You pay a fortune on bait hoping to catch lots of big fish and yet the average carp angler is just that - average, because he catches no more fish than the rest. This literally means something he is doing or thinking approach just is not working. Most anglers simply throw money in the bin in bait costs etc because they have missed something so very vital to success!
Most often carp and catfish anglers use boilies, pellets and hemp, maize and sweetcorn and prepared commercial ground baits, as free baits to attract and hold fish in their swim. And these are obviously consistent baits for fish like carp and catfish. But often the hidden (or obvious) problem, is that you end up with many fish gorging upon your free ground baits and not getting hooked at all, or comparatively little, compared to the feeding activity going on in your swim. This happens far more than anyone is really accurately aware of and is a more truly shocking thing when you calculate just how much of your bait is consistently going to waste...
If you are consistently feeding your swim each time you fish and this does not consistently equate to better catches, then you are simply feeding the fish, going through the motions and expecting miracles to occur as doing the same thing repeatedly and keeping expecting results to be different is simply a definition of insanity!
This very certainly applies to angler-pressured big catfish too, whose bait preferences can definitely alter in response to angling pressures and to previous captures on a bait. So the big trick is trying to keep ahead of the fish and not wasting your hard-earned money every week on bait that does not convert into fish; to achieve very satisfactory fish captures. For most anglers just going fishing costs money because it is missed money-earning time, and this cost is quite apart from travelling costs, fishing permits, and wasted free bait!
In economically uncertain times, making the most of your money in terms of leveraging your fishing bait costs best, is generally far more important to everyone, (except the more fortunate minority.) This is maybe less of a problem where fishing is very easy and everyone seems to catch no matter what the level of their angling ability, experience or bait quality and so on but this refers to waters where fish react far more cautiously towards to fishing baits, rigs and so on. It seems to me that judging your results success by the average catches on such a water is not accurate at all; after all, how does any individual know what is truly able to be achieved?
It is the common habit of the average angler to put out free baits upon arrival at a fishery without too much thought about his or previous anglers impacts at any one moment in time, where fish may not actually feed confidently on baits that are fresh as they are associated with danger. The first few days and nights on many waters can just be largely a waste of time if fished conventionally. On harder waters it is most often the case that fish will shy away from fresh baits, preferring to feed on them when water has penetrated and leached them for a number of days and nights.
Many anglers on pressured waters introduce their free baits into a swim upon arrival and then after leaving fishless perhaps after 48 hours, another angler comes along and again introduces fresh bait in the same swim; mostly with the same fishless result! Looking at the bigger picture, this kind of thing must go on constantly all over the world on pressured carp waters. Of course over time the fish might eat the old baits gathering in the swim with more confidence and Mr average angler times it lucky and gets a surprise fish result while being oblivious that he's fishing over other anglers build-up baits. But sometimes the gathered bait can all go off and kill the swim completely (again, this is something Mr average angler may be completely unaware of as he proceeds to bait up, again...)
Our angling behaviours can become simply habitual processes, where the thought of what has worked in the past must still work today dominates. But I tend to find each day is a different day and fish behaviour is dynamic constantly changing and adapting and what worked so well yesterday is the very thing the fish are so keenly wary of today!
I am lucky enough to have caught a rare very pale white 38 pound carp that had not been caught in over 7 years, from one UK water. In this instance it took the regular very unusually light style and frequency of baiting a swim, with a totally new bait to that water and for a week long period, that scored (and this big fish was followed by many more as a result.)
In this case I chose and applied new attractor and feeding trigger substances in bait forms that had not been used or rarely if ever exploited at this water before along with a new baiting approach with an unusual frequency of baiting and these and associated differences have made such a difference to results personally, on a range of waters. All it takes is consideration of the particular ways the fish have become conditioned by the anglers' baits, methods and thinking that dominates the water historically and each water differs in various key ways in this, that you might well be able to exploit in your own unique ways. You can make a big difference by being different in almost any individual or combination of ways!
If you take the time to analyse the short-term and long-term impacts of what other anglers are doing on your water and link that to the negative (or positive) impacts on fish behaviours over any time period, you may begin to see how to exploit both fish and angler behaviour creatively. This thought is unique to your fishing situation at any point in time so will most likely produced the most accurately tuned possible actions, processes, thoughts and actions to solve the particular fishing challenges present. By analysing your fishing challenges and fishing situation in regards impacts of your fishing (and of other anglers) upon fish really can means you can save a fortune in wasted bait; as what you do use is leveraged with far greater results in catches in relation to money spent on bait achieving these!
12a It is true that to maximise the power and costs of your baits takes some thought, but a little effort can save you literally a fortune in wasted costs. So next time you arrive at your water and proceed to bait up as usual, you might stop mid-flow and take time to consider the many other solutions that are staring you in the face which you might presently be blind to but for a little extra thought; after all, the solutions that will be thought of in 10 years are available right now... This bait secrets books author has many more valuable fascinating insights and bait secrets to share but you need to look for them if they are to improve your own catches!
By Tim Richardson.