Baiting

[nottchris]

Hey all.

I have just got into barbel fishing and i have heard so many story's about baiting up the area? Some people i have spoke to don't bait at all and just cast straight in..Some just fire out a few pellets next to the bait..Some lay a bed of bait out..Some use feeder..

I just want to know about you guys and how you prefer to bait/or/Not

Thanks for the help!

T.L

[NICK R]

I normally feed the swim about a hr before fishing ,then give it time to settle , then fish with either feeder / pva bag or stringer , ,

I always feed upstream to where iam intending to fish so that the freebies wash down to where i want to place a bait.

[BoldBear]

I usually chuck some loose feed into two or three swims where I have spotted Barbel moving and after an hour I fish one of them, then move to the next if I think my swim needs a rest.

While I am fishing I loose feed by hand or fire some loose feed upstream using my catapult, or if the water is bombing through I use small lengths of PVA stocking filled with my feed and attatched to my leger weight or hook.

If I am fishing a deeper area and want to lay a bed of Hemp & small pellets and wait for the Barbel to arrive I may use a bait dropper.

I sometimes also thread a few predrilled pellets onto some PVA thread tied to my leger weight or hook.

[hadgfeet]

well i caught my first barbel recently and i was just baiting up with, pellets, corn, maggots and some spicy chilli tuna bolies and corn and a hook bait worked like a dream, i just regularly catapulted the bait out :)

[barbus maximus]

This subject could go on for years, as there are so many variables.

In general, on a small to medium river, I won't use a dropper, but instead will throw or catapult, a small bed of bait, about 3 or 4 square meteres. Because of the cost of things like hemp and pellets, I tend to bulk it out with sweetcorn (Asda own frozen, 90p for a big bag) and green pea's. So I have corn, pea's, hemp, some pellet and perhaps, depending on conditions, some shredded luncheon meat on the deck as I tackle up. (Not all these baits at the same time, 2 or 3 types max).
I will top this up maybe every 3rd or 4th cast, with a couple of handfulls, and this has never spooked the fish when they are on the feed either!
Further casts into larger rivers, I will always use a good swimfeeder over a pva stocking, but PVA does have a place in my bag too.
I have never owned a bait dropper, I don't see the need when I can place bait quite accurately.

Hope this helps

JK