WE DISCUSS VARIOUS WAYS TO HELP OVERCOME THE MOST COMMON, BAIT-RELATED RULES IN CARP FISHING.

WE DISCUSS VARIOUS WAYS TO HELP OVERCOME THE MOST COMMON, BAIT-RELATED RULES IN CARP FISHING.


One of the first things most anglers would do when looking to fish a new venue is to check the fishery rules. These are usually pretty hefty lists of do’s and don’ts which have been set out by the management. Of course, there are many rules that almost every fishery has these days, what hooks you can and can’t use, their preference on leaders and even your main line strength or type. The vast majority of these rules are easy to abide by, however, rules targeting bait restrictions can be a bit problematic. From plastic baits, to heavy bait restrictions such as boilie and pellets only, these rules can sometimes take away your edge. However, you shouldn’t let them stand in your way! We have picked out a few common ones, and how we would go about getting around them, whilst keeping you in the good books with the bailiff!

NO FAKE / PLASTIC BAITS

NO FAKE / PLASTIC BAITS

One of the most prolific rules being enforced across many fisheries is the ban on plastic/fake baits. Whether this is artificial sweetcorn or foam used on zigs, more and more lakes are banning their use due to their ability to continue to fish after a cut off or a ‘crack off’. For instance, if you were using the same rig but with a rolled hookbait, such as a wafter, if you did have the unfortunate circumstance of losing your end tackle due to a mistake or cut off, that hookbait would eventually break away from the rig setup as the water attacks it over time. Compare this to a piece of plastic corn, there’s very little chance of that particular hookbait being able to free itself and will therefore sit there in a ‘live’ state until a fish picks it up.

One of the most prolific rules being enforced across many fisheries is the ban on plastic/fake baits. Whether this is artificial sweetcorn or foam used on zigs, more and more lakes are banning their use due to their ability to continue to fish after a cut off or a ‘crack off’. For instance, if you were using the same rig but with a rolled hookbait, such as a wafter, if you did have the unfortunate circumstance of losing your end tackle due to a mistake or cut off, that hookbait would eventually break away from the rig setup as the water attacks it over time. Compare this to a piece of plastic corn, there’s very little chance of that particular hookbait being able to free itself and will therefore sit there in a ‘live’ state until a fish picks it up.

So, what can you do to beat this particular rule? If you’re looking to feed maize/sweetcorn in your chosen mix, the chances are you’ll be looking to match the hatch in terms of your hookbait. Whether that’s just topping a boilie in a snowman presentation or fishing a single piece of balanced corn to mimic the feed around it, you can fish a very similar hookbait without using plastic corn. Simply take a yellow pop-up or wafter from our range, a small 12mm bait is easy to start with. Trim it down, and you can match its size and shape perfectly to your freebies without breaking any rules. Plus, you have the added bonus of the attractors and flavours from your chosen range, something which plastic corn wouldn’t give you.

The second popular bait used which comes under this banner is foam. Usually used to either balance a bait or more commonly on zigs with aligner-type terminal items. For understandable reasons once again, foam will remain in the water until it’s either picked up by an investigating carp or will float to the surface on rigs such as zigs, which then poses the problem of bird life being tangled amongst it, or even worse, picking it up. It’s a quite simple solution if your chosen venue does enforce this rule, and that’s to use a small sized pop-up, such as a 12mm. All of our hookbait ranges feature super-buoyant 12mm variants packed full of attractors and varied colours to suit all preferences.


HOW TO STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD

HOW TO STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD

With many fisheries only allowing boilies and pellets, making your bait stand out from the rest is a lot easier than you might think. Many fisheries which have a fairly new stock of carp tend to implement this rule to help their growth rates and health, this can also be limited further by only allowing the fishery’s house pellet to be used as feed. Although this may initially seem like it limits what you can do with your bait, there’s nothing stopping you adding liquids to them. Soaking your chosen pellets in a soluble and thin liquid such as Pure Calanus Liquid will certainly give you an edge. The liquid will not only pack the pellets with lots of attraction, but it will also change the breakdown time and make them behave a little differently to everyone else’s. This can also be done with your boilies too to add even more soluble attractors to the mix, whilst also giving them even more nutritional benefits.

Even though only two baits are allowed to be used, there’s a multitude of different ways to make your bait a little different. On most venues where this rule is enforced, the vast majority of anglers will just use round boilies and pellets straight from the bag. If you fished over a bed of crumb and even crushed pellets, you are instantly offering something very different to the carp. Although the boilie and pellets only rule is limiting, its diversity is only limited by your imagination!


NO NUTS OR PARTICLES

NO NUTS OR PARTICLES

There’s no denying that nuts (used in the correct manner and quantity) are a devastating bait, but used incorrectly and even more so, cooked incorrectly, they can cause very serious issues with the carp and their digestive system. There are still some tips which you can adopt to your approach to mimic a ‘nutty’ approach. Using the Manilla range is the closest you’ll be able to get to replicating not only the sweet aroma of peanuts/tigers, but also its washed-out appearance too. Crumbing/crushing your boilies will help them achieve this appearance. In terms of hookbaits, trimming down the likes of a Manilla dumbbell wafter around the edges mimics a small balanced tiger nut perfectly.

There’s no denying that nuts (used in the correct manner and quantity) are a devastating bait, but used incorrectly and even more so, cooked incorrectly, they can cause very serious issues with the carp and their digestive system. There are still some tips which you can adopt to your approach to mimic a ‘nutty’ approach. Using the Manilla range is the closest you’ll be able to get to replicating not only the sweet aroma of peanuts/tigers, but also its washed-out appearance too. Crumbing/crushing your boilies will help them achieve this appearance. In terms of hookbaits, trimming down the likes of a Manilla dumbbell wafter around the edges mimics a small balanced tiger nut perfectly.

At the end of the day, you cannot pick and choose the rules to suit your own fishing, you have to adapt with them in order to not only keep the peace with the venue management team but also further your overall angling ability. A one dimensional angler is a bad angler in our books, whereas one that thinks about solutions, rather than dwelling on the problems is far superior. So next time you are faced with a bait ban, think outside the box and beat it!


FISHERY FILES

FISHERY FILES

Check out our go-to guide for some of the UK’s most popular fishing venues. Featuring downloadable maps, lake facts, bailiff advice, capture galleries along with top tips on tackling waters our consultants have conquered, so you’ll always have the upper hand.

Check out our go-to guide for some of the UK’s most popular fishing venues. Featuring downloadable maps, lake facts, bailiff advice, capture galleries along with top tips on tackling waters our consultants have conquered, so you’ll always have the upper hand.