Mainline Baits - Carpfishing Articles - A DOZEN OF THE BEST

Mainline Baits - Carpfishing

Articles

A DOZEN OF THE BEST

Without getting involved in rigs and presentations in this piece, the suggestions below, which have all been tried and tested by many top, experienced and very respected anglers, will hopefully help you to bank an extra fish or six. It will also help you to see the other possibilities for bait application and use and how we can use what we already have to enhance the hookbait area, especially when the temperature starts to drop. This piece was originally an article about alternatives for winter fishing but all of the ideas have been put to good use all year round.

Most people put their gear away as the colder weather starts but it can be a very rewarding time the time for those that are prepared to make the effort. You will have to work even harder for each and every take and each fish on the bank will be a deserved one. Winter carping can be very lonely, hard on the mind as well as on the body but with a little bit more thought and preparation, winter carping can be worth the effort.

The one aspect of cold water carping that has caused more debates than any other subject is bait. Some recommend changing to a protein base mix with low flavour levels while others suggest attractor type baits with higher flavour levels. Well I don't intend to get involved in this as Mainline Baits has made it very easy for me and I only make minor changes for my winter fishing. Baits like the Grange CSL, Extract-Bio, Activ-8, Winter-8 and Assasin-8PT10 and are based on a totally new concept in bait design. They all contain ingredients that are suited to all water temperatures and all the additives are water-soluble so they can all be used right through the year without any changes being made.

HOOKBAIT ENHANCEMENT

1. To make the hookbaits stand out and to increase the attraction in water, make them with higher flavour and attractor levels for winter use. As an example, below are two recipes for the Essential Opal mix. On the left is the recipe for the warmer months and on the right is the suggested recipe for hookbait's to be used in the winter:

If you are using any other flavours or additives from the Mainline Baits range, then again just simply increase the levels by approx. 50%. (Remember-hookbait's only).

2. When you are making the paste for your winter hookers, keep some of it to one side as this can be used for a deadly little trick anytime of the year but it is especially effective in the winter. All you do is to wrap a bait in a thin layer of the paste, anything from 2-4mm 959d321j thick is about right and this will then result in a bait that will release it's attractor's into the water quicker than that of a boiled bait with a sealed skin. So if you normally fish with a 18mm hook bait then mount a 14mm bait on the hair and cover in the paste until it is the size that you require.

Once in the water the paste will disperse the flavours and attractor's into the area that matters, the area around the hook. The paste will stay in tact for some time but even if it does break down completely, you still have the smaller bait on the hair surrounded in all that lovely, smelly paste particles and with the hook in the middle of it all.

In really cold water you can speed up the process by mixing in a small amount of a liquid additive such as the Corn Steep Liquor, Bio-Serum or the Activator. Flatten the piece of paste in your palm and drip into the middle a few drops of your chosen liquid additive and knead into the paste until it becomes looser and softer. It will still stay on the hooker but will respond to the colder water better and the added liquid will boost the attraction around the hook bait area.

3. During the winter a lot of people use smaller hook baits and 2/3 x 10-12mm baits on a hair can produce runs when everything else fails. I had one of my best ever winter sessions one February using two 10mm baits with a 10mm cork ball as the top bait. This cork ball was one of many that I keep in a small tub filled with neat flavour mixed with a little Sweat-Ade. In this tub I keep cork balls of 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16mm and these can be used in many ways to aid presentation and this way I can offer three 10mm baits critically balanced or popped up above any debris and easier for the carp to find and see.

The same can be done with all of the Mainline range of liquid additives including the CSL, Bio-Serum, Activator, Catalyst PT10 any of the Active-Ades and the flavours, just keep a little air tight pot full of the chosen soak along with several corkballs of various sizes.

