The FM Problem Page

Matthew White wins a bulk spool of Shimano Catana mono for:

I mostly fish stillwaters in the North East where I live, for just about any coarse fish that swims.

I have not used groundbait much in the past, I always just relied on loose feeding. To be honest I am daunted by the sheer amount of types and brands of groundbait which I see on the shelves of my local tackle shop.

Try and find a cheap source for bulk bags of crumb

So my question is this:

Is there a basic groundbait mix I can use to start with, one which will be suitable for all or most of the species a pond or lake holds? Or is there a basic mix to which I can add different flavours when targeting certain species?

My thinking is that I can use this basic mix until I have developed my groundbait skills, then start to experiment with adding different flavours/ingredients until I have developed my own recipe to suit my style of fishing.

Any other tips or advice about preparing and using groundbait would be greatly appreciated.

FM REGULAR COLUMNIST STEWART BLOOR ANSWERS:

Groundbait has a two-fold purpose. Firstly, it attracts fish (without overfeeding them). Secondly, it acts as a carrier if you want to bait up beyond the range limit of your catapult or other method of putting loose feed into your swim. It seems as if you’ll be using groundbait for the former reason rather than the latter. But even then, bait put out in the form of groundbait balls can be accurately placed. And it’s amazing how precise one can be with a bit of practice.

A cost-effective way of making your own groundbait is to use crumb as a base mix. This can either be white or brown crumb, or you can mix combinations of the two, the choice is yours.

The first step is to locate an animal feeds supplier. You will find that the costs will be considerably cheaper by buying in bulk from a non-angling outlet than if you buy small bags of crumb from your local tackle shop. I pay £ 9.50 for 20KG sacks of crumb from a local supplier. If you don’t know anywhere that comes to mind, check the Yellow Pages. That’s how I found my source.

Hemp, broken boilies and corn mixed in with crumb – this was put together for bream

Another popular bait is hemp, and certainly one that is used as an effective attractor. After soaking for a day or so, bring it to the boil and simmer until the seeds start to split to reveal the white inners. Your hemp is ready to then add to your crumb. But don’t throw the water away that the hemp was cooked in. Again, like the juice from the sweetcorn, use it for adding to the groundbait. This applies to any other seeds or particles that you may decide to fish with. I’m currently fishing with pigeon conditioner. Once prepared, there is a lovely syrup produced which I keep to add to the crumb that I’m presently using as well.

When you get a local supplier for your crumb, you will find that they probably sell bulk bags of fish meal. This can be added to your mix to give it a very distinctive flavour. Another additive which can be purchased cheaply in bulk is molasses. If you have a horse feed supplier in the area, make your enquiries there. And depending on what you’re fishing for, and what hookbait you’re using, add maggots, casters, broken boilies, etc, to the crumb.

As far as general flavouring is concerned, let your imagination run wild! The local supermarket can be a source of flavours such as vanilla, strawberry, etc. Add these to the water that you then add to your crumb. If you live close to an Asian supermarket check out some of the spices. Though flavourings such as turmeric and so on can be bought elsewhere, you will be able to buy in larger quantities and at a cheaper price.

Of course, you can still get flavourings from tackle shops as well. It depends on your budget, how much you want to spend, and how much you want to experiment. As well as a variety of flavours, you can get hemp oil, worm flavour and so on and so forth!

When mixing your groundbait at the water’s edge, caution is the key word until you get the hang of things. Too much water and you’ll have a sloppy porridge that will be of no use. It’s good to keep some groundbait back just in case! But practise makes perfect, so there’s no better way of gaining experience – whatever it is in fishing that we are talking about – than by having a go. Happy groundbaiting, and when you catch some nice fish on your own concoction, it will be twice as nice!

RUNNER-UP QUESTION

David Whitmill wins a runner-up prize of 100yds of Shimano Exage mono for:

‘At a recent club meeting some non-carp anglers were calling for a boilie and nut ban. The reason they gave was that thousands get chucked in by every carp angler, every time they fish, which isn’t true anyway. They claimed that all the big tench and bream would then not feed on anything else and therefore the pleasure anglers wouldn’t catch them! I don’t believe this to be true.

