You can't choose which one picks the bait up!

Is that true? Is it totally random, or are there some things you can put in your favour to help target a certain fish, or size of fish?

When it comes to bait there are definitely a few things I do that I genuinely believe helps me bank a few better fish.

Just incredibly good quality boilie

Trusting my bait straight out of the bag.

Of course, a lot of this depends on the water you are fishing and the stock. If for example I am at Lac Solace and every single bite will be special and welcome then I will prepare my bait the way I often do. Lake water, salt, oil and liquid. I want to create a frenzy.

But, a lot of the public waters I fish have a very high percentage of the typical 'wild' 10lb commons and mirros. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate every bite, but public fishing is hard, and my time is limited. I know I can get bites, but I'd rather have one good one in a day than 10 smaller ones.

I enjoy getting bites, but the bigger the better

So, for those types of waters I don't want my baits signal to be screaming to loudly. Those smaller fish can be like piranhas. I want to make sure I put it in the right place and let my bait do the talking for me.

I also stick to boilie only. No seed or nuts. Just subtle, very good quality boilie.

Hookbait Colour

Along the same line to the above, is Hookbait colour.

Last year out Salmon and Shrimp Pop Ups caught me countless fish from a number of publics, some good ones, some little wildies, as well as loads of good ones from Lac Solace and Lac Du Coron.

Took a lot of littlens to get the odd proper one.

The attraction package of the Salmon and Shrimp is special, it will get everythings attention. Add the deadly light pink colour and you have a devastating hookbait. But, maybe it was screaming a little bit too loud.

Either on my hinges or as toppers, the Salmon and Shrimp did me a lot of bites!

So yesterday I left the Salmon and Shrimps in the pot and went for a match the hatch. I was feeding Sea Monster with a bit of King Squid. The Sea Monster has proved so successful for me on public waters why change it. Now, it takes some confidence to not put a Hookbait on because it gets you too many bites, but I think you get what I mean.

So I went with a King Squid 10% Hookbait tipped with half a Sea Monster pop up.

A combination I have a huge amount of faith in

After a little longer than normal, the rod tore off and instantly I got that thudding lunge of a good fish. The runs it went on, so powerful that the braid burnt and cut through my finger!

That hurt!

Eventually though I got it up the shelf and slipped a very long, and pretty heavy, wild common slipped over the chord of my HD 46".

One of these a day and I'll be very happy