ground bait

[Mark Wintle]

Going back to Steve's original question, I have found Sensas Gros Gardons to be spot on. It works. It binds then breaks up. It attracts big roach. It is fairly inert. I mix it with brown crumb 50/50.

 

[NottmDon]

An article on grounbaits would be most welcome. I tend to use a lot of pellets, paste and boilies now and its fascinating stuff getting ingredients and making your own. The downside is I havent used as much groundbait in my fishing and there are so many on the market now that an unbiased article on which groundbait does what would certainly have my interest and that of many others.Ingredients and shelf life would be a good item on its own Peter.How long will a bag of unopened GB last before going sour or not doing what is supposed to do. Why are there no "sell by" dates on groundbaits. Off the subject but also why no sell by dates on line I get sick of changing suppliers in order to get line that isnt "pre withered" lol!

 

[jason fisher]

on the subject of molasses, the liquid stuff mixed with ground trout pellet and crumb will stick to anything. i have had roach from the thames on this while trying to catch cub.

 

[Steven Mitchell]

Alan spoke to keith sat morn he said the tried and trusted way would be 2 white and 1 brown also dried almond crushed mix a little damper than required : Also leam or clay riddled fine then riddle together with your crumb didnt have time for any more chat line bad with the weather well ive plenty ideas to try just need weather to settle a bit.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Steve,
Ont tip on using leam is to always mix it into your already wetted groundbait. I you try to add water to leam on its own it just becomes a sticky and useless mess.

My way is to mix my chosen groundbait (ever so slightly wetter than normal) riddle it once then riddle in the leam, then a quick hand mix and finally riddle the combined mix once more. Don't make up too much in one batch as it will dry out during the day and even a misting with a spray bottle will make the leam in the mix slushy.
I hope this helps.

Don,
I have used groundbait mixes that I have stored for 2 years with no appreciable difference. I think that the reason that there is no sell by date is because it is not for human consumption and therefore does not need to comply with those regulations (I will check that with my contact at Sensas though)
I keep my lines in black plastic bags in the fridge in the bottom drawers.

 

[Steven Mitchell]

keith thats the same way as keith arthur told me this morn about the leam thanks : If you was fishing the bann today you would need two of sand and one of cement to get it down

 

[Alan Tyler]

Thanks for passing on Keith's views, Steven; nice to know my own weren't too wide of the mark!
Ground almonds,eh? I wonder if that's for the flavour or the oil?

The least successful groundbait ingredient I ever tried was porridge oats.The groundbait set like Paxo stuffing, and floated. Not recommended,except on April the first, or for sabotage!

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Alan,
I think it is the flavouring rather than the oil that is the attractant.

Almond, Vanilla and Caramel are all good attractors for Roach.

 

[NottmDon]

Should of took a flask of hot milk and ate the groundbait Alan lol! Mind you I once added some fennel seeds to hemp and boiled it hoping for a nice aniseed flavour. I kid you not my hands reeked of the stuff for a week and it was more akin to curry than aniseed. I was not popular with the wife and kids I can tell you. One of my fave additives/flavourings is a salmon palatant and if anyone ever upset me enough I'd pour it through their letterbox as this would guarantee a house move!
Thanks for the line info Peter, may well try it If I can find some room in the bait fridge! I understand what you say regarding foodstuffs/groundbait and the not for human consumption angle, but surely it would eventualy go off? The only reason I mention it is because I bought a lot of groundbait for a planned trip then had an accident and couldnt fish for some years, the groundbait was consigned to the dustbin as I thought along the human consumption lines, although it looked okay. Be interesting to know what you dig up on that query.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Don,
You can always mix up your groundbaits and then freeze them. They will not be as good as those made on the day but are still very usable and it saves throwing them out.
If you add a small quantity of liquid additive to the frozen mix when you take it out of the freezer the flavour is enhanced as it defrosts.

I have frozen groundbaits for upto 6 months and then used them in practice sessions in the past.

 

[NottmDon]

Have got some in the freezer at the moment Peter, some of that tinned stuff mentioned earlier in the thread mixed up with some sensas groundbait. With all the stuff in my bait fridge and now using the wifes freezer I think I need either a fridge freezer or a bigger fridge! How did the practice sessions go with a 6 month old groundbait, did you notice any difference?

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Don,

The practice sessions usually wnet pretty well and whilst those 'fizzing' groundbaits did show some signs of age they still worked quite well. Of course it is difficult to say with any degree of accuracy if there was any appreciable difference.

I have been looking around for a new bait fridge as my old one finally expired a few months ago. Maybe it is time that my wife got a new one for the kitchen with the old one finding its way to my tackle room

 

[NottmDon]

Peter thanks a lot for all the information, its been an eye opener. I need to get a bigger bait fridge/freezer its convincing the wife that its her idea thats the hard part!!

 

[Steven Mitchell]

Alan just back from a match on the bann:
tried 2 white 1 brown abit of brasem.ground hemp' some ground almonds the stuff you buy at supermarkets already ground .
it all binded perfect like the more you squeeze more it binds type and the river was well pulling ended up with 10 pounds roach fished over hemp .caster using bait dropper over all a good day will keep experimenting thanks steve

 

[Alf James]

Rather than buying bags of leam from one of the groundbait companies, why not try molehill soil that has been riddled. It will do just as well for the purpose you have in mind and can bind really well if it comes from a clay based earth.

Also remember that deep water river mixes need more water added than do lake mixes. This helps them bind properly and sink more quickly.

I always put a bit of crushed hemp in my heavy river mixes as this helps to break up the mix once it reaches the bottom.

One of the stickiest commercial mixes I've come across is VDE Secret. It has a lot of peanuts in it and this makes it bind very well. It can be bulked out with brown crumb to make it go further.

One really good tip when you're using maggots in deep, fast rivers is to kill them with hot water before adding to the groundbait mix. This makes them inert and because they're not moving the balls of groundbait don't breakdown before they hit the bottom.

 

[Steven Mitchell]

thanks alf.read an article in a.times about adding a bit of bird grit to get it down also .steve