Pack Bait and Ground Bait

Common carp swimming away after landing and safe return to the water

Before I started carp fishing I had no idea what the term ground bait or pack bait meant and why it’s important.

Ground bait can be made from various types of organic materials including bird seed, bread, Panko, oatmeal, corn, corn meal, cream corn, grits, hemp seed, molasses, Jell-O, and vanilla (and on and on). There are also many versions and varieties of pre-made commercial ground bait mixes that can be purchased and mixed with water for convenience.

A common mixture (and one I use) includes oatmeal, cream corn, and some type of flavoring (some use vanilla). For flavoring I’ve used R & W Carp Juice available online and in stores and Booster from World Classic Baits, which I purchase online.

Instead of oatmeal, bread crumbs are also popular choices. I switched to bread crumbs last year.

I add a cap full of flavoring/scent mix into a can of cream corn and stir it up well. Then I add two cups of dry oatmeal or bread crumbs to a large plastic container and add the can of cream corn.

I mix the oatmeal and corn very well and then add more oatmeal to dry it out a little. 

This took some trial and error to learn correctly. If it’s too wet, it won’t cast well; and if it’s too dry, it won’t pack correctly and stay on your method lead, method spring, or other type of cage you may be using to deliver the bait to your favorite carp fishing spot. 

Not knowing how to fish with ground bait, I went online and watched videos that discussed it, demonstrated it, and theorized about doing it correctly. I asked questions on fishing forums, read online magazines and talked to so guys I know who have been avid carp fishermen for several years. 

The main strategy goes like this…you attract carp into the area with the scent and flavoring and that gives you a chance to entice the carp to consume the bait and get hooked by consuming the hookbait.

I have learned that this style of fishing takes patience. It can take a while for carp to arrive into the area you are fishing. I wait 60 minutes and then repeat the process again. 

Caution is warranted using this strategy because if you over feed the area, the carp may be content to eat your ground bait and avoid your bait and hook. 

Likewise when using too little ground bait it can take a long time to attract carp into the area. 

Pack bait is just ground bait molded around a lead before casting.

It does require some trial and error experimentation to develop a method that works for the particular fishing spot and personal tastes for how you want to approach the task.

I've made an improvement in my pack bait strategy over the years that I think is effective. I add boiled field corn to my mix. A couple of handfuls worth is sufficient. Maybe it's because I don't prebait in advance, but I seem to get more bites with the field corn added.

Carp Fishing Tactics Observations

When I first started fishing for carp in early summer 2013 I used 3 pieces of corn on a hair rig and a mixture of oatmeal, cream corn and pineapple flavoring for my pack bait molded around an inline lead. I tended to recast with another round of pack bait about every 45 minutes. My catch rate was sporadic and inconsistent.

In 2014 I switched to panko bread crumbs instead of oatmeal, but stuck with the cream corn and pineapple flavoring. In the beginning of the year I experimented with waiting for longer periods of time between recasting with new pack bait. I extended the time to 90 minutes and even 120 minutes in some cases. Sometimes I would catch carp within 10 or 15 minutes of casting and other times it would be closer to 90 minutes before hooking up.



22 pounder caught in October

Toward the end of the 2014 I started noticing the hook ups were coming sooner and sooner. In fact most of the time, if I caught carp it was within the first 20 to 25 minutes of the cast. So I gravitated back to recasting every 60 minutes or so.

I actually think the time between recasts has a direct impact for me on the catch rate. It seems that recasting time after time to the same spots also helps draw in more fish to the area as the bait builds up in the water. Also, it seems like the time between recasts makes some difference in catch rate.

You might want to pay more attention to whether or not this impacts your carp fishing and make adjustments if you think it will help. I know I will.

Maybe this will work for you; maybe it won't, but it may be worth experimenting.

Quantity vs. Quality

It's an age old problem.

Quantity

Do you buy something inexpensive that will get the job done, but has to be replaced quite often, or buy something significantly more expensive that will last much, much longer? A comparison might be buying a Fiat vs. a BMW or a Hyundai vs. a Mercedes.

Do you buy something of good quality like a Seiko or Citizen watch that is moderately expensive, or do you buy something of very, very good quality like a Rolex or Tag Heuer?

For me those comparisons align well with some of my theories of fishing for carp.

Do you use an inexpensive, but effective bait for catching carp like Panko and corn, or do you fish with boilies and a concoction of particles? Both catch fish, but some feel it's a matter of more fish vs. bigger fish.

Quality

There's another variable  for carp fishing that makes this scenario a little more interesting - are you fishing in a habitat that has big fish? If the answer is yes, then fishing with inexpensive corn will still catch big fish.


Another way of looking at it -

Would you rather catch 10 or 15 fish with the chance of one or two big fish or catch 4 or 5 fish with one or two big fish?

I know which option I prefer! More is always better in my book.

Big Carp Tackle and Carp Bait Order

Yesterday I put together an order of carp fishing supplies from BigCarpTackle.com. Hooks, a landing mat, some new alarms, and a Korda Rig Safe Storage Box are headed my way. Next on my list I need to put together a bait order.

Last year I fished pineapple flavors exclusively. I used pineapple maize, pineapple dip, pineapple in my ground bait, pineapple boilies and pineapple booster. This year I am thinking about changing it up a little bit.

I am thinking about trying to switch up my flavors based on the time of year. For example:

• Crayfish in spring
• 4 Season and Scopex in summer
• Pineapple in fall

I don't know how much flavor really matters, but I know that pineapple works fairly well through out the year. It will always be my fall back plan, because I have a lot of confidence in it. Now I need to gain some confidence in some other flavor strategies.

For my ground bait I am going to switch over to a butternut flavor, which I think will pair fairly well with the Scopex.

I have fished boilies on a limited basis up to now and I don't know if I'll change how often I fish with boilies. It's a confidence thing. I have confidence in flavored maize, but for me the boilies are still a work in progress.

World Classic Baits pineapple flavored maize