Was watching carp crew today and they did a feature on catching carp on pellet sized punched out spuds direct on the hook but I guess you can hair rig aswell. T

They soaked them overnight in coffee and gravy granules and was using them as hookbaits over pellets they said they stay on the hook better then pellet and stop the nuicence fish and you can make them any size you like to match the pellets.

Has anyone tried it for barbel to be honest the spuds looked just like the real thing and would probaly give me more confidence in winter as we tend to use faster breakdown pellets that tend to break off quicker

They didnt say this but i thought it might be worth trying soaking the pellets in coffee and gravy aswell

Whats your thoughts

I watched the programme as well but thought instead of coffee and gravy (yuk!!) for barbel I'd be more inclined to soak in a halibut based liquid, the one I use to soak PVA bags of pellets in is oil based so that's no good but any dark halibut flavouring would do.

I rekon the reason they used the gravy and coffee was to give it colouring and also a strong smell but to be fair they where on a carp venue and the carp where queuing up to take the pellets plus they where feeding often into a concentrated spot which is difficult to do on a flowing river.

Can't see barbel going for spuds myself but it's a cheap alternative I suppose and I've never had a problem with nuisance fish on a river especially with a 16mm pellet on, all fish are most welcome!!!

__________________
Tight lines,

Bob
Bobs Blog
http://www.bobstackle.co.uk/
"If people don't occasionally walk away from you shaking their heads, you're doing something wrong." John Gierach

I've seen the same program super nudd and his dynamite spud amazing I think it's a great idea for barbel maybe add some other flavours to match different baits. Bob nudd said gravy&coffee was used to colour the spud not flavour it because he was using it on the drop whilst spraying mini pellet. I also believe crayfish aren't veggies so they might not eat the spud which would be great for my nerves.

Ye soaking them in some kind of glug with matching paste mmm theres an idea.To be honest the more I think about it the only reason i would use a spud for a hook bait is if I wanted to fish with pellets and wanted some confidence that the pellet is still on the hook bait if i had a problem with crays or small fish whittling bait away.To be honest the big thing for me was how they looked they did look exacty the same as his feed pellets and did have a true halbut colour to them.In the past i have made a boile shaped like a pellet but the colour match is never quite theres even with halibut boiles

Anyway I guess its something else to try lol

I lived in east anglia for a while and did the same match circuit as bob, the method was devised to imitate pellet whilst fishing 'up in the water'. When fishing up in the water you feed constantly sending small f1 Carp into a frenzy, they would be bubbling on the top, hundreds of them constantly knocking your pellet hookbait, soft pellets don't stay on the hook well at the best of times. So we started using potato, some of the lads used little pieces of elastic band, others used liquorice. What I'm trying to say is, it was purely a sight bait for fish that were feeding frantically. I doubt very much a barbel would be very interested to be honest. But back in the 60's carpers used per boiled potatos as bait so who knows.

I think it's a great idea and used in conjunction with your favoured glug it could work really well. Last year the crayfish on the goyt were ravinous and your boilie,meat,pellet lasted about 10-15 mins and the tip of my rod tapping constantly making it harder to see a genuine fish bite. But I've seen a carp program where they fished in France and the said lake was full of crayfish so they put no boilies into the swim and no fishmeal pellets just vegetable based feed corn,maze,breadcrumb,tigernuts,maple peas ect. And they had no probs with the clawed freaks I'm going to experiment for sure this year through summer and autum and see what happens. Cheers too original post the brain cogs have started to turn with loads of ideas. Roll on summer.

Originally Posted by Pheonixphythian

I've seen a carp program where they fished in France and the said lake was full of crayfish so they put no boilies into the swim and no fishmeal pellets just vegetable based feed corn,maze,breadcrumb,tigernuts,maple peas ect. And they had no probs with the clawed freaks

Someone needs to tell the Turkish Crays in our estate lake that they don't eat veggie baits because they don't know about this rule. Lol...

We are always getting our sweetcorn baits picked up and chewed by crayfish. even the trout love our sweetcorn baits; its not a hungry water either.

The same goes for the Signal Crays in our local mixed fishery.

Thankfully the Crays haven't yet got into our local Barbel Stream, but only time will tell.

__________________
Happiness is fish shaped (It used to be woman shaped but the wifes getting on a bit now)

Visit my WebSite

Have to agree that Ive had "clawed critters" hanging off the hook with sweetcorn as well, when Ive been carp fishing.

Wow didn't realise they eat corn aswell I hate the little bastxxxxds. Saying that I'm gonna try spud this summer in two flavours I'll post any results,probably best if you don't hold your breath guys lol. Tight lines all

I think it may only be sweetcorn though could be linked to catching perch on sweetcorn. There must be something about these pulses containing proteins ????