Questions to: Whizzokev@aol.com
My mix for flatties (flounders) was very simple but effective and consisted of 1 tin of Pilchards, 1kg of medium Brown crumb and a couple of handfuls of sand. My pal and I knew what each ingredient did in the overall mix, the crumb was the carrying agent for the Pilchards which in turn acted as a great rubbi-dubbi and attractant to create a flavour trail for the fish to find our hookbaits in the muddy water, and the sand was added for two reasons, firstly to get the groundbait down to the bottom quickly because of the heavy tow in the dock and secondly to irritate the fish and disturb them from their slumbers on the muddy bottom. We had great success on this water and would regularly frame in matchesSo essentially, you must try to understand what you are doing with a particular mix, to help you do this I have broken the ingredients of ‘groundbait’ down into Four Elements:1.Carrying Agent/ Texture2.Binders3.Attractants4.Food NutrientsAnyone that takes their Groundbait serious will naturally pose the question that most ingredients in any mix have a number of these qualities and not just one.E.g. Crushed Hemp can be all four of these depending on how much is used in relationship to other ingredients in the mix. If you mixed 1 part Crushed Hemp, 1 part Brown Crumb and added some Aniseed Powder you could see the elements of the mix as:Crushed Hemp = Binder & Food NutrientBrown Crumb = Carrying Agent/Texture & Food NutrientAniseed = AttractantThis would be a very sticky mix due to the large quantity of Crushed Hemp, if you mixed it on the wet side and compressed the balls tightly you would have a great mix for using on deep venues for roach and Skimmers. The oily nature of the hemp would create a waterproof-like skin around the ball and would take 10 minutes or more to break down allowing ample time to get to the bottom with no fear of it breaking up on the way down and drawing fish towards the surface. Each week I will cover a different aspect of Groundbaiting. Maybe you have some questions that you would like answering?Have a Whizzo weekend fishingWhizzokev
Questions to: Whizzokev@aol.com