plenty of others found in tins on the supermarket shelf which can score heavily. Baked beans and red kidney beans to mention a couple.

Always buy good quality particles from a reputable supplier. Some particles, notably peanuts, can be potentially lethal to the fish in certain states. Look for ‘human grade’ particles and you’ll be OK.

Preparation

On the whole, it can be said that the vast majority of these baits will work to one degree or another, merely soaked and not cooked. It must be said though that cooking produces a better bait, as it releases the full flavour. Cooking breaks down the outer skin allowing the natural oils to escape. Even if you don’t cook the particles it is ESSENTIAL you soak them first, it is however important that all particles are boiled to kill any dangerous organisms they may hold and also to prevent germination so just soaking particles before use without boiling in not recommended.

Some particles can swell up alarmingly as they take in water and may bloat to twice their original size. If the carp eats them un-soaked this swelling could take place inside the fish leading to death. In general soak for at least 24 hours but longer in the case of tigers and un-prepared maize, where 48 hours is better. This is the time to add any flavours or additives.

Cooking

For small particles like hemp & dari just bring to the boil and then allow them to cool off in the same water, bicarbonate of soda can be added to hemp to make it turn black and help it to split. Harder particles like tiger nuts & peanuts must be soaked for 24 hours and then boiled for 30 minutes, again allowing them to cool off in the same water. I always try to store the particles with as much of the cooking water as possible - it contains a lot of attractive oils. If I’m using a groundbait with the particles, I’ll use the water to mix with the groundbait.

If you’re not using the particles straight away they can be frozen at this stage. However, with tigers I like to leave them for 2 to 3 days until they start to ferment. The time depends on air temperature but you’ll know when they’ve ‘turned’ because the water will go sticky, like syrup.

I find them to be at their most effective at this stage.

Additional Flavours

With beans, you generally find the paler the colour, the less the flavour. For this reason, black eyed, soya, haricot and lima beans are generally more successful when flavoured. Soaking them overnight in flavour rather than just cooking them produces better baits. For the most part the darker baits i.e. maples, tares, tiger nuts and hemp have enough natural flavour, so adding flavours is not necessary. I’ve used flavours with particles but I can’t say I’ve found it dramatically increases their effectiveness. However, if they’ve been used un-flavoured extensively on a water it might just add the difference that brings results……. some good particle additives/flavourings worthy of a mention are salt, chilly powder, aniseed, CSL and molasses, all of these can enhance the effectiveness of your particles so they’re well worth a try.

You should add flavourings at the soaking stage so that they are drawn into the bait, after that boil the particles up in the same water they they have been soaking in…. a tea spoon or two of salt per kilo is good, 20mils of CSL or/and molasses per kilo is also good, you will need to play with the amounts of other flavorings for yourself but the amounts added when making boilies is a good starting place.

Application

As with boilies pick the right particle for the job. On a hard bottom almost any can be used, but when fishing over silt, either use a very buoyant one or one with large flat sides such as broad beans, lima (butter) beans, red kidney beans or almonds.

I regard boilie and particle fishing the same - I use the same methods and rigs for both. Particles, just like boilies, are particularly effective as a hook bait when popped off the bottom. To do this you can use a buoyancy aid such as a cork or rig foam, tied just above the particle on a hair, or the centre of the particle itself can be ground out and plugged with one of the said buoyant substances.

Apart from the lack of selectivity, the only other drawback is the lack of distance such baits can be catapulted.

Some of the best baiting methods for particles are bait boats, particle spod’s, pva bags or strings and don’t forget that great carp sport can be had in the margins right under your feet at times!

A particularly inventive approach is to make up a standard hook link with bait, then drop this into an ice-lolly former. The rest of the cone is then filled with particles and flavour and the whole lot frozen. The frozen cones can be cast as far as most boilies!

Particles are tremendous baits, and can be fished in most situations, when you put your mind to it.

Also see this very useful article - “The Tigernut” By Dirk Wise

Credit and Thanks to Carp-Uk.Net for this excellent article…

Keep up the Good Work Lads

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