Maggots

Natural whites and various colours including bronze, red, yellow with green and blue a less common sight
Maggots can be used for most fishing methods such as Float, feeder and ledger fishing. When fishing the
presentation of a maggot is very important, single maggots are best.
Hooked through the flap of skin at the blunt end this won't burst the bait and allows it to continue wriggling
Mount double offerings by lightly hooking one through the head and the other through the tail to prevent
them spinning up light hook lengths on the retrieve. Clusters of maggots can be mounted on larger hooks?
to fool Barbel and Carp.Maggots also work well with hempseed, worms and various ground baits.
Overall this is first class bait that will catch every fish that swim

Sweetcorn

This has to be one of the cheapest baits that one can use; you can buy it from your local supermarket for less
than 30p a tin. Sweetcorn is great bait for Tench and Bream, Also a number of very large Carp have fallen to
Sweetcorn, with at least two Carp breaking the Carp Record. You can use it as hook bait or as loose feed along
with Hemp Seed. Sweetcorn is a very clean bait and very easy to use

Hemp

Hemp is a very good bait to use as a feeder bait which you can mix with many other baits, like casters maggot
and sweetcorn to name a few. You can use this as a hook bait, but beware your bites will be lighten quick, Roach
love hemp. Hemp works best for Roach when its fed little and often, while a big bed of Hemp needs to be put
down to hold fish like Barbel, Chub, Tench and Carp. In flowing water, hemp often has to be fed in a bait dropper
or feeder You can buy this uncooked in bulk and cook it at home, this is the cheapest way to buy Hemp, and you
can also buy it pre-cooked from your local Tackle dealer

How to Cook Hemp.

The best way to prepare Hemp is soak the seed overnight to soften the seed; it is prepared by boiling and simmering
for 30 minutes. This turns the shell black and small white shoot emerges. Take care when cooking Hemp, once it is
cooked it remains very hot for a while afterwards. I cook a few pints at a time and put them in my fishing freezer
until I require them. Please beware that if you cook you hemp in doors it will cause an unpleasant smell. I cook mine
outside on the Bar- B-Q (Gas).Allways get help from an adult when cooking hemp

Casters

After several days, maggots start to turn into chrysalis or casters. Initially, these are white but quickly turn
light bronze, then a deeper brown ending up almost black. In their lighter stages, they sink but as they
turn darker they float When fishing with casters in clear water, it's best to almost bury the hook inside,
leaving just a fraction of the point showing. In most other conditions, casters can lightly hooked through
the blunt tail end, which is slightly tougher than the pointed head. Double offerings on slightly larger hooks,
sometimes deters fish, as will darker coloured casters. Dark floaters also fool wary fish because they
counter the weight of the hook, making the hook bait behave similar to loose feed. Hemp works very well
along side casters. I rate casters very highly.

Worms

Reds are the smallest worms, followed by the medium sized dendrobaenas and brandlings. The largest
variety is the lobworms. Fish tend to target the darker coloured heads of most worms, so impale the hook
in this area, a little way back from the tip. Larger worms can also be cut into shorter segments. Worms
are readily accepted and equally on the Float, Ledger or Feeder tackle. This is a truly all year round bait
and one that will catch fish well in coloured water. Worms are good activators, particularly when chopped
up to release a strong scent. Pole anglers often cup Reds, Lobs and Dendrobaenas in. Worm is an
excellent cocktail bait that often pulls bonus bites when matched with baits like red maggot and casters.

Pellets

Pellets are sold in 4, 8, 10, 12,14,16, 18 and 20mm sizes. The originals were designed for rearing Trout,
Salmon and Halibut on fish farms, but they have proved very effective for course fish, notably Carp.
Pellets can be float fished, legered and combined with feeder tackle, particularly Method feeders. These
are mainly bait for Carp venues but their use is spreading on canals and Bream waters.
Pellets are a prime Carp and Bream bait but other species like Tench and silver fish soon take a liking to
them. You can combine pellets with Bollies, Sweetcorn and Hemp. These baits are now out selling maggots
in many areas.I have been using pellets for the last couple of years and I have caught some very nice fish.
You can buy these in bulk, which is by far the cheapest way to by them.