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Meat

Meat is one of the most deadly and effective baits out there. It sorts the better fish out and you catch the biggest stamp of fish. Meat is my number one bait when targeting big fish.

The Norm’

This is my opening gambit, it’s the simplest and most effective way to hook meat. There are some days when you have to try alternative hooking methods but this is a fantastic way to hook meat. All you have to do is hook the meat and then swivel your hook so all that is showing is your hook point, ready and waiting. I hook my meat this way for the majority of my deck fishing, but it’s not always the most effective on different methods, I’ll run you through a few of my favourites below.

Quick-Stop

This is a great way to hook meat, your hook is fully exposed! All you have to do is push a Korum Quick-Stop, with a Quick-Stop needle through a cube of meat, that’s it. It’s so simple, yet effective. I’ve used this method a lot of the last few years, especially when shallow fishing, dobbing, feeder/bomb work and even down the edge. I like to leave a few mm’s gap between the gape of my hook and the hook bait, it hangs much more natural than being really tight to the hook. It also gives me a bit of flexibility on the size of meat I can put on the hair.

Bury Away

Burying your hook right through a cube of meat can be a great way of making sure you don’t lift into liners, which ultimately results in lost fish. Burying your hook in a bait masks the point of your hook, so you have to pull through the bait in order to hook the fish. I’ve used this technique on several occasions when I’ve been losing or foul hooking a lot of fish, it definitely helps you hook more fish properly when you’ve got too many fish in your peg.

Go Big!

I’ve been experimenting recently with big hook baits, especially down the edge. You seem to get a much quicker response with big visual hook baits. I’ve been fishing with two or three pieces of 11m cubed meat on a big hair down the edge via a Quick-Stop. Fish go down the edge for one reason, to feed! So it makes sense to fish a massive hook bait that the fish can’t resist, and most importantly can’t miss. Another benefit to fishing such a big hook bait is that nuisance silverfish can’t actually get it in their mouths. There’s nothing worse than waiting for a big carp down the edge and the float burying, to only lift a two ounce pearch clear out of the water! Don’t be afraid to go big, it could have a big impact on the quality and quantity of fish you catch.

 

Punched meat

This can be extremely effective when feeding pellets. The punched piece of meat looks like a pellet, but has all of the attractiveness and benefits that meat has, i.e. colour, fat content, and oily nature. Definitely worth a try, it’s a great change bait when fishing with pellets.

Corn

I have always been a big believer in using the typical ‘green giant’ or Freshona corn and I didn’t think the type or make of corn I used really made any difference at all. This was until I tried the new Sonubaits F1 Corn. It’s incredibly sweet and pungent, it just seems to catch me a lot more fish. The flavouring almost gives you an instant edge over any other corn out there and it seems to get a reaction from the fish much quicker.

Top Tip- If you’re wanting to gain an edge and try to give yourself a few extra fish, try the Sonubaits Krill corn. It has a very deep red colour and stinks of fishy goodness! It can be awesome when fishing over normal yellow’ coloured corn and the ‘Clicky’, which I will detail below.

The Corn-Norm

Very straightforward hooking technique that we have all done because it’s incredibly effective. Simply hook the top of the grain and roll your hook around it. Always have the point of your hook exposed through, this maximises the amount of fish you hook and limits missed bites. One thing I will add, is to always keep the point of your hook exposed when hooking the corn like this as you need to have some hook penetration as you can get some grains of corn that are tougher than other and leaving your hook fully buried in the corn can risk bumping fish and increase missed bites.

Corn Skin

This is particularly effective in the winter months as the corn skin sinks very, very slowly. Corn is so effective in winter due to its visual attraction. This is so easy to do, all you have to do is squeeze the kernel out of the corn so you’re left with the outer skin of the grain. Be sure to give this a try this coming winter, it can get you a fish when other baits fail.

Roll It!

I first stumbled on this whilst fishing at Lindholme lakes. I was having a shocking time, missing bites and bumping fish just hooking it normally through the top of the grain. Every time I would hook a fish or come back to rebait, the corn would still be on the gape of the hook almost hanging off. Which made me think that I wasn’t getting a full hook hold on the fish which could be the reason I was bumping and inevitably losing the fish. I then tried rolling the corn between my fingers trying to make it softer so I could pull through the hook bait. Rolling the corn, ultimately softens the grain making it a lot easier to pull your hook through. The difference was incredible, I went the rest of the match without losing a fish because I was pulling my hook through the corn into the fish’s mouth. It opened my eyes to how hooking your bait can directly your catch rate, presentation and efficiency.

Quick Stop

The Quick-Stop is a fantastic way of hooking soft baits as mentioned above on the meat section. The main benefit to the Quick-Stop is that it leaves your hook fully exposed, therefore hit more bites and creates more of a self-hooking rig.

The Corn String

This technique is of the same concept to the ‘Go Big’ meat hook bait. Large visual baits that stand out can be devastating hook baits, especially for those big wise fish that want some grub!

The Clicky

Feeding liquidised corn can be a fantastic when fishing shallow or up to shallow islands or in the edges. Simply take your corn and put it in a normal food liquidiser, that’s it! Don’t blend it up to a very thin texture, just give it a fifteen to twenty second blitzing. You want it to have a course, yet smooth consistency, so there are broke up pieces of corn in the mix, but it still gives off a slick cloud. The ‘Clicky’ leaves off a lovely slick in the water and the particles hang in the water column. It’s a great alternative to feeding sloppy ground bait or even pellets. I always try and give myself an edge, and this can be deadly on highly pressured waters, were the fish see pellets and meat day in day out. Don’t be afraid to try something different, you need to stand out from the pack, don’t stick to the norm!