Pedigree Chum Mixers for floater fishing

[keora]

There's a good article on floater fishing by Chris Ball in this weeks Anglers Mail. He writes that he uses mainly Pedigree Chum Mixers or unbranded floating trout pellets.
It's a long time since I've used Chum Mixers, so I looked for them in a supermarket today. There was a mixer called Pedigree Vital. looking at the picture on the packet it's a mixture of different sizes and shapes - some are even coloured. I couldn't see the actual size in the packaging, so I don't know if they are still good for carping.

There were a few other brands including something called Bakers Meaty Meal, and Sainsbury's own brand.

Could anyone advise me please if Pedigree Vital is suitable for carp fishing?

 

[mikench]

I don't know but Bakers meaty meal( in chicken or beef) for small dogs floats and carp like them. I hair rig them and push the hook into the top gently. The freebies are identical and are easily catapulted out. They do soak up water and enlarge by 50% and slowly sink. I give them 10 minutes but catapult out a few freebies, rebait and cast out .

 

[S-Kippy]

Any mixer that floats ( not all of them do if pre soaked) should work assuming you want to catch fish off the surface. I used to use mixers a lot until I got bored of catching carp and that's when I discovered some sank....so I used them dry but banded. I used Tesco's own purely on cost.

When the fish are "up" but not right on top a slowly sinking bait fished on a "bubble" or one of those mosquito angling things can be utterly lethal. You have to get the balance just right though which can be tricky. Been a long time since I've done this but it can be good fun on the right day....assuming the rules allow this and the ducks leave you alone.

 

[mikench]

You certainly need to watch out for ducks, coots and moorhens. Often they make it impossible to float bread or dog biscuits. Swans are also a pita.

 

[103841]

Haven’t done any floater fishing for a while but when I did I would take a loaf of bread that had been mashed up in water, place it in another part of the lake which kept the bird life busy for a short while at least.

 

[mikench]

That does work ....- for a while. Catapults can be useful.

 

[S-Kippy]

Theres always " Duck Sentinel".....what a product that is !

 

[keora]

Thank you for the advice. This year there's less wildfowl on the lake, so you don't have to continually reel in the floater to avoid them. Floating crust is not as effective as there's so many small fish they break up a piece of crust in a few minutes. I might try the Bakers mixer depending on what other people recommend

 

[Keith M]

The original Chum Mixers used to have more Gelatin in them and could be soaked until they resembled soft jelly type bouyant/floating baits which a lot of different types of fish liked; but for some reason they changed their recipe slightly and the mixers could no longer be used in this fashion.

They can still be dampened and left to get softer after a few hours but not like the softer jelly ones that we used before.

Another floating bait we used was a ‘Boilee Cake’ made by mixing a boilee mixture with extra Sodium Cassenate and a couple of pinches of baking powder and adding an extra 2 or 3 eggs until it was a sloppy mix, and put it into a baking tray and bake it until it resembled a cake, which could tolerate harder casts and resist the attentions of fish trying to break it up on the surface.
We caught a lot of Carp on this and it could be flavoured and coloured too.

Keith

 

[108831]

My favourite was the old Sainsbury's mixers,they were more pellet shaped,I liked them because you could hook odd ones on,you could see which ones by the texture,I use expander pellets now,on the band...

 

[keora]

Thanks for the comments. Looking on the net, it seems that Pedigree Chum Mixers are still available, although not in my local Sainsburys. It's not worth trying all the supermarkets, I'll probably get Sainsburys mixers.

 

[mikench]

Buy a sourdough loaf from Sainsbury's ( in the bakery bit called California Sourdough)and cut of all the crusts; they are perfect for floater fishing being hard and they stay afloat for ages.

 

[keora]

Yes, I already buy Sainsbury's California Sourdough bread, but for me, not for the carp. I cut it in thick slices, toast them until they are brown, then spread pate' on them. I end up with with two small rounded crusts, one at each end of loaf, which aren't that useful for spreading. I've got a couple in the freezer, I'll take them with me tomorrow when I go fishing. It's a good idea of yours.

 

[seth49]

I saw in one of the angling papers last week, about a chap using pieces of crumpet as a floating bait, might try this on Thursday, should be nice and buoyant with all the voids in it, can see it working, should take flavours as well.

 

[markcw]

I saw in one of the angling papers last week, about a chap using pieces of crumpet as a floating bait, might try this on Thursday, should be nice and buoyant with all the voids in it, can see it working, should take flavours as well.

It does work, I have used meat punches to get pellets of crumpets.

 

[keora]

As suggested, I tried crusts from Sourdough Bread when fishing on the surface for carp. It does stay on the hook a long time, and I got two carp.

I also tried Sainsbury's equivalent of Chum mixers, called Sainsbury's Complete Nutrition Adult Dry - sounds like some kind of health food but they are mixers. They're good because they quickly attracted carp and wild fowl. The fault with them is that although they float fairly well, if you put them on the hook (pellet band or hair rig) they only last a couple of minutes before they sink.

 

[rich66]

I use the ones from the pound shop, they swell a little after 10 minutes or so but take an age to sink just get a bit fluffy. Pellet band a hook on and chuck it out. Flick a few more out with a catapult.

I made a controller type float so I could cast further out of a wine cork with a swivel at either end and a bit of lead solder rammed through it. The carp love having a suck on that too ?