I suppose you could say that I am well-known for my passion for artificial baits, but what three of them would I choose for this time of year? So, I use artificial plastic lures throughout the year, and even if I made an alternative decision, I ended up putting someone on one of the fishing rods, and it worked. So it could be, for example, when caught with a significant amount of baits, when I mainly wanted to use the food bait on the hook. In such cases, I tried a little to be safe, didn’t want to do anything that would alarm the carp with the fact of any difference in the attachment from the surrounding bait.
Approximately so, from single samples, my way started in the field of application of artificial baits, and I came to the conclusion that if there is no reason for refusal, I will use them, of course, if it gives a result. It was a long time before I found out the real reason why should not ignore them.
Today, the market presents a variety of artificial carp baits of different kinds, and I can honestly say that the best of them are produced by “Enterprise Tackle”. I know that you think: “He just has to say that because they sponsor him.” Well, you’re wrong. This sponsorship does exist, but it arose as a result of my very long use of Enterprise baits, and not the other way around. Do not ask me which, but especially in the case of corn, many other companies were producing their versions, but none of them was as useful as the Enterprise Tackle product, and I found out it fast.
Bait corn for carp fishing
I will mention sugar, or sweet, corn, indeed the most popular and many times reproduced plastic nozzle – this is my number one. If only because, using sugar or regular corn as a bait, I fished more carp than I can remember.
Sugar corn is a favourite carp bait on the whole planet, and just as regular corn looks like it, but offer fish one next to the other, and sugar will always be eaten first. The carps love it, that’s all.
The texture of this bait, as well as the amine compounds packed in it, are beautiful for carp, and I lost count of the number of cases when the fish on my mat defecated by hundreds of grains. Two more seemingly polar opposing factors promote the success of sugar corn.
On the one hand, if someone starts to introduce this bait again into a body of water in which the fish has not seen it for some time, the result will be explosive. And on the other hand, the more this bait is in the water, the higher its effectiveness is with each time. Contrary to what tell you, it is never “exhaled” and, of course, works particularly well in the winter.
Even when fishing with boilies, mixed with them one small jar of canned, corn can transform your results. With this in mind, why not to add a grain of imitation corn to the nozzle? This “cap” will serve as a powerful visual stimulus, and I do not mean only noses from sinking boilies or wafer.
How many of you reading these lines have ever tried to install yellow corn on top of a light boil? Or even over a bright pop-up? Have you tried? Then why not take a chance?
The grain should not necessarily be yellow, since a lot of bright colours work, and this or that often can be more effective today than tomorrow, so it is necessary to stock up a particular set of “caps” of different colours.
Installing a plastic seed on top of the tiger nut is an excellent tactic that brought me great success. The point here is not only and not so much in buoyancy, and I always grin when I hear how some fishermen talk about balancing their bottom nozzle with artificial corn. The resilience of such grain is not unusually high, even in the case of pop-up versions, so it’s pointless to think that you level the weight of bait with a nozzle at the expense of a corn “cap”.
As a bottom nozzle, I use wafer, and I place the selected corn on top of them. In this case, since the wafer itself is critically balanced, a slightly more light plastic grain will, as a rule, actually be at the top of the nozzle, increasing its visual attractiveness.
Before moving on, I’ll give you another reason to think of: did you ever come across the experience of artificial corn that glows in the dark? Sometimes it can entirely change the game in your favour, and in recent years I’ve used it more often than I told about it because I did not want to lose this advantage. I am glad today to share this secret with readers – in the end; it’s time. And you do not need any ultraviolet flashlight since this nozzle is well “charged” with sunlight. Also, you can activate a mighty glow by lowering it into boiling water. Accept this as a helpful piece of advice.
What are the fake fish baits?
I wanted to create a line of artificial boilies, and in the end, I persuaded Chris Hornsby, the owner of Enterprise Tackle, to make these attachments, which got me the name Immortals, since they can work forever. Now there are all kinds of them, but my favourites are balls with a diameter of 10 mm.
You might ask, why not just use conventional boilies of the same size? Why do you need imitation? Well, there are several reasons.
First of all, natural boilies and pop-ups absorb water, which spoils their fundamental properties and reduces buoyancy, while artificial ones are not affected by this harmful influence. They are not destroyed and are resistant to small fish attacks, and also you can use a very small pop-up with a large hook, which, according to many hunters for giant carp, can be a huge advantage.
I remember how a few years ago I took my friends to the Anglers Paradise fishing complex – that capture trip very brightly. The water was extremely dyed, so after short, unsuccessful fishing for boilies, I decided to use Immortals. They were white with a caramel-creamy aroma of toffee, and – I’m not fooling you – the first casting of one such ball brought me a bite. I imagined that this could have happened by chance, but it all happened again and again. It was a revelation. We moved to a complex trophy lake, and the success continued. And he accompanied not only me because one of my friends caught his first twenty pounds fish, and the next day – thirty, and all this happened at a time when natural boilies did not work at all.
I ran to the main body of water, where people suffered from a lack of bite. The host of the complex Zig Gregorec, whom we all know and love, asked me to go and give the guys a helping hand because they were poor. I just showed them my Immortals and gave them a little sample. After that, they all caught! And do not ask me now why it happened, because I do not have an unambiguous answer, but it happened alternately on three water bodies and when all the fishermen suffered a fiasco. Was the smell of this nozzle, white colour, steady buoyancy, or the fact that it was not saturated with water, losing its attractiveness? I do not know, but the events described have convincingly shown me how useful these artificial boilies can be, and now I rarely go somewhere without them.
Tips for maggot pupa fishing
I know that sponge is handy in winter, although it forbids on an increasing number of water bodies, but has it ever occurred to you to use as an alternative caster, pupae of these larvae? It is necessary to think over this. I like them, and carp, too.
On many captured reservoirs, when bites are difficult to obtain, casters can provide a considerable advantage. Many fishers are concerned about the problem of keeping this bait in good condition, but, in fact, it’s silly. If you buy a caster from a reliable dealer, store them in a sealed bag in a suitable cool place, and they will be okay. Going to fish more than a day, take a portable refrigerator with you, so that the pupae will not overheat and turn into a swarm of flies!
Try catching with this bait in a single PVA bag, using an inline sinker, a braided leash and a very sharp hook, and you’ll see how it can change your results. I would add salt, sugar, ground pellets or some other fine food powder to it so that all the caster would dry out completely and not dissolve the PVA.
Nevertheless, you will have difficulty using natural hooks on the hook, since they are not particularly strong, but here imitating pupae come into play. They exist both in floating and drowning versions, and I found out that at certain times one of them works better than the other. You can, of course, use some combination, if you want to experience a balanced installation – I often do so.
I sincerely think that carp will eat more casters more willingly than sponges, but I hardly see anyone using them. Give them a chance and fish with a nozzle made from stronger imitation pupae. Also, it’s a daring way to avoid the ban on sponges.