Established that maggots have a very limited time use, approximately from the end of October to the beginning of March, the only way to exploit the river during the twelve months is to choose hard bait such as pellets and boilies or to choose dough as long as they have a resistance that is not affected by the current and small fish.
Normally, a good quality pellet is a bait immediately detectable, not like worms, corn or bread, but with a good inclination to attract attention and appetite of fish that have never seen pellets in their lives.
In free water, a bait must perfectly combine nutrient and attractive characteristics so as to impress at the first "smell".
Specifically, considering the depth and average colour of water, the search for food relies almost completely on the receptors that carp and barbel have on their mouth, receptors able to "feel" chemical and odorous signals even if diluted and distant, thanks to the current.
The mouth of fish works like a huge nose whose sensitivity is dozens of times greater than that of humans.
Be careful, these senses should be stimulated and not irritated, so the equation: more attraction = more effectiveness, is often wrong. When using products to flavor baits, it is essential to follow accurately the quantities indicated on the product.
Naturally, the attractor alone is not enough, if you smell an irresistible pastry cream, but tasting the brioche you find out it tastes awful certainly you won't keep eating it. A good attraction can work in the short term, but it fatigues the fish if what they eat is not good or with a poor nutritional level.
That's the reason to feed fish with a quality product to enrich the rig with something that is very attractive to them.
Barbel Pellet
In some circumstances the effectiveness of a rig is closely related to its aesthetic presentation, as for a gourmet dish first you have to feed your eyes then you have to satisfy the taste of the guests, this is more effective in some techniques than in others.
Barbel fishing, although with the necessary proportions, is one of them. To support this thesis it is necessary to carefully observe the morphology of the fishes that populate the middle and lower flow of a river; a collection of moustaches, more or less long and of small eyes, very small, not very suitable for procuring food, even more so if they look for nutrients at the bottom of the rivers.
In this perspective pellets is of huge importance. Pellets, unlike boilies, have a much more limited resistance in water, but it is in this limit that we find its greatest power attraction, as long as you can get the most out of their characteristics.
First of all, we choose quality products rich in fish , molluscs and/or shellfish flours; in my experience,these are the most effective products, probably because they are similar to what barbs and carp find in the river. Dissolution times vary with the current and the temperature of the water.
As an indication, in summer a pellet needs to be changed after 30/40 minutes, in winter these times can be doubled. In addition, in summer, the breaking up is accelerated by the action of small fish that are not active in winter.
What may seem like the biggest defect turns out to be the most important value, since the attraction of the pellet reaches its maximum just when it starts to flake.
Unlike boilies, pellets do not have a great tradition in the self-made, so you have to test and rely on serious companies that offer a product rich in excellent flours, with the right balance of spices.
On the market you can find the most varied diameters, from 3 mm to 20 mm and more, with sizes that are used in a wide range of situations, from feeder, to the catapult to the actual rig.
The pellets must be prepared in good time, so that they can impregnate deeply in the attractive substance and, consequently, the action in water will be longer and more effective.
A week of soaking is the minimum time and two are always better, even if after long soaking the "resistance" of the pellets in water is reduced.
To obtain a better stability of the rig, especially during melting phase, we use long stop baits that hold the whole body of the pellet in position even when it starts to flake.
For large and deep environments, our choice falls on pellets with a generous diameter, at least 14 mm, to be rigged in single or in pairs. Dipping a bait just before the cast, when fishing in strong current, does not make much sense, the liquid would disappear shortly after entering the water vanishing the purpose for which it was thought.
The pellets need to rest in soaking in sealed and not too deep containers so that each individual pellet remains in contact with the liquid ensuring a perfect and homogeneous operation of flavoring.
In this way, once in fishing, the pellets are well soaked in the liquid even half an hour after in water. After this period, it is sufficient to change the rig, also to optimise the loading and unloading of the groundbait in the feeder.
Storage is also important, using a well-insulated bait bag facilitates transport and ensures good storage of the product for long periods. Each dip modifies the pellets in a profoundly different way. Some dips do not alter the structure of the pellets, they are almost completely absorbed even if with much longer soaking times, at least two weeks.
Other dips instead expand the pellets, significantly reduce their resistance in water and need very little soaking, often a couple of days are more than enough.
Boilies
In the tests carried out, abut short sessions (never more than 8/10 hours), we have not found huge advantages in the use of boilies compared to pellets, a hypothetical competition between the two baits, based on catches, would see the pellets winning.
Probably everything is related to the "speed" of the bait where speed means the ability to be immediately recognized and tasted. Boilies cannot but be linked, in its effectiveness, to a preventive feeding, adapted to the spot and well executed in terms of timing and quantity.
We got a few catches on our boilies, but little compared to the results obtained with the pellets or with pellets or dough.
The only real big advantage of a boilie is the duration in water, so, if using more than one rod, one of these can be deputed to present the boilie, perhaps downstream and perhaps with dry lead, a kind of joker that the river will decide to exploit or not. If we decide to choose the boilies, the double rigs with small boilies (10/12 mm) are the most effective ones.
About the DIP, everything written for the pellets is valid.
Mix
Preparing the mix at home is a very simple operation as long as you do not let yourself be influenced by the many ingredients on the market.
The creation of an efficient mix passes from the knowledge of the spot to that of the eating habits of fish, always consider: "balance" and "simplicity". After several experiments I understood that starting from a good groundbaits the first step, especially if we consider that our bait, in the absence of a preventive feeder phase, must be immediately recognizable.
Here's a quick "recipe" to get an attractive mix:
-200 g of high quality barbs groundbaits, preferably red with coarse grains (better if rich in macro particles) -
-100 g of cheese flour
-50 g of shrimp flour
-200 g of pre-cooked corn
-50 g of crushed hemp
-15 ml of dip
Just mix everything carefully and add an egg, if the egg is not enough we can add a little 'water to get an elastic and cohesive mixture.
It must be prepared the evening before the session and stored in a refrigerator wrapped in food film. On the spot remember to always keep everything wrapped in film to prevent it from drying out. Once the part has been detached, it is advisable to work it a little with the fingers to increase its tightness.
A valid alternative is touse ready-to-use mixes of proven quality, they are mixes designed for the method (and therefore already very binding) that can be further enriched with the same dips we use for the pellets (always with the recommended doses) and made even more tenacious with the addition of a neutral flour, such as pre-cooked corn, manitoba flour or simple white flour.
