Pre baiting For and against

Having just kicked of this seasons pre baiting campaign and going over last winters results from the previous attempts i concluded
1. It paid off with quick quality fish
2. I didnt need to peg hop to locate fish
3. i spent useful time on the water prior to actually wetting a line
4. sessions were aligned with pre baiting enabling results on short sessions
5. I bloody enjoyed it  more.

After the positives come more Questions.
Did we pre bait  the  most effective way
What could we have changed frequency, quantity, dawn or dusk or mix it up
When to lay off
Why did the fishing slow down a month in,
Forgive my ramblings but the more you learn the more questions arise from your answers.
I would appreciate peoples thoughts on the subject

The biggest thing my pre bait produced was piketastic the crafty cnt

I wish I had a lake I could pre bait

is it that bad up there psion? im from lancashire originaly all i had was rock hard canals and pennine peaty rezys a double was a good fish

When you are sat on the rods having pre baited Shaun and you are pretending to be carping. It helps if I'm not scouting round a lake searching for pike !🕵🏻🕵🏻 It would also help if you were better at lying 😀😂. But if we hadn't met under such secretive circumstances, then I would also never have had the pleasure of sliding the net under your 21.10 beauty later in the year... And you richly deserved that for taking me fishing when I was still too ill to drive. So one way or another your pre baiting got you a PB . Therefore I suggest that it's a VERY GOOD thing indeed 👍

There are no lakes close enough to me I could pre bait. Its one of them things I would like to try just to see if it works.

prebaiting is brilliant if nobody is watching you from across the lake and then reaping the rewards
not being negative ,but this happened to me a few years ago , could not get a sniff of the usually pike a cast peg
just be careful who you tell and don't forget people are watching this website all the time who might know you and where you fish

Hi all, well the time is almost upon us and I for one can't wait til Saturday. I have a couple of questions about this pre baiting lark as I would like to try it myself, firstly, have I left it too late? And how long before you fish the area you are pre baiting? And is it ok to fish one area but prebait another on the same stretch? I'm sure there will be more questions but that is it for now, cheers, Leon

Hi leon
Its definately not to late to start pre baiting. A good mate of mine  does not start his  pre baiting untill december(his logic is the fish are on the bait fish that are still active, switching to deads as the temps drop) and he has had results over 30lb.
As far as how long do you put bait in before fishing, i think its all down to the water or waters your focusing on.
Its a suck it and see situation some waters respond well others less so.And so many variables too stock density, water size, fishing pressure etc
let us know how you get on.
Good luck

Some great info here lads. I am starting to bait a water with mackeral heads and sections, then i will use the little and often approach I think. 12 or so heads every other evening for a fortnight and then spend a weekend in the spot. Nobody fishes the lough with deads so its more to get them used to them than fattening them up. Its exciting trying new things whether they work or not

lowdouble wrote:Some great info here lads.  I am starting to bait a water with mackeral heads and sections,  then i will use the little and often approach I think.  12 or so heads every other evening for a fortnight and then spend a weekend in the spot.  Nobody fishes the lough with deads so its more to get them used to them than fattening them up.  Its exciting trying new things whether they work or not

It also keeps them where the easy food supply is until pressure moves them ie us lot

Well thats the plan anyway lol. Fingers and toes crossed for a LUMP

i like the idea of pre-baiting but there is no honour amongst anglers like there was twenty years ago where if someone knew you were pre-baiting they would avoid your peg. nowadays the stalkers will let you do the work then get in before you and reap the rewards, not just for pike but any fish. unfortunately secrecy has to be the key.
good luck this season everyone,, hope you all smash your pb's

Same to you Rozzo

Hi all, I'm away for the weekend , I will be pre baiting a certain area with the usual gunk , then I'm going to land a nice oily mackerel on it and await a result ! Fingers crossed . Good luck all .

piketastic wrote:Hi all, I'm away for the weekend , I will be pre baiting a certain area with the usual gunk , then I'm going to land a nice oily mackerel on it and await a result !  Fingers crossed .  Good luck all .

Good luck mate

Good luck Craig i'll look forward to the pics of the 30

good luck bud, im out in the morning

Good luck MBA a 30 from you as well

I have been prebaiting for pike,but the same thing happens that happened when prebaiting for any fish,ie someone see's you doing it I did start using a hair rigged bait on a single size 6/4 carp hook because i was worried that the prebait might lead to pike wolfing the bait down.

DELBOY wrote:I have been prebaiting for pike,but the same thing happens that happened when prebaiting for any fish,ie someone see's you doing it I did start using a hair rigged bait on a single size 6/4 carp hook because i was worried that the prebait might lead to pike wolfing the bait down.

ive not had any problem with pike wolfing it down after prebait, its a right pisser when someone drops on the prebait though

DELBOY wrote:I have been prebaiting for pike,but the same thing happens that happened when prebaiting for any fish,ie someone see's you doing it I did start using a hair rigged bait on a single size 6/4 carp hook because i was worried that the prebait might lead to pike wolfing the bait down.

in my opinion pal if you fish a small single hook on a hair rig type, I have found it will get wolfed down quicker than conventional treble trace set up  , I have like you experimented over the years and found single hook rigs  lose more fish or harm them .....this is just my opinion on single hook approach
I soon went back to trebles and my trusty size 4 s

Hello boy,I to have lost pike on the single hook but i tell myself that they were prob only small anyway,but since using the hair rig single hook i have had about 30 pike which were ALL hooked just in the side of the mouth,i have never had one hooked anywhere near the back of the mouth,i can even unhook them with the forceps without lifting them out of the water,one of the reasons i gave the single hook a try was that it dosent matter how good you are sooner or later you will lose the lot either in a pike or in a snag just waiting for a pike to come along,I sleep a lot better at night knowing i am only risking leaving one hook out there and not 6.Glad you gave it a go,hopefully a few more will give it a try.Happy days

I prebaited 6 times over 2 weeks and put about 10 chopped Mackerel in each time. I have fished the swim 4 times and haven't had a run on the baited area at all and haven't had a run on Mackerel at all. the other rod i fish at long long range 100m from the area has produced about 100% of the runs in the swim, and only on roach and trout deads. I just dont understand it lol.

lowdouble wrote:I prebaited 6 times over 2 weeks and put about 10 chopped Mackerel in each time.  I have fished the swim 4 times and haven't  had a run on the baited area at all    and haven't had a run on Mackerel at all.   the other rod i fish at long long range 100m from the area has produced about 100% of the runs in the swim,   and only on roach and trout deads.      I just dont understand it lol.

do you have grebes and cormorants on your water they can quickly mop up your baited areas especially chopped up chum fish bait , filmed grebes diving down on my prebait with the waterwolf all day long along with cormorants

Theres a few Stubbo. But the baits i threw into the margins 2 weeks ago (3 foot of water) are still there so i guess the birds would have had them first. strange but true.