How do I beat the bits?

swizzle said:

Where does one acquire wasp grubs? Other than the obvious place. ?.

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robtherake said:

Unless someone you know is a pest controller, the obvious place is exactly where you find 'em.

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barbelboi said:

I'm a firm believer of 'if you are catching small roach' you'll be unlikely to also catch the big ones. Either feed the small ones off so they move, try the extreams of the swim - they could be lurking in the background, or move yourself to find the better fish

totally agree Jerry, spot on, this is exactly what I've learnt and experienced over the years regarding roach :thumbs:

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robtherake said:

Unless someone you know is a pest controller, the obvious place is exactly where you find 'em.

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barbelboi said:

If the nest has been treated by a pest controller then the larvae must be thoroughly cleaned in water - the pesticides generally used for wasp control are lethal to fish and will also contaminate the water........

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peterjg said:

Forget maggots and unfortunately bread. I use bread more than any other bait but it just gets mullered by bits especially in the warmer months. Try sweetcorn or pellets or hemp. Wheat really is a great bait but is (for some inexplicable reason) rarely used these days? Good luck.

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Tee-Cee said:

If you have small fish in such numbers then I would forget maggots, casters and the ground bait. All will produce very good fish, but not if they cannot get to the bait before the small stuff!
For roach on still waters, although not necessarily this time of year, I would go for seed baits such as hemp and tares and bigger baits such as corn and meat using only minimal amounts of loose feed. Same goes for tench and bream....

You don't say how big the water is or how deep and how much it is fished by folk constantly using maggots and caster, but if it were me I would move as far away from popular swims as possible and look for some deeper water. I suggest it is a case of you searching out the bigger fish and fishing swims rarely used by others. In my experience big fish of any species will generally be away from the popular spots, although very early morning and into the night in these swims can produce good fish- if it's quiet....

As barbelboi rightly says, you can try 'feeding off' the small fish in the hope that the bigger ones are lurking close by and this can work well, but all depends on how stuffed with small fish your water is!!

Anyone who goes after big fish as a hobby will tell you it is very hard work and you need to make some sort of plan to catch them; You may well suffer many blanks before you find them, but with selective baits and a clear idea of how you are going to approach a given swim you can do very well...
On its day, bread flake or crust fished over depth with small pieces flicked in from time to time (and a lot of patience!) can be a killer, as can chickpeas both plain and curried flavour. They take time to become effective but if the float slides away it is always likely to be a very good roach! (or tench/bream)......and small fish don't usually bother with them - most of the time. Good as loose feed as well..........

To begin, I would walk the water with a rod and plummet looking for deeper water or where shallow runs down to deeper water and make a map of the water. I would also walk around when others are fishing and ask about catches or rumours of catches and then work out a plan to fish just one or two swims for a dozen trips, regardless of catch....

IMHO, big fish need to be sought out and oh, fish early, or better still late afternoon going into dark for those special roach!!

Good luck!!

ps As an example, it took me two years to catch very big tench/bream from one water with lots of planning and effort plus many blanks- I did it though shear hard work and persistence.............Depends how much you want to catch the them.....................!!

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robtherake said:

A very good point - most things used to kill wasps are bad news for fish. At the garden, I've dealt with them using a toxic spray made from boiled-up fag ends. Nicotine, although biodegradable, is a seriously nasty toxin and can be absorbed by skin contact. Users should regard it as lethal as any other poison and take appropriate safety precautions, especially with wind direction if you're spraying out of doors.

I use it as a last resort insecticide at times of bad infestations. It's the only poison I permit at the allotment, since it biodegrades very quickly: studies give figures of one day in the soil and up to 3 days in water, so a dead nest should be safe in just a few days, which can't be said for synthetic poisons. Even if you wash off the persistent synthetic insecticide it's all going down the drain to cause problems somewhere else down the line, surely?

After saying all that, I'm pretty sure that nicotine is still illegal for use in this way, but it's possibly the safest option, although it's probably only illegal because it's available for free. Everybody has a mate who smokes, so getting cig butts is no problem, just don't soak them in the house or your missus will get the frying pan out.:wh

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Tee-Cee said:

oh, fish early, or better still late afternoon going into dark for those special roach!!

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rayner said:

It never bothers me if the size of fish is small. As long as I'm getting plenty of action I'm happy. I've spent far too long not catching especially in cold weather to worry about catching bigger fish.
The sole reason for me to fish is to catch, not catching is bad. I've done that and don't like it.

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