How many baits do you take with you?

[notneeded]

Some great responses in here. I’m guilty of taking every bait with me ‘just in case’.

One thing that I can never figure out; 6mm and 8mm pellets I get for warmer and bigger carp, but what determines whether to use micros or 4mms? This is fishing commercials for carp and any silvers, not F1s

Depth of water ,tow on the water ? Time of year - winter or summer?
Are the things I look at in answer to your question.
Rightly or wrongly I feed 4 mms more than I use micros in summer ,then I can change to 6 or 8 mm depending on how or what the fish want ,that's for pole fishing .

 

[Zerkalo]

I'm not really a commercial angler, so not the best to answer, some people put a lot more thought into their Carp angling than me. If I do go in summer I simply use the 4mm pellets I buy in bulk for my Bream and Barbel fishing. Some people put even more thought into their Barbel fishing than me too and will use a mix of pellet sizes, glugged and everything, looks really nice when they do but I get away with 4mm.

 

[smiffy]

I'm not really a commercial angler, so not the best to answer, some people put a lot more thought into their Carp angling than me. If I do go in summer I simply use the 4mm pellets I buy in bulk for my Bream and Barbel fishing. Some people put even more thought into their Barbel fishing than me too and will use a mix of pellet sizes, glugged and everything, looks really nice when they do but I get away with 4mm.

On nearly all the pits I fish I use 4mm as feed. The fish have seen so much of it because of the Carp anglers it’s a very cheap way to introduce a lot of particles to hold Bream. A lot cheaper than casters and worm will be thats for sure. I’ve also found you can fish any hookbait you like over it. So typically, I’d feed pellet and corn in the feeder mix, with just enough groundbait to hold together, and fish worm and dead red on the hook. Alternating if I don’t think the fish are coming quick enough. I still find that worm will outfish pellet most days. If I want Tench then I find pellet the better hookbait.
It‘s rare I get down to the Severn and Wye now but at least 15 years ago we were being told to vary pellet size in the mix and fish smaller pellets on the hook, 6mm being the most common. The fish were wary of the bigger pellet until it got dark.

 

[Zerkalo]

For Bream 4mm pellets in the feeder and worm on the hook seems to work very well for me. When I fished at Chard reservoir last year I found myself using 2 Dendros on the hook, partly to avoid the big Roach that were taking it on the drop sometimes, and I caught all day with proper bites. Think I'd just hit a shoal for a few days running. 90 Bream in 3 days I think. When I fish another place, I think if you add chopped worm to the feeder it can attract a lot of little Perch, so it's just pellets and worm on the hook most days for me, with sweetcorn also added to my groundbait.

 

[Deejay8]

I usually have a pint of maggots, and if I know they work, or it's a new venue, then I take casters too. For carp and tench I take corn. I will sometimes use worms if I'm after tench or bream. And bread either punched or flake. I usually take some groundbait, which has tended to be Sensas Lake and Magic. I haven't used pellets before, so that's something I will have to learn.

 

[Whisker]

I used to take every bait (just in case) but only ended up confusing myself. Now I’ll only ever take a maximum of 4. What baits I take vary depending on the time of year and venue so sometimes I might only take 2 or 3.

 

[Stewie74]

Im also guilty of having a 'busy' bait table. Typically maggots, corn, expanders, micros, 4/6/8mm pellets, sometimes meat depending on venue. In my defence I'm fishing most venues for the first time, so I'd rather be overprepared than not, but I do find myself with too many choices.

I'm looking forward to summer when the venues I fish will be mostly pellet based, but I think corn and meat will still be regulars on the sidetray.

 

[Zerkalo]

I usually have a pint of maggots, and if I know they work, or it's a new venue, then I take casters too. For carp and tench I take corn. I will sometimes use worms if I'm after tench or bream. And bread either punched or flake. I usually take some groundbait, which has tended to be Sensas Lake and Magic. I haven't used pellets before, so that's something I will have to learn.

I'd be new to using expanders, hard pellets, or pellets for a method feeder too. But I think you can do a lot of fishing without them. I can't be bothered with bait bands so that's why I use corn on the hook.

 

[Simon R]

Maggots everywhere, worm everywhere, bread everywhere and there's always a couple of tins of corn in the bag so I guess that goes everywhere too.

Pellets on commercials (micro, 4mm, 6mm and expanders) plus I have a small pot with a variety of types and sizes - up to 16mm - purely for use as a change bait on the hook.
Also on commercials there'll be a pot of mixed wafters and another of pop-ups - change baits when fishing the method.
Cat-food on commercials, luncheon meat (usually bacon grill) on commercials and rivers

Casters and/or hemp mainly on rivers and natural venues
Cheese / cheesepaste on rivers - does work on commercials from time to time too - Cheddar for carp, Red Leicester for roach and Blue Stilton for bream

Most of the venues I fish I have a reasonable idea of what bait I'm likely to need so adjust the above list to suit.

Simon

 

[smiffy]

Im also guilty of having a 'busy' bait table. Typically maggots, corn, expanders, micros, 4/6/8mm pellets, sometimes meat depending on venue. In my defence I'm fishing most venues for the first time, so I'd rather be overprepared than not, but I do find myself with too many choices.

I'm looking forward to summer when the venues I fish will be mostly pellet based, but I think corn and meat will still be regulars on the sidetray.

I don’t think there’s a problem with having a busy table so long as you know what will be your feed and what will be your change baits. For me that would mean maybe having a scattering of different colour maggot and pinkies purely for the hook, not for feeding. For example, flouro pinkie will often catch a few fish on a punch line after its died on the punch. You can catch on hemp on a squatt line without ever having fed a grain, although it’s often best to feed a few grains.
After all that, the angler that finishes a match on the same method that he started on is normally in with a shout

 

[Carp attack]

Keep it simple for me, from now until winter it will be
8mm hard pellets the main bait & feed,
Have few bags of 6mm and 10mm just in case on standby in the bait bag if there been picky,,,