Below is a drawing of the rig that I used that February session and have used many times since. For me it meets all the criteria that I want in a winter presentation. It is visible to the fish, it is easily accessible by the fish and the hook is held clear of any debris or bottom rubbish and it has very good hooking qualities. The secret is to use just enough weight to hold the nylon hooklength in an arc and not too much that the counter- weight is actually on the bottom. The stiffness of the hooklength creates the arc and the amount of counter weight should be just enough to hold the hook about 2-3 inches of the bottom. This way the rig is very light in the water and the bait is easily moved by any inspecting carp.

If you make your own baits then 'over-coating' them with the chosen liquid additives can increase the attractor levels. To do this simply place about 30 frozen baits into a strong plastic bag, add the liquid attractor's and shake well for a couple of minutes. Leave them to thaw and as they do the baits will draw in the liquids. This is the method that is known as 'Glugging' and was very successful with fishmeal's and oils some years ago. Once the baits have thawed, they can be air-dried and stored indefinitely if kept dry or you can freeze them again and repeat the process as before.

Below are some examples of the additives that can be used for over-coating and in section 10 there is a suggested liquid mix that can be used in groundbaits with your own choice of flavours.

Corn Steep Liquor, Bio-Serum Catalyst PT10 and Activator can be used straight from the bottle and several anglers have done well in the winter by over-coating the bait once or twice with one of the above additives and then leaving them to air dry. The liquid additive then soaks into the bait but will soon react once in the water and release a stream of the attractor's almost immediately.

Nowadays it is a lot easier to spice up the hookers as Mainline Baits launched their range of soaks/dips called the Hookbait Enhancement System some time ago and these are brilliant and have many uses. There are several in the range now to cover all possibilities and these are ideal for storing hookbaits in indefinitely.

For 'attractor' type baits during the colder months, the Neutral version is the one I tend to use a lot and to customise to the flavour that I want I simply add 5ml of one of the Profile Plus flavours or 5-10ml of one of the standard range of flavours. The Active Ade's are also well suited for use with these as they contain enhancers and attractors of their own and I would suggest that these be added at the rate of 10ml per Hookbait Enhancement System. The Peach Ade in the Sweet/Fruit is brilliant in the winter with Essential Opal ready-mades!

As well as being used for hook baits, these can be used to add more attraction to ready-mades, freebies or pellets prior to use. A lot of anglers have done well, especially on the Dream Lake in France, by tipping a bottle into a bucket of baits and shaking well to ensure that every bait is covered. The baits are then left in the bucket and when fed into the swim, they will start to 'work' quicker and release the attractor's into the baited area quicker.

ATTRACTION TO THE HOOKBAIT AREA

Try cutting any bait's that are going to be used on a stringer, pva bag or spodded out in half or even quarters as this will again help to get the smells into the water quicker.

Because we want to attract the fish to the hookbait area without too much for them to feast on, pva bags really can play an important part in winter fishing. They can be made any size and will carry all kinds of crushed, crumbled or powdered baits etc. Also the paste as mentioned in section 2 can be used to fill a swim feeder which is fished in line up against a two-ounce lead and again this creates a high attraction area without any feed.

A great winter stocking filler can be made by chopping the chosen baits into small pieces, or liquidising, and mixing with a few Crumball, Response and/or Hemp pellets. The whole lot is mixed together and placed in a pva bag that is attached however you prefer I simply nick the bag onto the baited hook before casting. Also you can add some Activator or Bio-Serum etc. to the mix to enhance the attraction even more and don't worry, these liquids do not react with pva very quickly.

The bag filler mix that I have been using a lot for a few seasons now, summer and winter, is made using a food blender. I use this to make a very coarse, lumpy powder from my chosen thawed baits, in this case the Activ-8. To each kilo of bait I add 2 or 3 handfuls of Sweet Response pellet and/or Hemp pellet, 30ml of Activator and a small handful of Trout Fry crumb. Once I have made about 4-5 kilo's, I add a small tin of sweetcorn and the liquid and mix well. This is then stored in 1-kilo bags in the freezer and only needs about 30 minutes to thaw completely. The corn is mainly added for winter use in the hope that any activity including the dreaded Bream will arouse the Carp's interest.

