River Prebait methods and bait?

What are the best baits to feed/prebait a river and what are the best ways of doing this?

Maize, chickpeas and maples fed every evening just as it's getting dark for at least five consecutive nights.

Roughly a kilo per spot per night or fifteen kilos in total for the lot - expensive isn't it?

Just use your trusty catty Rick!

I'd include hemp and partiblend- also known as Pet at Home's budgie mix i believe! Personally I only bait one spot and you can easily draw the fish in by baiting lines across the river , rather than specific areas. This way the fish have to come across the bait.I'd only feed at night if you're going to night fish- obvious really. Also if the stretch gets some pressure then choose a less than obvious area to bait up. The last thing you want is someone rinsing out your swim the day before you get there. It's a misconception that the fish will be hanging around ready to be caught- river fish are nomadic, all you are doing is creating a feeding spot that they will have learnt to find food in.I have just returned from baiting up a spot ready for Tuesday, that's the third baiting I've done with one more tommorrow. I'll fish 9am to 5pm and am fairly sure I'll take at least a couple of fish- even though I've never fished this particular stretch before. Each baiting has been 10kgs of Vitalin, trout pellets, pig feed pellets, budgie mix, hemp. tigers,maize, halibut pellets and boilies mixed with mollases. They just can't swim past it! On the day I'll fish boilies dipped in Solar Munger over pva bags of maize. Sorted............................

and sweetcorn.

Non salted?

What about the current washing the bait away?

Rick,
When I do this my mixture is hemp, finch mix, sweetcorn and maples.
The simple answer to the point regarding the current washing it away is to use it in swims where this will not happen. These seem to be the swims where this approach works best. I like to be able to watch the fish when using this approach and most of the swims it is possible to do this in are close to the bank. Look for clear gravel patches with weed above and below.
I hope this helps.

Guys its a wonder you dont cause flooding downstream with the amount of bait thats going in!

Chris - it seems you are hoping to get a couple of fish after putting in 30kgs of bait.I'm not sure what venue or species you are after but that does sound an awful lot of expense for a fairly small return?

Ive always been a little & often man on rivers especially where its difficult to assess how many fish you might be attracting in any one swim.If I get a shoal interested then feed can be stepped up then otherwise there must always be a risk of over feeding.

I appreciate bigger amounts might give an impact on rivers such as the Thames,Trent etc where there are large shoals of Bream etc to hoover up any excess.If i was to use similar amounts on the rivers I fish I fear I'd wreck not only my fishing but others as well.Remember unused feed, if not eaten decomposes & takes oxygen in the process.This is less serious on rivers admittedly but it still causes me concern.

I'd also question the need to pre-bait on rivers except in certain circumstances, such as introducing a new bait.On pressured stretches fish finding a big bed of feed can flee in panic.

I find that fish,especilly Chub & Barbel, respond to the gradual introduction of feed over a few hours which builds up a level of preoccupation.Stef Horak is the master at this, often casting a feeder continously for several hours to really get the fish going before even casting a bait.A similar effect can be obtained when floatfishing with a small amonut of bait every trot down.

There is also the question of how fair it is to prebait heavily several swims on busy stretches.There has been a lot of bad blood between anglers where kilos of boilies have been put in which effectively feeds the fish for a long time, especially in winter, meaning lower catch returns for all concerned.

I'm not a Barbel Policeman but perhaps heavy pre-baiting of rivers is a sign of increasing numbers of carp Fishermen coming on to the rivers & applying the methods succesful on stillwaters without adequate thought?( Chris , Im not accusing you of this as your methods may be right for the type of fishing you are doing)A topic for debate perhaps.

I think an apology may be owed - Ive just realised this is on the Carp forum.Ignore me - the amounts used make more sense now!In my defence, if you go to a thread from the little box of five on the left of the home page it doesnt make clear what forum its on.

