how long do i leave it

[king01]

when i am fishing on the bottom for barbel, carp, breem etc. how long do i leave my bait (boilie) down there, trusting its still attached. and how often do you put fresh bait on.

all these newbie questions....

[Maddison_Twatter]

Boilies can last for hours but I tend to change mine hourly just to keep the smell nice and fresh, you could probably leave em longer as obviously fish have a stronger sense of smell than us but for the sake of two mins you might as well change. oh I also re-cast around every 30 to 45 minutes depending on factors such as colour ,flow and fish activity.

[NICK R]

depends

sometimes every couple of hrs , sometimes 48 hrs


oh I also re-cast around every 30 to 45 minutes

i bet your one of them that dont turn off their alarms when tightening upMT lol

[Maddison_Twatter]

Originally Posted by NICK R

depends

sometimes every couple of hrs , sometimes 48 hrs


oh I also re-cast around every 30 to 45 minutes

i bet your one of them that dont turn off their alarms when tightening upMT lol

Thats on the river because after that long your feed is spread about 2mile down the stretch lol, obviously on lakes I would leave a lot longer but not 48hours !! Im not a fully conditioned carper yet as im one of those anglers who doesnt chuck the rods out then go and turn on the sky tv from my bivvi and put my bivvi dressing gown and slippers on

[BoldBear]

When I am Barbeling, my bait is rarely out for more than about 20 to 30 minutes as it has either been taken by a fish, nibbled away by small fry or some weed or something else has washed into my line causing me to recast fairly often.

And if nothing has happened for half an hour then I reel in and change my bait or if I am using hard pellets I may just re-coat my bait in soft paste causing it to emit a fresh flavour trail in the current.
If I continue to get no bites then I would usually rebait and cast to another feature.
I would often lift my rodtip slightly every few minutes and let the bait trundle a few inches anyway; so would need to recast fairly regularly anyway.

When I am fishing for Carp in a Stillwater and haven’t had a sniff for at least an hour then I would be worrying about whether my bait has fallen off or has sunk into the silt or got tangled on the cast, or got nibbed away by crayfish or something else so I would then recast although I often leave a bait out for a couple of hours especially if runs are known to be rare.

For other fish then ‘how long is a piece of string?’ it depends on what bait I am using, the nature of the bottom, what other invertibrae and small fry are present and the type of fish that I am after; but I rarely leave my bait out for more than half an hour.

[barbus maximus]

When using pellets I leave them for 20-30 minutes......Max. Paste around 10 minutes.
As Bold Bear pointed out, there are so many variables that will have an effect on your bait. Small fish nibbling, breakdown rates, which in turn are effected by temperature and flow of water, and the make up of that particular bait.
On top of that you have the effects of detritus and weed on the line and hook, covering up any tasty morsal.
It is trial and error, but good water craft and a knowledge of a few favourite baits will go along way to helping.
Bait will rarely last 48 hours, in any condition, and if the same bait has been out that long without catching, why would you still be in the same spot? They just aren't there!