(For the juniors and youngsters amongst us, please don't use a sharp knife for cutting these baits up, instead just crumble them in your hands over a bait box or similar and this will give you a lovely mix with pieces the correct size).

Using Fox Network narrow pva bags in halve, I can feed them some 60-70 yards with a groundbait pult. To do this simply make up the bags 2-3 hours before you are going to use them and leave them out in your bivvy or in the back of the car. After a couple of hours the bags shrink due to the reaction with the moisture in the air and they tighten to form a tight ball that will fly from a good pult with less resistance in the air without flapping about. The Drennan 'Whopper Dropper' or the new Fox 'Method' pult are the best that I have used for this.

A few years ago the Layer lads caught a load of fish from Layer pits using a dissolving type boilie. This was made with water and was not boiled, but instead just left to go hard. The result was a boilie that would fizz in the water and release the attractor's into the water faster and would dissolve completely in about an hour or so.

One step on from this comes the Crumball. This is a ball of neat base mix formed under immense pressure to create a ball of attractor's that will dissolve in water to raise the attention of any fish in the area. During the warmer months I use the Crumball on stringers, placing them every other bait between boilies. This way the Crumball will dissolve to leave a neat pile with some baits that are spread a little instead of huddled together.

During the colder months I use a lot more of these as it really is the ideal way to use attractor's without using feed. They can be loose feed by a stick or pult and they can also be used on stringers if you drill from both sides with a nut drill. The attraction of these can be further enhanced by soaking in a little Bio-Serum, Corn Steep Liquor or Activator as the Crumball will not react fully in these liquids. Just add about 20ml of your chosen liquid into a plastic bag containing several Crumball, shake well and leave for about 5-10 minutes. When these are fed into the swim you get the instant attraction of the liquids and the smells of the Crumball-great for stringers as again these liquids do not react with pva string or tape immediately. I've landed a few bonus fish by making up the stringer and then dipping the whole lot, bait, rig, stringer and lead in Bio or Corn before casting out - just be careful what's behind you as you cast though, as it goes every where.

The Crumball can be "over coated" with any liquid such as flavour, Multi-Stim or for the summer fish feed oil etc. Again, just simply place the Crumball in a plastic bag and add the chosen attractor's. Blow up the bag, seal and shake for about 1 minute. The limitations are endless-just use your imagination.
Another good thing about the Crumball is that if coots or ducks dive on them there will still be a trace of smell and base mix in the water with nothing for these little sods to nick.

Made with the same theme in mind the Response Pellet is another bait aimed at attraction and stimulating feeding. They will disperse the attractor's in all water temperatures, obviously slower in the winter but seeing as the hook bait is going to be in the same place for longer, that's not a bad thing.
There are now several flavours available- Savoury/Fish, Sweet/Fruit, Grange CSL, Activ-8 and the more recent Assasin-8PT10. and these will cover all baits being used. Just try putting a couple of these on your tongue and you will understand why the fish find them so irresistible. They are another great stocking filler especially when mixed with some crumbled baits and like the Crumball they can be "over coated" with your own flavour if required.
As with the Crumball, the Response pellet is a great tool in the fight against the dreaded diving Hoover's.

If you are fishing up to say 50 yards, try feeding balls of paste bait instead of boiled baits. These will release the attractor's into the water quicker and any baits that are not eaten will dissolve a lot quicker in the colder water. This paste should be made from normal strength attractor's as double strength may, and I only say may, work against you if too much is used. For another paste type bait that is a cracker for loose feeding, see the bit below about the Response and Hemp pellet.

