Natural baits

Derek Gibson · Apr 22, 2015

This question was prompted following a conversation with a couple of old anglers, (yeah, even older than me) the other evening. The bone of contention was, how large a percentage do natural baits play in todays angling scene. My view is natural baits will always have a place, even though they may take a back seat in the main. Your opinions guys.

Peter Jacobs · Apr 22, 2015

Personally I tend to use nothing but "natural" baits, with the exception of pellet when in a match situation these days, and those are few and far between now.

By "natural" I use:

Bread in all its' forms, maggot, pinkie, caster, worms, Tares, sweetcorn and the pink indispensible, being luncheon meat. For loose feed then it is usually only hemp, or whatever my hook baits are on a given day.

I rarely fish for Carp these days but when I do then it is usually boilie or paste, or a combination of the two, and I have never really been a Barbel angler either.

Just my way of fishing, others will of course have different views . . . . . .

cg74 · Apr 22, 2015

There will always be a place in my fishing for natural baits. Be that in cold water for chub, barbel and carp using maggots, or worms, sweetcorn, maggots and casters for tench (and in moments of madness - snotties).
Also on most of my silverfish forays.

Simply because IMO on the whole natural baits offer visual stimulus and tend not to fill the fish up as quickly.

Lord Paul of Sheffield · Apr 22, 2015

my baits are hemp, corn , maggot ,bread, lunchen meat and pellets

I've tried plastics but yet to catch a fish with one

barbelboi · Apr 22, 2015

Very much as some of the above and they certainly don't take a back seat as far as I'm concerned. Maggots (and other insects/insect larvae), caster, worms, slugs, snails, bread, hemp, corn, elderberries, silk weed, etc. - although I do try not to have moments of madness....

Peter Jacobs · Apr 22, 2015

Lord Paul of Sheffield said:
I've tried plastics but yet to catch a fish with one

I only tried those artificials once, but gave up as they are so ruddy expensive to loose feed with . . . . . . .

Derek Gibson · Apr 22, 2015

barbelboi said:
Very much as some of the above and they certainly don't take a back seat as far as I'm concerned. Maggots (and other insects/insect larvae), caster, worms, slugs, snails, bread, hemp, corn, elderberries, silk weed, etc. - although I do try not to have moments of madness....

Same here Jerry, I must have tried every bait known to man back in the day. Certainly every bait mentioned in Edward Ensom's (Faddist) book ''Baits and Groundbaits''. But never did get round to trying Bob Reynolds lumps of banana, but then did he?

barbelboi · Apr 22, 2015

Derek Gibson said:
Same here Jerry, I must have tried every bait known to man back in the day. Certainly every bait mentioned in Edward Ensom's (Faddist) book ''Baits and Groundbaits''. But never did get round to trying Bob Reynolds lumps of banana, but then did he?

I believe that the banana thing may have been a bit of wind up due to a number of reasons - he did use banana flavoured bread paste on occasions though (if you're thinking about Billing Derek) He was getting somewhat pi$$ed off at the time with the 'circus' that stalked him, especially after he no longer had the monopoly on night fishing after night tickets were introduced to all in the early 60's. One thing is for sure - he certainly had a lot of very large carp in his 'hessian sack on a bike rim' landing net...........

dangermouse · Apr 22, 2015

Mostly natural baits for me too. Maggots, worms, bread and corn are favourites and are usually packed for every trip. I dabble with boilies and pellets every now and again but I just have more faith in the naturals.

binka · Apr 22, 2015

My interpretation of a true natural bait is something that would normally be found in a water eg. swan mussels, bloodworm, snails etc.

I think that on truly "natural" baits there is a whole new world waiting to be discovered, interesting to see that Dynamite Baits have just marketed a product containing snails... Is this the next fad, a return to absolute basics?

Other than that I'm with the consensus so far, worm is my all time number one with maggots always having a place.

As Des Taylor said recently in relation to what we consider as a natural bait...

"How many worms do you see swimming around forty yards out in a gravel pit?"

slaphead · Apr 22, 2015

Naturals for me, also. Although, I use small pellets in ground bait.

laguna · Apr 23, 2015

Natural + Natural additives and real-food baits... is there any other kind?

Aussie Bob · Apr 23, 2015

Live Mudeye's under a bubble float are a very popular method in Australia for Trout and Perch.

Ironic that bloodworm is banned on a lot of waters would be as natural a bait as you could get.

laguna · Apr 23, 2015

Aussie Bob said:
Live Mudeye's under a bubble float are a very popular method in Australia for Trout and Perch.

Ironic that bloodworm is banned on a lot of waters would be as natural a bait as you could get.

Long time no hear Bob, hows it going down under mate?

Agree, cant beat bloodworm, its banned here in a lot of matches too!

tincatim · Apr 23, 2015

I very rarely go fishing without maggots or casters. I do use pellets too but if i could only choose three baits again it would be maggots, hemp and sweetcorn.

rubio · Apr 24, 2015

Aussie Bob said:
Live Mudeye's under a bubble float are a very popular method in Australia for Trout and Perch.

Ironic that bloodworm is banned on a lot of waters would be as natural a bait as you could get.

Our bloodworm (which is probably polish) is a different animal to aussie bloodworms. It's naturalness is equal tho.

Peter Jacobs · Apr 24, 2015

Aussie Bob said:
.

Ironic that bloodworm is banned on a lot of waters would be as natural a bait as you could get.

The problem was more with regard to the fact that much of the bloodworm/joker was being imported from abroad and there was some alarm over possible contamination . . . . . . .

Add to that the fact that it was rather expensive (relatively speaking) so many anglers who couldn't afford it also complained about its' use.

arthur2sheds · Apr 24, 2015

Is there a concise definition as to what constitutes a "Natural Bait"

I've yet to see a loaf of bread swimming in the wild.... nor Chub under Hemp and Sweetcorn trees

I think that a few natural baits would be...
Silkweed
Snails
Any flies (live or dead)
Fish (live or dead)
Rose hips
Elderberries
Blackberries...:wh

laguna · Apr 24, 2015

arthur2sheds said:
Is there a concise definition as to what constitutes a "Natural Bait"

Any dead/alive creature, any real-food baits... as opposed to anything that emulates life or pretends to be nutritious.

David Dalton · Apr 24, 2015

It's a long time since I used any strictly natural baits (ie anything that would live in the lake or river). As a kid I used to use leeches and caddis grubs. I remember leeches being the more successful, I caught my first ever perch on one. Caddis grubs were so soft bodied that if there were any minnows around they would be torn from the hook in seconds.

Natural baits

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