Mussels Galore

[Mole-Patrol]

I've been using mussels as a bait for carp and barbel on and off for a while now. I have this theory that anything natural is more likely to catch fish that have not been exposed to conventional baits that are unnatural. They work, but then again so does a lump of unnatural luncheon meat, cheese paste or bread. But today in our local Lidl store I came across 2 kilo packs of small mussels for 50 cents! They were marked up as being out of date, the sell by date being today, so had been reduced by 90%. Naturally they were added to our trolley and now have pride of place in my bait freezer ready for a spot of river fishing once the weather warms up a bit.

Bizarrely the sell by date on the full price packs was 21st January.

[Catfish.017]

Tench love them too and I once caught a half pound Crucian on a whole mussel!

[Barbelseeker]

Clive,

Whilst I have used mussels, I found the tinned white maize more effective. Trouble is you cannot buy it in England, and when I went to France only selective stores sold it - I think it was in the deli counter area - perhaps "Bondulle Maiz Blanc" - forgive spellings. I think that on a 3 day weekend holiday in Lillie, I spent nearly 4 hours trying to locate a Carrefour Hypermarket and took all 12 tins that they had. Attempted, many years ago to contact the company, to find if they had a main stockist in the UK - but very poor response.

I would be grateful if you could cast your eye about to see in your trips if you could see who stocks it. I would post a photo of my last tin, but having moved house I am afraid that everything is still in boxes and I have no idea where it might be.

Tight lines

Peter

[Mole-Patrol]

It looks like Carrefour do the white maize in Jolly Green Giant (Geant Vert) tins. There is a small Carrefour near to us so I will have a look around next time I pass if I can't see it on our weekly shop at Hyper-U.

For the record; I have found whole maize grains to be the best general bait for carp and barbel. Mussels work better when a scent trail is required.

[Duckett]

It was some years ago when I lived near the coast and could collect them, I had some success with mussels, coarse and sea fishing.

Just one word of caution - fresh water mussels are an endangered species in the UK (I don't know about France) and shouldn't be killed if you are ever lucky enough to see them.

Phil

[Mole-Patrol]

I haven't seen a freshwater mussel since the 1970's. In one of my local rivers there are small clams that have been illegally introduced and originate from the Orient (not Leyton, the other one). Just one of the many invasive species I encounter.

I use mussels mainly for short sessions or when roving whilst river fishing, as they are a bait that can produce bites almost immediately. As I said earlier, maize is the number one bait out here for most cyprinids but it doesn't have the instant attraction that mussels, whelks and prawns have. The only trouble with these three baits is that catfish also love them and 1.5lb tc rod, 6lb line and a Speedia are totally outclassed when one of those is on the other end.

Another species that mussels and whelks are good for when cut up into small pieces are mullet. And I will be giving mussels a try for tench this summer.

[Snape]

Clive,

Whilst I have used mussels, I found the tinned white maize more effective. Trouble is you cannot buy it in England, and when I went to France only selective stores sold it - I think it was in the deli counter area - perhaps "Bondulle Maiz Blanc" - forgive spellings. I think that on a 3 day weekend holiday in Lillie, I spent nearly 4 hours trying to locate a Carrefour Hypermarket and took all 12 tins that they had. Attempted, many years ago to contact the company, to find if they had a main stockist in the UK - but very poor response.

I would be grateful if you could cast your eye about to see in your trips if you could see who stocks it. I would post a photo of my last tin, but having moved house I am afraid that everything is still in boxes and I have no idea where it might be.

Tight lines

Peter

How about this stuff?
https://www.shopnsmile.co.uk/product-page/samp

[Mole-Patrol]

That looks like pellets Snape. I have used processed maize which is called 'Baby Corn'. Not sure if it is available in the UK, but cannot see why it wouldn't be. It smells and tastes like popcorn and is very convenient.

I think that Peter is looking for this: https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/pescavi ... gJtzvD_BwE

I can see why white sweetcorn would work better than the golden grains in some situations. I have spooked fish with natural sweetcorn and went through a period of adding blue food dye to the contents of a tin the night before, but that takes planning and my sessions are usually off the cuff.

[Barbelseeker]

Thank for the suggestion, much too hard even after cooking and soakng for days - tried it - in fact not much I haven't bought and tried. I've raided most european grocery shops in the UK

Polish cheese straws, various Jamaican beans (too many too mention) - most hard seeds ( trying to repliacte hemp when it was banned on one of the waters I fished)

The tinned white maize is very soft and much smaller than normally sweet corn.

[Barbelseeker]

Yes, similar to Angling Direct but its like buying
Lidl sweet corn compared to Bondulle - Lidl can be large and semi hard, whilst with Bondulle you get consistant size and soft texture.

Might be a small thing, but overall I am sure that this gives me a distinct advantage.