What Deadbait do you reach for first?

Brownies or Rambos?

Andy Macfarlane wrote:Brownies or Rambos?

LOL thats a fair point

the colourfull rainbows, never used browns...

had a fish wednesday on half a raindow as well.

i would say 90% of my pike come on trout

Ah well mate. You haven't lived yet. Either find a supplier of small brownies (Nev used to do them in trays...dunno if he still does) or catch them yourself. I'm lucky that every wet ditch up here has a supply of stunted brownies in them so I'm generally always alright for baits.

Wee brownies and lace liberally with salmon oil (5mls) or aniseed (1-2mls). Couple of stabs in the flanks and wait for runs.

Best use a bait retrieval system, because wee brownies are generally brilliant baits and it's good getting more than 1 fish off each bait. Just use a length of old 15lb mono or similar. Tie the mono off round the tail root of the bait and trim the knot. Now lie the mono alongside the trace (with the hooks in the bait) and then tie the other end of the mono off on the trace swivel, making sure the mono is 2-3" shorter than the trace. This means you cast your bait very hard without fear of losing the bait or ripping the hooks out and when you do get a fish, the bait comes back attached to the trace.

Damn sight easier than that rubbish Gustafson came up with for launching baits and you have the added bonus of getting the bait back.