I'm not a lover of ' square ' lumps of meat, either on the hook or hair rigged, so I use punches of various diameters which I push through the meat to give a ' sausage ' then turn the punch and push through the sides of the ' sausage ' to give an ( almost ) round bait. It still has 'edges ' but to my mind it looks better than a square....plus the fact I like good presentation as I think it makes all the difference, but that's just me.........
mikench......Not always good to by cheap luncheon meat, especially for the hook as it can have hard lumps of gristle in it which can, but not necessarily, mask the hook point. I always buy my meat at the Poundland shops where it can be bought - wait for it - for a £ !! They also do ' Pork & Ham ' and ' Bacon Grill ' all by Plumrose which is a pretty good make.....IMHO
All types can be fished ' plain ' or lightly smeared with Marmite or dipped in a chilli sauce at each cast as an alternative but lots of other flavours to choose from if you care to look around supermarkets. IMHO they can make the difference if things are slow
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Out for a morning after carp ? I open a new tin the night before and chop half into small catapultable bits ( I don't fish too far out ) and the rest into various diameters up to 18mm diameter using the cutters. This, along with a pint or two of hemp to put down small bed over which to cast usually does the trick....on my venues anyway !!
As for stops, well loads available and I tend to use those that pull up inside the meat on the hair although if I have time I rake around in the garden for 1mm diameter bits of twig in the garden or even a short length of grass stem which in short pieces is stiff enough to act as a stop....
On the hook, especially small hooks I also use very thin ' slices ' of meat, again produced by the cutters to give a sausage then just cut it into the said slices. This need careful hooking and will NOT stand any form of hard casting, but close in its very good for silvers under the rod top..
Very versatile bait on its own in a cube but many variations with a bit of thought.......
Good luck !
ps Get yourself down to the ' Poundland ' shops and stock up with a dozen tins - you know it makes sense !!
pps I always carry an extra block of meat in my freezer bag just in case the carp are really on it !!