Fishing Groundbaits.
How do I choose a groundbait? When choosing a groundbait the simplest thing to do is look at the groundbait bag. Many groundbaits will say on the bag what they are used for. E.g when fishing the Method, choose a groundbait with method mix on it. For example the Dynamite Baits swim stim method mix. The same can be said for species of fish you are targeting. Carp groundbait, Silver X Roach, Pro-Natural Bream, Supercrack Roach and so on and so on.
The simplest groundbait is white crumb or punch crumb, this is simply dried breadcrumb, milled into a powder. Ideal for winter fishing for roach and skimmers. The second most popular groundbaits are fishmeal groundbaits, basically dried out fish ground up to a very fine powder, perfect for carp, tench and bream. Another type of groundbait is made using crushed up biscuits, a lot of groundbaits from the continent are made up of this and tend to be much sweeter and blended with hemp, molasses and particles. Biscuits are also ideal for binding groundbaits. Bream love these type of groundbaits and Roach love chocolate flavoured groundbaits.
You can also get active or inactive groundbaits.
Active groundbaits will fall down to the bottom and fizz, these tend to have hemp particles in to help create this frenzied effect.
Inactive or inert groundbaits tend to be more like your method mixes which will stick together in one lump. Some particles will still fall out of the inactive groundbaits to attract fish.
Chub and Barbel prefer active groundbaits in rivers and lakes, Carp, Bream and Tench prefer inactive groundbaits, they will smell the groundbait on the lakebed and their movement will swirl up the water and groundbait creating clouds that will in turn attract more fish.
Why use groundbait?
- Pulling power, scented groundbaits have great pulling power to attract fish into your swim.
- Give fish confidence to feed in the first place. In clear waters groundbait will create clouds in particular dark fine groundbaits, like the Bait-Tech Pro-Natural Fine Lake Dark.
- Get your feed down to the bottom of the bed to make it easier to fish. i.e as a binder, it will hold your pellets, maggots and worms and live bait and take it to the bottom of the bed.