I'm done with sweetcorn - Now meat!

It's okay, I am not going to be doing a huge survey on meat - I promise, but a few interesting facts have come to light...

Last week somebody told me that meat floats if it dries out. This lead to a discussion about its buoyancy and if it would act as a pop-up bait without any additional help, such as cork or foam. I will not go into all that again but if you want to read the original thread you can find it HERE.

I have only ever used Bacon Grill as hook bait hair rigged on a method feeder. I have not used any of the others as bacon grill works for what I use it for. Now I have had a cursory look at the other products I am now wondering about the actual content

There seems to be lots of different names for the same thing and lots of different contents for the same name. Bacon Grill from one brand can be totally different from the other.

There is SPAM, which is chopped pork and ham. Then there is Pork Luncheon Meat and various other cans that are labelled Chopped Pork and Ham and just to ring the changes some are sold as Chopped Ham and Pork!



If that is not confusing enough, Bacon Grill can contain wildly varying amounts of pork E.g. Tulip Branded Bacon Grill has 64% pork when Plumbrose Bacon Grill is only 43% pork.

Looking further into it I discovered that all the meats I bought (Don't worry, I only bought four cans!) Are "Produced in Denmark" For the same company, Tulip. Both Plumbrose and SPAM are brand names used by or owned by Tulip Ltd.

I can only assume the the brands were made to differing recipes and as they were bought up by the big multinationals they kept to them, or at least as close as makes no difference.

My question to you guys, who have been using this stuff for decades, is: What do you prefer and how do you use it?

Ralph.

Interesting that.
I use spam as I often revert to biting out a large chunk of it when hunger pangs get beyond control and I think for human consumption spams not quite as bad for you as the others.
I often use it directly on the hook, if casting it's held in place via a piece of grass stem or a thorn of a hawthorn bush etc which is pushed under the bend of the hook from the opposite side it went in. If there's no hard cast involved I just push the hook into it and twist it . I also hair rig it, the situation dictates what method I use to attach it.

Spam for me. Not too much fat. Doesn't soften too much on a hot day. Fish appreciate its history and cultural resonance. £1.99 for 2x 200g tins from BM supermarket.

Asda polony for me plus Lidl bacon grill! I cannot say which is best( at least the polony stays longer on the hook hair rigged or with the Greys spikes) as I have never caught with meat

On reflection I think some bream obliged once but don't they always

I use all kinds of tinned meats spam/grill/bacon grill /spam hot an spicy

Used bacon grill for as long as I can remember because I always thought it was firmer than the other stuff and stayed on the hook better, I never knew that lots of brands were all made for the same company.

After a successful morning using cockles I hope part three is seafood Ralph.

Plumrose for me. 1. because i find it stays on the hook better. 2. Because my local shop always sells it 10p cheaper than Spam.

Spam (garlic flavoured if it's available, which it too often isn't - sadly) cubed in 4,6, 8 or 10mm sizes via an MAP meat cutter - usually deadly.

The smaller sized cubes will pick up pretty much everything that swims, from tiny roach to double figure carp.

I've used a number of different brands and haven't found one that stands way above others IMHO.

dorsetandchub said:

Spam (garlic flavoured if it's available, which it too often isn't - sadly)

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I think it has been discontinued.

i have only started to use meat and discover carp and tench love it but keep missing bites as the tip pulls round and ping back and lost fish and bait ! Im pushing hook through and tuning point .

would it be better hair rigging it ?

I don't remember the last time I used a tinned meat product as bait. However, I was a huge fan of Garlic Spam when I did. I believe I still have about four trays of the original Monty Python themed Stinky French Garlic Spam tucked away for the day I get my barbelling mojo back.

I'd love to use any brand, but the stuff drives me to the point of insanity. I have tried the grass under the bend of the hook trick, some rig tubing over the hair, a meat screw and other things. Never, ever confident that it is still on the hook. So I have given up and stick to pepperami.

caught much on peperammi ?

Spam for me too.

I went through a really bad time a couple of years ago with keeping it from getting ripped off the hair, sleeving the hair with silicone tubing and all sorts.

I just bury a hook in it nowadays and it's job done, I rarely if ever seem to have any problems with it.

associatedmatt said:

caught much on peperammi ?

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More than I have on Luncheon meat .

swizzle said:

I'd love to use any brand, but the stuff drives me to the point of insanity. I have tried the grass under the bend of the hook trick, some rig tubing over the hair, a meat screw and other things. Never, ever confident that it is still on the hook. So I have given up and stick to pepperami.

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Aldi do their own brand of stick salami called 'Meatster'. It is slightly less peppery than the genuine stuff, and less than half the price of Peperami. Punching it through sideways with a 12mm meat punch makes a nice roundish bait that stays on the hook well. I have only used it once and the F1s I was fishing for went mad for it.

They also do a hot version that I have not tried yet.

Ralph.

thecrow said:

I think it has been discontinued.

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Mr Crow,

I fear you may be right but it does seem to make the very odd comeback intermittently.

I'd love to contact Spam and ask them to market it as an angling bait as I'm absolutely convinced they are sat on a huge market share, unbeknownst to them.

Sadly though, I suspect they wouldn't be interested. That said, I found some pepper flavoured Spam in B & M the other night so snagged as many tins as I could find.

Here's hoping....all the best for the forthcoming river season.

swizzle said:

More than I have on Luncheon meat .

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Is it because meat comes off

This research is incomplete.

Here's the spam shop

All Products
Anything from key rings to camouflage caps, hoodies, the list is endless

There's also the Spam museum

Spam brand is 80 years old. Links to its history from link above

Enjoy

Nearly forgot, spam spread at the shop