Another winner from some of the Mainline fieldtesters that works all year around and can really make all the difference during the winter. Just like you can add water to the Response Pellet to make a cracking method mix as used by anglers like Mike Winstone and Max Cottis, you can also use the new Hemp pellet in a similar fashion. Just add some warm water to a small bucket of the Hemp pellet and as it absorbs the water, mix into a paste. This will hold together tight enough to be able to be fed by pult but will break up almost once it hits the water. Because the pellets contain nothing other than hemp seeds and particles of pure hemp, the mix will soon release a lovely oily cloud in any water temperature and again the possibilities are endless. A bag of pellet and a good imagination can really make the difference, just try it and you too could be as surprised as I was.

GROUNDBAIT and GROUNDBAIT ADDITIVES

11. As the winter arrives I make up several bottles of what I call my winter attractor mix and this is basically a mixture of the liquids that I'm using in my baits. This can then be used in groundbaits as well as an emergency liquid to overcoat pellets or pastes etc. Below is one example that I have used with some success:

For birdfood, protein and 50/50 type base mixes and baits (including ready-mades);

50ml Multi-Stim.

3ml Mainline Profile Plus flavour. (or 5ml of a flavour from the standard range).

2ml Sweet-Ade.

(the flavour and Sweet-Ade can be substituted for 5ml of one of the Active-Ade range if preferred).

For the Grange, Activ-8, Extract/Bio and Assasin-8, it is a lot easier as all you need is your chosen liquid additive. This can be 'watered down' slightly by mixing with Multi-Stim and this will help to create a lovely clouding effect that will help to release the attractors into the colder water.
I could write a whole article on the use of groundbait, different mixes, additives and so on but basically for the people who may want to try this method of attraction, below is a quick and simple insight into it.

A good base for an actual groundbait mix is 50/50 course brown breadcrumbs and the actual base mix that you're using for your baits. It must be course crumb as this allows the water to penetrate the balls when in the water and if it is too fine, it will mix up too stodgy. Mix the two together at home and store in an airtight container for future use. For longer range use, say 40 yards plus where a good pult is going to be used, I would suggest a mix of: 40% brown crumb, 40% base mix and 20% fine white crumb. The white crumb is heavier and will help to bind the balls of bait for use with the pult.

For a typical winters day you would only need to introduce about 6 balls the size of tangerines loaded with the liquid mix of your choice and this can be repeated if runs occur. So I would normally take about 3 or 4 pounds (approx. 1.5-2 kilos) of the groundbait mix for a short winter session and this is mixed on the bank as follows:

Place the dry mix in a bowl/bucket and add the chosen attractors to approximately half a pint of lake water. This is then gradually added to the dry mix, turning the groundbait thoroughly at all times to ensure the liquids are absorbed and all the dry mix becomes damp. We are looking for the mix to be just damp enough to hold together when squeezed by hand and this way the mix will blow up when it enters the water and will create a cloud instead of a pile on the bottom of the lake. As with base mixes when you are making baits, let the groundbait mix stand for a while to absorb all the liquids and keep turning and fluffing from time to time with your hands. Once the liquid mix has been added make to the required consistency by adding lake water a little at a time.

For feeding further out the balls should be made in exactly the same way but when the balls are formed, wet your hands and squeeze several times more with wet hands to glaze them. This way they can be fed with a good groundbait pult without breaking up or loosing any performance of the mix. (again, Drennans 'Whopper-Dropper' and Fox's 'Method' pult are the best pults for this job).

AND FINALLY.

If you are using on of the baits like the Grange CSL, Extract, CP2000, Activ-8 or the Assasin-8 for your winter fishing, when you leave home to go, place your baits in a plastic bag, blow in some air and seal tight. Then when you're in the car leave the bag on the floor or by the windscreen with the heater blowing warm air onto them. I'm not too sure what 'chemical' reaction is started by doing this but believe me, by the time that you get to the venue, the baits are running down the bank! I think that by making the baits sweat like this it is like putting them into water and it is this that starts them reacting and working.

The above 12 tips have helped me as well as lot of other people to land some bonus fish in past winters when nothing else has produced and I hope that they will help you to do the same.

Good fishing and tight lines.

Mainline Baits