Livebait???

[northern lad 2,292]

Just reading the piking thread and it got me thinking about livebaiting,over the years I,ve used most species in varying sizes for livebait and come to the following conclusions.....Roach,cast ok and work reasonably well as long as temps not too low,Perch,not keen work well for half an hour and give up,Dace,superb ,cast well ,work hard but size limits its use,Pike,cast well but give up the ghost quickly,Carp ,cast well ,work tirelessly and pretty much indestructible,Bream,again work reasonably well,the downside being theyre as aerodynamic as a breezeblock and crap to cast,Chub spot on ,but getting just the right size for bait is difficult,Rudd,endless tangles on paternosters and leger rigs(great on a greased line over weedbeds though)Gudgeon,cracking baits but too small (apart from Hot Meats )Tench,cast and work well,the matchmen REALLY don't like seeing you using these Trout ,work and cast well,but a bit on the fragile side.....SO,hypothetical question....Youre going piking in the morning and can have what you like in the bait bucket (as its hypothetical we can ignore all the transporting fish to another water and any other rules/regulations )I must admit to sitting guilt free behind probably thousands of liveys over the years,however it doesnt sit so well with me now...however ....Id take a bucket of 6-8oz carp .....so there you have it ...species,size and why :hmm:Oddest thing I ever saw as a livey was an 18 inch Koi ,being towed behind a bait boat,controlled by a very well known angler ....

[pip1968 2,490]

i would go for a few nice size gold fish above all the other fish you mentioned they stand out well in all types of water ie clear or murky and stay on the hook well

[northern lad 2,292]

Yep,good bait Goldfish Pip...a bit on the expensive side for the larger ones though....that would raise some eyebrows,sat there with a bucket of jumbo Sarasa Comets what sort of size would you prefer?

[pip1968 2,490]

Yep,good bait Goldfish Pip...a bit on the expensive side for the larger ones though....that would raise some eyebrows,sat there with a bucket of jumbo Sarasa Comets what sort of size would you prefer?

we have an old swimming baths full of different size fish nl and used to buy them from their for about £5 for a about 8 fish around the 3 to 4 inch range caught plenty of jack pike from the local park lakes and canals

[northern lad 2,292]

That's cheap enough...used to take any casualties out of me ma,s pond,koi,orfe etc can remember sitting on the local Stillwater all day in winter to catch 3 or 4 roach for bait on sunday,get there set the first rod up ,hook livey on ,cast and watch it hit the water 20 yds away from the float then watch a seagull pick it off the surface and fly off the only time I bought livebait was on Patshull Park ,Wolverhampton,they used to have a cage full of small trout on the jetty,think they were 50p each...too small really and the pike soon switched on to the fact that any small trout had hooks in them

[squab 2,875]

would be carp for me

[treecreeper 1,136]

depends where i was going fishing but trout roach and skimmers. used to use frogs on a single treble when I was younger wouldn't catch me messing about with them now

[northern lad 2,292]

Funny how attitudes to carp have changed...in the eighties using a carp for bait was an act of herecy....much more of a commodity now due to all the commercials cracking baits though,crucians were good too.

[northern lad 2,292]

depends where i was going fishing but trout roach and skimmers. used to use frogs on a single treble when I was younger wouldn't catch me messing about with them now

Nearly asked if anyone had tried frogs/mice etc and thought better of it did you catch on them,saw a frog used once ,towed a bung round for hours no runs though.

[squab 2,875]

Funny how attitudes to carp have changed...in the eighties using a carp for bait was an act of herecy....much more of a commodity now due to all the commercials cracking baits though,crucians were good too.

lad i know who is very into targetting large pike will always use carp,uses small ponds on golf course as stock ponds,nets them out up to 2ib used off a boat in large lakes not cast obviously,no stigma using carp amongst fellow specimen hunters as far as i know they all on it

[treecreeper 1,136]

a lot of the lakes up north wouldn't have any carp but for bait escaping or being chucked in

[treecreeper 1,136]

Had jacks out the canal on them, nothing massive. iv not bothered fishing it for years though thanks to the otters and eastern Europeans.

I do remember trying to get mice or rat lures when I was younger but never managed it.

[Hot Meat 3,109]

Summat I never done a lot of, and when I have it's been in company oot folks who knew much more than me. Lad caught a 5lb chub few years ago on a little tiny roach he was reeling in tho lol we grew up fishing the canal in glasgow and up there as kids we used littl jack pike to catch bigger uns, but we always had better results with dead mackrel, so used that more often as we had more confidence in it

[treecreeper 1,136]

same here hm, mackerel tails and 6inch roach. I don't mind live baiting its just a lot easier to grab them out the freezer.

[mart02 5]

 

Yep,good bait Goldfish Pip...a bit on the expensive side for the larger ones though....that would raise some eyebrows,sat there with a bucket of jumbo Sarasa Comets what sort of size would you prefer?

 

we have an old swimming baths full of different size fish nl and used to buy them from their for about £5 for a about 8 fish around the 3 to 4 inch range caught plenty of jack pike from the local park lakes and canals

A mate of mine knew a lad who worked at a garden centre a few years ago and he used to get the deformed and sick goldfish for nothing. He always swore that these were great pike bait, especially on the river when it was a bit coloured.