What Bait ???

[adam stride]

I was wondering what you guys used as winter bait and groundbait, I'm a newish angler and have had success but all of the tactics i have used this month havn't proved that succesful,
Tight lines
Adam

[chris.oldgit]

Hi adam, welcome to the forum, I'm assuming that you are general coarse fishing, firstly, because its cold most fish will be semi-dormant, so they are not feeding at any regular times, try fishing at the warmest part of the day, or where the sun is on the water, this raises the temp slightly, use the tactical method of using small baits, casters / pinkies / even squatts, in conjunction with pinches of hemp and marble size balls of g/bait, sometimes even hemp on the hook for roach.

[BoldBear]

Hi Adam,

In addition to the good advice from Chris; Also we tend to use smaller hooks and lighter lines during the cold winter months.

I have often started getting bites as soon as I changed down to a smaller hook and lighter hooklength, try it you may be pleasantly surprised.

for example on a cold frosty day, changing down from a 'normal Maggot on a size 20 hook and 2lb line' to using 'a Pinkie used on a size 22 fine wire hook and 1.1lb hooklength' will often make all the difference and start getting you a lot more bites.

And as Chris said feed sparingly, and don't spread your feed all across your swim, when you find one or two fish concentrate your feed in that spot plus another one or two spots for you to move to if the first spot needs a rest. If you are feeding two or three spots then keep the feed going in sparingly even if you are not currently fishing the spot, 3 to 5 maggots or pinkes every minute or two is often all you will usually need on a cold winters day.

If you are fishing for larger fish then you will still need to reduce your hook sizes and line breaking strains; for example from a size 6 or 8 down to a size 14 or 16 hook and reduce the thickness of your line, plus a change to smellier baits that don't seem to solidify quite so much in freezing cold water and the more natural baits like worms, maggots etc. are usually the best bet.

eg. Out go the oil rich Halibut pellets and fatty meat baits and in come the smelly crab and spicey baits and the more natural baits like worms, maggots, pinkies etc.

good luck and tight lines

Keith (BoldBear)

[northern eye]

Hi Adam, good to have you on the forum. This is my winter approach for general course fishing but it depends on what you fish for.
Chris is right about the small baits and I am a big fan of a total maggot/pinkie approach in winter, especially on rivers. Also, scale your end tackle right down in winter. I go down to 3 or 4lb line depending on what I'm targetting, but others go even lighter. Use 16 or 18 hooks and if using a feeder, choose the smallest one you can get. On stillwaters I like to use breadpunch, small discs of flattened bread, on a float with very light line and small hooks and shot up near your float so the bread flutters down through the swim. This is a very delicate method so I prefer to use the pole for this but a gentle cast with a small, lightweight float will work fine. Also, try dead maggots/pinkies in winter. Scald them in hot water, not too long, then drain off and dry them out, squirt a little flavour on them like scopex and leave over night in a sealed bag and this will leach out of the grubs when in the swim. This method catches me alot of bream and skimmers where I fish. On stillwaters I use by dead maggots themselves or in conjunction with Sensas Lake Red groundbait mixed in with some black ground hemp, and dead maggots made into a little ball and chucked into the swim, but not too often. On rivers, if I use groundbait, I use Sensas Black, bigger balls this time and I keep the grubs trickling in with a catapult. I dont use groundbait with breadpunch and cast around to find the fish. Also, try baiting a few swims because you will find that the fish will shoal up together and there will be vast areas of water without a fish. Lightly bait about 4 swims at the start of your session and then, if you aint' catching in one, you have another to try thats already baited up and may be holding feeding fish. If the bites start, keep the fish in the swim with a few freebies, 3 or 4 grubs every now and then. If the fish are biting without freebies then don't bother or they might fill up and leave the swim. These methods work for me but in winter it's always harder to catch and you can expect a few blank days wherever you go. Good luck.

[adam stride]

cheers guys for all the replies, I currently fish at Harescombe , i have seen other anglers using method feeders and having sucess, I wondered if anyone uses this technique in winter and what groundbait or pellets they use
Any help much appreciated
Tight lines
adam

[northern eye]

Some would say that using the Method in winter is a bad idea and I don't usualy use it, prefferring to use a tiny maggot or cage feeder instead. If you are going to try it, use the smallest one you can find and don't bother with pellets, there will be too much free food going into the swim. Use a dark or red coloured groundbait with little food content like Sensas Lake Red/Black and mix well for a slow release or if you wanna go technical, try Marukyu EFG161. It is specially designed for method feeder in cold water conditions although its expensive. For the hook I would just use 2 dead red maggots, live ones will wriggle and ruin your presentation. Mould the groundbait onto the feeder then place the hookbait on top and gently add a second thin skin of groundbait just to cover the maggots and thats it. Again, use small hooks and light lines and don't keep re-filling and casting. Be patient and let the groundbait scent seep into the swim and attract the fish to your maggots. Give it a try, you never know.

[adam stride]

thanks mate anyone had sucess this winter ?

[northern eye]

Been concentrating on rivers this winter and had some good results along with some blank days. Have not fished a still water for a few months apart from a few pike sessions.

[BoldBear]

I have been concentrating on my local stream and have caught a few Barbel, Chub and dace, plus a couple of good Roach up to just under 2lb, but it has been very patchy this year with the water level being so low overall due to not a lot of rain falling in the south.

Other years when the water level is much higher it normally fishes very well but this year it has been drastically low.

In March I will start to fish my local estate lake in the hope of catching a few Carp and later in the Month if it is mildish I hope to start catching a few Tench and Crucians which seem to disappear from the lake in the colder months.

I haven't tried the Canal yet this year but I might give it a go in a week or two, that usually throws up a few good Chub, Roach & Perch.

[grayling4me]

adam im in glos and have fished the leadon recently, (a small tributary of the severn). fished for about 2-2.5 hours & had about 13 small chub and dace using single maggot on a 20 hook, float fished. no groundbait just regular loose feed of a few maggots at a time. bites were very slight and i missed a lot (as i usually do!) hope this is of some help.