Your "generic" baits...

[Finius]

Time for the first actual relevant thread :P

Basically, I haven't been fishing for quite some time, partially due to bad health, college commitments, and generally bad weather down my way (flooding and the like), so I was just wondering, when you go for a typical days freshwater fishing, on a still water, what hook baits do you take with you?

Purely looking for inspiration here as before I have only ever really used Bread, Sweetcorn, the odd worm or two and varying forms of maggotty type thingies and I'm wanting to broaden my horizons so to speak :)

If you could list your baits, a brief explanation of what technique you use them with (e.g float, free line, ledger etc), and also what types of fish you would generally see off them, I'd be really grateful :)

Cheers, Tom.

[fishypaul]

right here goes,
firstly i very rarely float fish,so all the baits on this list i use for legering,

1, luncheon meat, a good favourite ,most fish love it ,its the fat content i believe,i like to hair rig a cube of about 1 inch square , but i have used small cubes on a size 14 hook or even a 16 for small chub and roach

2, pepperami , a good solid bait that will stay on the hook for ages,it never loses its smell and carp particularly love it

3, cockles , one or two on a size 12 hook can be deadly,tench a very partial to these,

4, tiger nuts, deadly carp bait again,be careful,not all fisheries allow them

5, cheese, never underestimate the power of the cheese paste,most fish will pick it up,carp and chub are very partial

add to this list the varying numbers of boilies and pellets available in your local tackle shop you will never be short of a different bait to tempt them with
hope you have some fun trying some of these out

[pingu]

lunchon meat
followed by luncheon meat then
sweetcorn


sorry been to darts tonight but hopethis helps

[Finius]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies!

Decided on the location for my next fishing trip, nice secluded pond with plenty of carp, tench, breem, rudd, roach, chub and crucian carp, so I'll be sure to give luncheon meat and pepperami a try, and, if I can get hold of them, some cockels, can you get them at any fishmonger?

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Maggots - 18 - 22 hook size
Worms - you just cannot beat them in the autumn months used with chopped worms is truely deadly
Solar wedges - for carp

THat about it for me - keep it simple as the fish do not know

[Finius]

I've decided, having had a look at what you guys have posted, and also having watched a few DVD's/read a few books, on what I will be taking to my next fishing outing!

The pond I'll be going to has a wide variety, including some Barbel, Tench, Carp and Chub (yes, odd for a still water to have Barbel, I know)! So I'm going to combine ledgering and float tactics throughout the day, using the following baits:

Maggots - The truly generic fishing bait to target the smaller silver fish.
Worms of varying sizes and types - Going for Perch, Carp, Tench, and Chub
Sweetcorn - Mainly for Carp and Tench here
Pepperami and meat baits - Going for the Barbel and other bigger fish

As well as a selection of random pellets that I've got hanging round the house.

I reckon that should be plenty, might take a few small bits of random baits such as cheese as the like, anyone got any other suggestions I should consider?

Cheers, Tom.

[Droppenfish]

have found that Prawns can be very good for Tench, nice and smelly to draw the fish in and you can mash a few into the groundbait to get their heads down

[Finius]

Prawns - That sounds like an interesting one! The only problem would be that I'm just as likely to want to eat the prawns as the fish are!

Bought some stinky liquid enhancer today, going to dig out some old seafood sauces from the kitchen cupboard too, at some point will chuck it in a pan with some water and pellets, boil it up to soften the pellets and get the flavor in them, then, keep the resulting gloop as a bank-side dip, should be nice and stinky!

[littleboybream]

if i fish for somewhere the first time ill make sure i have maggot and worm. then built the baits i use at the place. then if i get nothing on what i thinkll workmi just try and catch loads of small fish to keep me happy

[Finius]

Can't argue with that mate Simple is often best eh?