Popcorn?

was wondering how easy it would be to hook or even hair rig it or to give paste some buoyancy perhaps, so was wondering if anyone here uses this as bait and if so what conditions or presentation do you think would make it most effective?

I'm also assuming Chub might like a bit of popcorn?


Thanks.

If chub won't eat it nothing would surely.
I haven't put any on a hook but I have watched carp slurp it down. Only one place I saw it happen, a park lake where lots of duck feeding took place. Some very good fish, some pushing 20lbs, would cruise beneath the ducks trying to beat them to the bread. They lived in relative harmony tho as there was plenty to go round and so much gets broken up by a duckbeak to create a virtual shower of particles. Roach and rudd finned around more nervously beneath both ducks and carp. Again some good specimens amongst them. The carp of course were greedier and competed for larger pieces off the top. Ducks however do not like popcorn. Not these at least. They picked up popcorn (and this is the relevant point I guess) but quickly spat it out. Some yoofs had thrown a bag of popcorn on the water and there was a lot out there. Spat out popcorn was taken casually by carp after carp. When the bread ran out the ducks left and the remaining popcorn disappeared underwater at a steady rate. Then the carp sunk away too. Pausing poignantly by the No Fishing sign.

wes79 said:

was wondering how easy it would be to hook or even hair rig it or to give paste some buoyancy perhaps, so was wondering if anyone here uses this as bait and if so what conditions or presentation do you think would make it most effective?

I'm also assuming Chub might like a bit of popcorn?


Thanks.

Click to expand...

You could hair rig it but I'm guessing you would have to somehow critically balance the bait to get the presentation right under water. It would be a good pop up for a bit I would of thought. Problem with popcorn is its boyount so would have to be used in the summer as a surface bait. If you soak it then you might have a chance of keeping it down on the deck but the more I think about it the more its a pain in the ass

Not exactly pop corn, but I do use oven baked maize grains in summer. They are available in packets over here in the same way you can buy a bag of peanuts. But you can easily make your own. There are recipes on the web.

They are quite fragile so the drilling process is tricky. Once drilled and mounted on a Korum Quickstop they remain buoyant for over an hour. I would imagine that you could use superglue to mount them on the hair. I use them popped up a couple of inches or back to back with normal maize grains to balance the bait.

Another alternative are Sugar Puffs. If you spray them with a mister then allow them to dry they become tougher.

There's a theme park in the area that has several lakes/ponds in its grounds. Once upon a time, they were all fished to a certain extent. During park opening hours the fish got fed a steady diet of rubbish thrown in by visitors. I recall catching well on popcorn, hot dog sausage and bread.

Great surface bait but the size varies too much for use as a popup and a real pain to critically balance each and every piece.
Have had some misfortune catching bream in the past on the bottom with toffee butterkis intended for carp (won't be doing that again) but if you want to give it a go, and you don't mind a bit of bream slime you could try soaking popcorn in a home made caramel syrup for a week or two or use a bait pump?....





Ps. Don't forget the bath sheet!

"Sugar Puffs. If you spray them with a mister then allow them to dry they become tougher."

Eureka! Light-bulb moment - Cheers!

Some excellent replies, thanks alot guys, got one of those popcorn makers for xmas so naturally wanted to see how it coincides with my cheap as chips fishing challenge

Sugar puffs haha what a brilliant idea I like your thinking nicepix.

There are loads of cheap baits available if you think about it. Pet foods, bird seeds and cooking items for example. I've just found another potential bait in the bird seed section of the supermarket and will be giving it a trial later this week.