Are fake baits important?
Do fake baits play an important part in your presentation repertoire, and if so, why? Do you have favoured colours and types, and do you soak them in other attractors, and if so, which do you like best?
Kev Hewitt
"I'll often top a pop-up"
“I always carry a selection of artificial baits which are permanently soaking in Hinders’ Betalin and Black, a mega sweet hookbait dip which clings to plastics. Artificial baits carry the advantage that they never lose their buoyancy which allows me to leave a bait in the water for as long as I want, knowing that the hookbait isn’t going to take on water and adjust the balance of the rig. I very often tip a small pop-up with a grain of Yellow ESP Buoyant Sweetcorn as I want my hookbait to replicate the items of food I am feeding and I more often than not use sweetcorn in my spod mix.”
Gary Bayes
"Ideal for shallow water"
“It’s very rare that I use plastic fake baits, usually only where crayfish are present in high numbers. I use foam quite a lot, on Chods in very shallow water to combat the birds picking my hookbaits up and on Zigs. I nearly always flavour my plastics or foam using the same flavours as the free offerings, usually with the food soak or dip. Colour-wise, black, brown and white are my favourites. Usually though, I have a boilie or particle hookbait that covers special circumstances when a standard straight-from-the-bag bottom bait might not and rarely use artificial.”
Shaun Harrison
"I no longer use them"
“Fake baits no longer play any part in my angling. I used to use them a lot and had several articles published on their use. Then I started to see too many fish towing rigs around with artificial baits attached. We all have accidents with pike biting the line at the rod tips, crack-offs etc., and then that rig is dangerous until the hook goes blunt. I couldn’t live with that so developed the Pimple Pops to replace them.”
Jon 'Shoes' Jones
"I prefer them un-flavoured"
“Artificial baits have played a massive part in my fishing and will continue to do so for many years to come. Not only do they help balance a rig, they also add a colour attraction to your hookbait which makes it stand from the rest. I favour corn overall as this can be devastating just on its own or by tipping a boilie hookbait. This is best when used in conjunction with a particle spod/Spomb mix. Two grains of artificial corn on a long shank blowback rig just sitting balanced off the bottom can have amazing results.
“I never flavour artificial baits as I think they are better straight from the packet, but I would always attach a very small PVA stocking of pellet or Stick mix just as a small mouthful. This I have found to be my preferred way.
“However, we do need to be careful when using artificial baits, especially in the event of a crack-off or when a breakage has occurred. Once something like this has happened you have a live rig sitting in the lake waiting for Mr. Carp to come along and find it. So make sure your knots are sound and you’re happy with your end tackle and of course take your time. Most mistakes are made by rushing.”
