The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Does anybody else go to the effort of prebaiting for trotting?

I've just got back from prebaiting the river, nothing fancy just four pint of mainly hemp, a little wheat and some dead maggots. I find it makes a massive difference to the catch rate and certain worth the extra effort.

So, tomorrow morning at 6 am I'll be trotting a homemade quill down a steady glide hoping for some chub, barbel and maybe a silver bream or two.

Its bound to make for better fishing especially if its in a stable condition , the fish will hopefully stay around . Give it a go what have you got to loose Time and maggots wait for no man .Regards . Woolly bear .

Not as a rule but I have done. Also I usually bait a few swims on the way to my first fishing spot, just for a sly cast or two on the way back to the car.

Expect some pics

i bait swims on the day of the fishing as i like to keep mobile moving from swim to swim

I'm not a fan of pre-baiting but I'm sure it will help. Just KEEP CALM and collected if ever you find someone fishing in your nicely pre-baited swim! On the Thames fish like barbel, bream and chub rarely feed much during daylight hours in the summer, so pre-baiting for a trotting approach would be a tad waste of time but it may well work just before dusk when you can just see your float! So perhaps I'll consider it!

BigFish wrote:I'm not a fan of pre-baiting but I'm sure it will help. Just KEEP CALM and collected if ever you find someone fishing in your nicely pre-baited swim! On the Thames fish like barbel, bream and chub rarely feed much during daylight hours in the summer, so pre-baiting for a trotting approach would be a tad waste of time but it may well work just before dusk when you can just see your float! So perhaps I'll consider it!

I'm very lucky as the section of river I fish is practically unfished by anyone but me, in three years of fishing I've seen less angler than I've got fingers on one hand.

The fish are the same here, during the day you're wasting your time, evenings are good but early morning are fantastic. So I fish alot of morning but once you can feel the heat of the sun it's time to pack up.

Prince of Durham wrote:Expect some pics

I arrived at 6.30am and was leaving at around 9. Two pints of Hemp and and two pints of mixed bronze and red maggots where the bait of choice, fished on a size 18 animal with a 8no4 quill float.



Was my swim of choice, pic from earlier this year as I forgot to get one day. Although the far bank looks really attractive, particularly when I tell you there's cabbages under the trailing branches of the willow it wasn't the line I fished today. I fished the inside line as there's an almost vertcal shelf that runs parellel to the trot that the fish love.

The chub fed very well

I had six chub, all peas in a pod size wise. Only got a single pic, this chub weighted in at 3lb 9

I also had a single nase and four barbel running from around 2lb to 6lb. However the highlight of the day was

this roach at 1lb 11. I was surprisingly lucky, I hooked it right at the end of a long trot, maybe 40-50 yards and was a bit forceful with it until I saw what it was.

Excellent catch of chub, barbel and the large roach