Your top three worst baits

[nicepix]

Now, we've all got our favourite baits. But what has consistently failed to hit the mark for you? Boiled potatoes, slugs and elderberries are all recommended by some authorities; mainly in old fishing books, but I've never had a touch with any of them. Same with that synthetic bait that came in a tube in the 1970's - Mystic. And that cost a lot more than a few spuds and scrumped berries.

So my three are:
Mystic
Slugs
Boiled spuds

 

[chav professor]

Slugs
...........

Can't think of another two

 

[barbelboi]

I believe that boiled spuds are a bit of a myth (irrespective as to whether or not they were stuck on a treble:wh) - worked OK at Cheshunt reservoir as they were the 'in' bait for some years in times gone by. Elsewhere any decent carp caught in the fist half (ish - to early/late 60's) of the 20th century were usually caught on good old bread in various guises with the lobworm also showing from time to time.

Elderberries can be deadly if trotting down stream of an over hanging elderberry bush - not only does it do the pre-baiting/feeding for you but the roach tend to be so pre-occupied that it's unlikely you'll catch on another bait at the time.

Slugs, always found them good for chub, especially early season.

Worst baits? - anything expensive, many cheap/free baits usually catch OK..................

 

[S-Kippy]

I'll certainly go with Christian's slug. Tried one once and it remains one of the most unpleasant experiences of my life.

Sprats : I think I've had one or maybe two fish on a sprat in 40+ years
Paste : Cheesepaste excepted .Any other sort of paste I've never done any good on.
Spinners : Ditto Sprats. Dont know what I'm doing I guess but nothing ever pulls back.

Elderberries I've found better than either hemp or tares as a hookbait and as Jezza says,,,they're free !

 

[Lord Paul of Sheffield]

Some chilli flavoured boilies I bought , tried and tried but never caught with them

Some very cheap luncheon meat , so full of water that it went to mush when I started cutting it up

My experiment of meat covered in Marmite , by the time I'd hooked one piece of meat on to the hook my hands where covered in marmite

 

[geoffmaynard]

Slugs. Slugs. Boilies! Especially slug flavoured ones.

 

[maggot_dangler]

Bread , Sweetcorn , truncheon meat ... never had a single bite on any of them .

 

[sam vimes]

These are likely to have people bemused or irritated. Just try to remember that it's within the limits of my usual and regular current haunts.

Bread - Other than floating crusts. Absolutely useless on the local river and my frequent stillwaters. I have a bit more faith after giving "dobbing" a go on a commercial stillwater a year or two ago, but it's rarely included in my bait selection.

Lobworms - I can well understand how effective they can be, but I find lobs a complete pain. They just seem to get picked to death by bits while waiting for a decent fish to come along. By the time that might actually happen, all I'm left with is an overly large and very obvious hook with some chewed scraps of tattered worm left.

Sweetcorn - Plenty of success with it elsewhere, but try as I might on the local river, I can never buy a bite on the stuff. On one of my regular stillwaters, it's great for crayfish. On the other, tipping a boilie and mixed into a particle spod mix. Trying it for the smaller species, on float or leger, has been a complete waste of time.

I've encountered a few different types of boilie that I consider to be fish repellents on various different waters. However, even the worst of them will usually work somewhere.

 

[nicepix]

That Sam has got to be the most unusual selection I can imagine. True I get better results on lob worm tails than whole ones, but I did OK on un-fished canals with smaller whole lobs. And sweetcorn and bread, along with red worms are me top baits for little fished or virgin waters.

Jut shows how complex our sport can be.

 

[binka]

Another one for slugs here.

Come to think of it I've never really done much good on prawns either and any type of soft hooker pellet that goes straight on the hook... Never been able to get on with 'em for some reason

 

[cg74]

Nash boilies!!!
I often see folk complaining that they can not avoid catching carp, well stick a Monster Squid and Scopex boilie on and say goodbye carp, hello bream!

Mussels.
Never had much success on them, for both sea and freshwater fish.