I would like to know if lots of boilies going into a water can affect/upset the ecology of the water? If so, is this the reason many clubs ban boilies or is it just an anti-carp angler thing?

GRAHAM ANSWERS:

There is always a little truth in everything. The trick is to know how much truth and what it’s worth.

Bait has been the subject of bans for donkey’s years, before boilies the uninformed were banning groundbait and hemp and whatever else those who blanked could blame for not catching fish. Now the blame for blanking has been shifted to boilies.

But make no mistake, once boilies become established as a regular part of the fish’s diet then there are times when the fish will show a definite preference for them, and I know both tench and bream waters where boilies are the best bait to catch them.

What the ‘ban-it’ people don’t seem to comprehend though, is that most boilies are a valuable food source and are doing a lot to ensure that the fish stay healthy and continue to grow. What they also fail to grasp is that they can fish a small boilie or piece of boilie paste as hookbait. Maggots and casters are not mandatory.

As for lots of boilies affecting/upsetting the ecology of a water, I don’t know any water that has been proven to have been adversely affected by boilies. But there is plenty of evidence to suggest quite the reverse.

Banning the use of nuts is something else, in particular because improperly prepared nuts can cause damage to the fish. Banning them is the easy way out for those who don’t want to use them, but a better way is to impose occasional and random inspections of nut baits to check that they’ve been prepared properly and to impose penalties for those who are found with unsafe ones. Such a rule is good too because it leads to the best medicine in the world – laughter. Which is what would happen when the bailiff comes along and demands, “show me your nuts!”

Some of the ‘ban-it’ people will undoubtedly be anti-carp angler so no matter what you say, no matter how logical and how much sense you make, they will never listen. The answer here is to get on club committees yourself and steer them from within.

D LYON ASKS:

Boilies for barbel

GRAHAM ANSWERS:

I often use boilies for barbel, and use them in 10mm, 14mm and 18mm sizes. Where the barbel are very pressured the smaller size usually does best. I don’t use a lot of boilies for loose feed, tending more to use a PVA bag of various pellets and/or lay down a bed of particles. Two or three kilos of boilies, especially the 10mm size, will last me a season, so I therefore don’t go to the trouble of making such a small quantity but rather buy frozen ones and split these into session-sized zip bags in the freezer.

But don’t let me put you off making your own if that’s what you want to do. There is a lot of satisfaction in making your own bait and then catching on it. You’ll find some excellent advice on boilie making here from Stuart Dennis ‘Making Boilies – The First Steps’. And here in Dave Dowding’s ‘Baits And Flavours Column’.

ASK FOR ADVICE

This is where you can ask that vital question about fishing that’s been nagging you for too long. It could be about a certain rig or bait, maybe about groundbaiting or flavouring, or it could be about a simple fishery management problem or a fish behaviour or biology type question. Prizes donated by Shimano Whatever it is we’ll hand the question to somebody who we reckon can do it justice, somebody who knows what they’re talking about in that particular field. Sound good so far? It gets better. If you’re a FISHINGmagic member you can could win a bulk spool of Catana mono for what we judge is the Question of the Week, and the runner-up will get a 100yd spool of Shimano Exage. Some weeks there could be two runners-up. All we ask you to do is be specific with the question, and to provide some relevant details. Avoid questions like, ‘How do I catch tench?’ Or, ‘Which is the best hook to use for carp?’ There are too many answers to questions like that. Whole books have been written about catching tench, and there is no one hook for catching carp. And remember, the more information you give related to one specific question the more chance you have of receiving a helpful answer. Send your questions to graham@fishingmagic.com. How often this advice section will appear will be according to the volume of questions we receive. Any questions received that relate to any other series currently running on FM will automatically be considered for this section and will be eligible for prizes.

Would prize winners please let me have their street addresses – send to graham@fishingmagic.com.