Nigel, i think you've read my post wrong, I prebait with 10 kilos, not 30kilos!on the rivers i fish I've found this is the amount needed daily to get the fish to visit the spots DAYTIME.I never fish stillwaters for carp, I only river fish- carp in the summer and pike in the winter. By fishing similar areas throughout the season but for different species helps build the bigger picture.As for expense I reckon on my 10kilos being cheapish for guaranteed daytime succes. I get one day a week to fish and I want to catch.The mix is about 6kg Vitalin,cost about ?3, 2kgs pellets cost about ?1.20 and then the small amounts of the rest equals maybe ?1. Total cost say ?5.20, Total baiting cost ?20.80 per week, season ticket ?50, so about ?1.30 per trip. So I spend ?22.10 per trip for GUARANTEED SUCCESS.The 2 rivers I fish are hardly fished at all apart from some hardy sea trout fishermen, and on the tidal stretches not at all, so I'm not impinging on anyones fishing.On the odd occasion I've seen a pleasure fisherman nearby I will not bait up, just out of courtesy.Out of the 10kilos that I'm putting in, this will be hammered by roach,rudd,bream,chub,tench,mullet(!) and eels so i make sure there are larger food items that can escape the attentions of the shoal fish.All I'm saying is it works for me and 3 summers ago I fished the same stretches up to 3 times a week without prebaiting and caught hardly anything at all.

Chris , if you read my last post all is explained!

Apologies if I miscalculated the amount of bait you were using.Clearly carp fishing is a different game altogether from the barbel/chub fishing I do on fairly heavily pressured stretches although I stand by my comments in reference to that.

It sounds as if you are having some great fishing, Chris.The pioneering aspect of river carp fishing has always appealed to me(the last untapped frontier of specialist fishing in the UK perhaps) - its just a case now of weaning myself off the Chub & Barbel.

Nigel,
All fish will get through a lot of bait if they get their heads down - barbel, chub, carp and even roach. This is why I like to fish close in swims where I can see the fish if I am baiting swims up. It is nice to target the species or individual fish you are after.

Dave, youre lucky enough to fish on the Avon & Stour where you can monitor the take up of the pre-baiting.Its a bit more difficult on Yorkshire spate rivers which I was brought up on.Even in low flow you can rarely see the bottom.

This is why i'm a bit circumspect when it comes to large amounts of feed even now Ive got access to clearer rivers.Most of my fish come on the float where a couple of droppers of hemp/caster at the outset & a dropper every half a dozen casts thereafter usually will get them going if there having it at all.If there really up for it, I simply step up the feed rate.

No problems,Nigel. 30 kilos would be a hell of a prebait for barbel.You're right about it being the last untapped frontier- fish with no names that probably haven't been caught before. So far not had a 20, best 18lb 12oz, but fish up to 15lb every trip this season and it's all down to the prebaiting.On the same rivers I've had 3 pike over 25lb in the last 2 years and again it's realitively untapped fishing.The legwork and time involved is hardwork but worth it.

Maize, chickpeas and maples fed every evening just as it's getting dark for at least five consecutive nights.

Roughly a kilo per spot per night or fifteen kilos in total for the lot - expensive isn't it?

Just use your trusty catty Rick!

That's one swim divided into three casting areas - one for each rod.

Three areas makes good sense.

You don't want to spook other fish in the swim when you strike into the first one, do you now?

By using bigger particles, you discourage small fish and they tend not to move too far on the bottom.

Are you allowed 3 rods on rivers? I always thought it was 2, but is that down to individual clubs?I've always wondered about this. :ike i said you're fishing for nomadic fish, maybe in pairs or three's max from my experience.I have yet to see a shoal of carp in a uk river apart from in spawning areas. Last week I watched 3 carp enter my swim and start mopping up some bread I'd put out earlier. As I thought about changing one rod for a floater set up the right hand rod has roared off, and after a good scrap I landed a 6lb common.This was the smallest fish I'd seen. On returning the fish there was no sightings of the remaining 2, until 10 minutes later when the same rod was off again and I landed the biggest of the 3 at 15lb 2oz.This in a narrow stretch maybe 20 foot wide and 3 foot deep.My particles are aimed at attracting small fish to feed which will draw in the bream then the carp , at which point the tigers, maize, boilies amd halibut pellets will hopefully help establish a feeding area for the carp to return to. As for prebaiting for at least 5 nights, I'd say 3 is about right but the more the merrier.

My two rod licenses allow me to fish with four rods Chris.

As for the rest, whatever works for you is good!

Mike, Whats a catty?

That'll be a catapault then mate.