Sweetcorn

[Simon R]

Hi all

I think there's one or two members of this forum fairly knowledgeable when it comes to fish and fisheries, so hopefully you'll be able to answer this (it generated quite a debate when it came up at our last club meeting)

About 10 or 12 years the Brickyard Pond at Amotherby in North Yorks came under new ownership and one of the first things the new owner did (after advice from the then NRA) was to ban sweetcorn. I asked him why and apparently he'd been told by them that it was harmful to bream (and to a lesser extent to carp)

According to the fisheries guys at the NRA, bream get no 'goodness' from sweetcorn, they can't digest it and it just passes straight through their system. So the fish eat the corn, think they're full but in actual fact if they eat nothing else they'll actually lose weight.

At the same time there was a groundbait ban imposed on Castle Howard lake and the 'method' became to use peat as a binder, form it into balls packed full of sweetcorn and catapult it in. The bream used to average around the 4lb mark, but after a year or so of the groundbait ban they became horrible skinny, almost emaciated things only weighing a couple of pounds.

I met one of the EA fisheries officers about five years ago when they were doing some work on one of our club waters and he also confirmed that sweetcorn can damage bream.

So basically I want to know - is this true?
Is sweetcorn 'bad' for bream (and possibly carp) if they eat little else?

I await any replies with interest!

Simon

 

[MALC]

I know of quite a few fisheries that ban Corn for almost the same reasons that you quote Simon.

Personaly i think alot of it comes down to the fact that Corn is such a cheap bait and some people tend to go over the top when using it which is when it causes problems as you say it just goes straight through the fishes system. (same as with humans)[]

Pretty much the same thing can and does happen with most baits if the are used in to large a quantity.

You only have to look at the present trend to ban Catmeat as some people were (and still do) on certain venues use way to much (10 tins and more) times this by 20 anglers on a water and you can see the problem starting.


Malc
Fish with Friends @ MaggotDrowning.com

 

[AndyA]

Ref the skinny Bream "a little dicky bird" tells me that the good fish have {or are being) lifted out of the big lake and put into the 2 syndicate lakes [?] .... maybe right ... maybe wrong []

Aaaah .... soon be fishing !

 

[norm]

malc
i told you not to eat 3 tins of sweetcorn a day mate (lol)

so thats your excuse for the being skinny )lol)

 

[norm]

simon amotherby (sweetcorn has been band on there since i can remember which is at least 17 year ago when i was going there on junior matches)

 

[dazb]

norm

you old b?@#@ lol

 

[Steve]

I'm not too sure about the facts regarding sweetcorn but there is one thing I am sure of. Using vast quantities of any bait is going to cause problems. I can't believe using a single tin of sweetcorn in a fishing session will be a problem.

Lets face it, most of us take enough bait on a single session to last us a fortnight. I never go to a session with less than half a dozen different baits. We all need to be sensible about what we loose feed and how we dispose of our bait at the end and obviously not throw whats left in the water. (many do)

I read an article in the AT a few weeks ago where a very experianced angler that regularly lands special catches said he always prebaits a swim with up to ten pints of maggots. If we all did that I would give any water less than 10 acres about 3 years before all the fish were dead.

If we look after our fishing it will last for ever, if not we will have ourselves to blame.



Fishermen have more fun than people do!

Steve

 

[teepee]

Steve, well said, totally agree.

teepee.

 

[carpinclan]

That's a stupid rule! Sweetcorn may pass through fish just like it does in humans, but at the end of the day the bait that we anglers throw in, is but an extra food source. Therefore, even if the bream did eat the sweetcorn looking for a meal, it won't starve them because they will still have natural food to go at.

Holy Cr*p it's a SHARK!!

 

[Steve]

I must say Carpin that I tend to agree with you if used sensibly.
I suppose there is a chance that if used in large quantities it could fill up the fish on something with little growing fuel.

I suppose it's a bit like me and celery. I burn off more calories eating the bloomin stuff than is provided by it.[xx(]

That's why I avoid it.[]

Fishermen have more fun than people do!

Steve