Dendrobena worms.
I know others have great results with these but my catches have always left me totally underwhelmed.

 

[sam vimes]

That Sam has got to be the most unusual selection I can imagine. True I get better results on lob worm tails than whole ones, but I did OK on un-fished canals with smaller whole lobs. And sweetcorn and bread, along with red worms are me top baits for little fished or virgin waters.

Jut shows how complex our sport can be.

As I tried to suggest, it's purely with the waters I'm fishing in mind. We are talking trout zone dales rivers and underfished and low stock stillwaters. I'm reliably informed that grayling love sweetcorn. I just wish that someone would tell the local population of them. Give me maggots and brandlings any day.

I suspect that bread is partly down to my inexperience in using it, but mainly down to the relative lack of the larger cyprinid species. The few chub present will have it at times, if you can find them.

I'd take lobs over both bread or corn, but the frustration of mangled worms from the constant nibbling, of fish too small to actually take them, is ridiculously frustrating.

 

[Tee-Cee]

By no means a tight wad but I like to go for anything cheap, generally speaking..

Bread in all it's forms has given me the best fish by a country mile. From floating to a pinch of flake it's just a lovely bait to use. NOT a easy bait to use CORRECTLY, nor a bait where any sort of loaf will do, but get the various factors right and it's top notch. Great for chub when floated and very exciting fishing !

Elderberries, well I love them BUT they are possibly the most difficult bait to entice fish. Like Tares, they do take a while, and I'm talking weeks here, to become even remotely successful and many give up far too soon. On new waters I fish them on a separate rod (the only time I use two rods) and just keep trying. Being very seasonal and short at that, most will see them as a waste of time.....
Slugs; My wife would love me to take the hoards that invade the garden, but never done anything
Boilies; I use them from time to time, but I just think I'm fishing a bait made up by others and they take little skill IMHO, just choose a flavour - how boring ! Saying that, pineapple flavour has done pretty good occasionally...

ps He above who uses Marmite; Only my opinion but it's vegetable based, if you can call it that, and not great IMHO (who has used it countless times comparing the two) so I prefer Bovril which is beef extract, again, if you can call it that, which has given me many bonus fish when meat starts to lose it's appeal in a session. It is a pain and messy to apply so I'm using a small brush at the mo to 'paint' it on after a fashion BUT well worth while on my waters at least and definitely at this time of year !! Also good smeared on floating baits as well...

Best of all - it's as cheap as chips !!!

ps Sorry for the long post - three lines would have done but I don't do them !!!

 

[chav professor]

Nash boilies!!!
I often see folk complaining that they can not avoid catching carp, well stick a Monster Squid and Scopex boilie on and say goodbye carp, hello bream!

Mussels.
Never had much success on them, for both sea and freshwater fish.

Dendrobena worms.
I know others have great results with these but my catches have always left me totally underwhelmed.

I'll add dendobenas to my list.... the far inferior smaller cousin to the lob worm.

 

[peterjg]

Boilies - there are so many better alternatives for carp

Maggots - catch too many small fish

Paste - comes off too easily

 

[mick b]

Boilies

Pellets

Maggots

Plus;
Anything that is concocted from chemicals/compounds that have not been tested and passed as safe for use in freshwater.

Anything that costs above £1 a day to use, ...........its why bread isn't sold in tackle shops.


.

 

[hunters moon]

dendrobenas, for me the lobworm reigns supreme, boiled potatos and elderberries.

 

[symonh2000]

I have caught fish on most widely used baits, however one that I failed to catch on was dynamite halibut pellet boilies. Maybe it was the drab colour, the taste or both but who knows...

Can't really think of any other bad ones that I have used.

 

[greenie62]

I won't use baits I don't have confidence in generally, but the following cause me to worry that there is nothing on the hook:
- Paste (any),
- pinch of bread,
- soft hooker pellets.

 

[markhib]

For exactly the same reason as Greenie:
Bread
Paste
Bread again