5 Essential Carp Baits You Should Always Have In You Bait Bag When Carp Fishing

What is the five essential carp baits you should always have in you bait bag you ask well this is my list of the bait I always have in my bait bag and most of them I wouldn’t leave home without. By reading this article you should take with some ideas and tips for your next carp fishing session that may help you catch the king of the pond!

1: Pop up boilies

It’s great to have a selection with you of various colours and flavours because you never know what’s going to work on the day. My favourite pop up’s are 12mm pink ‘buchu berry’ and have accounted for many of my captures recently. You can use them on chod and hinged stiff rigs or use them with a bottom bait to create a ‘snowman’ rig which are very effective. Using a single 12mm pop up in the winter is a very effective method, I would just pop it up a few centimetres from the lake bottom with a spitshot or putty.

2: Bottom Baits

Boilies are a great bait for catching carp and using a single 16mm boilie on its own, on a hair rig perform very well on most lakes. Personally I would always like to top it off with a piece of plastic corn or small pop up to create a semi buoyant bait that can be easy swept up into the fishes mouth which also increases hook hold. You can also use bottom bait boilies in PVA bags either whole, halves or completely blended up to small bits.

3: Halibut/Trout Pellets

Halibut or trout pellets create an effect that simply draws in fish to your hook bait. I like to a have a range of pellets from 1mm to 4mm in a sealed bucket with me every time I go carp fishing so I can make up PVA bags and you also add the pellets to a spod mix or ground bait. Pellets are also great as you can buy in bulk very cheaply from farm shops and tackle shops.

[toptip]Never neglect the margins especially on commercial waters before the beginning of you session chuck in a mix of small halibut pellets or particles close in for you to come back to it later on when the fish will be drawn in close this for me can normally snag you a big fish.[/toptip]

4: Plastic baits

Plastic baits over recent years have been essential for any tackle bag and you can take a selection with you as they are light and small. Personally I like to use a plastic sweetcorn intimation to top off baits such as boilies but I have had a lot of success on just double plastic corn slightly popped up off the lake bottom. Colours such as Yellow, Pink and White tend to work best and can be a great success especially in the winter months.

5: Hemp/Particles

As previously mentioned particles can be a great bait to draw in fish to your hook bait that won’t make the fish full from eating it. Adding it a spod mix or ground bait is the most common way of using particle, but there is also other methods. You can make the particles ‘PVA friendly’ so you can use it in PVA sticks or solid PVA bags preventing the PVA from melting and this can be very beneficial. Another reason to use particles is the fact that it is cheap, you can buy in bulk from you local tackle shop or farm shop and prepare the particles at home.

I hope you enjoyed my five essential baits to always take with you when carp fishing, if you have any views or comments about any essential baits you like to take with you when carp fishing then feel free to comment below.