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You pay a fortune on bait hoping to catch lots of big fish and yet the average carp angler is just that - average, because he catches no more fish than the rest. This literally means something he is doing or thinking approach just is not working. Most anglers simply throw money in the bin in bait costs etc because they have missed something so very vital to success!

Most often carp and catfish anglers use boilies, pellets and hemp, maize and sweetcorn and prepared commercial ground baits, as free baits to attract and hold fish in their swim. And these are obviously consistent baits for fish like carp and catfish. But often the hidden (or obvious) problem, is that you end up with many fish gorging upon your free ground baits and not getting hooked at all, or comparatively little, compared to the feeding activity going on in your swim. This happens far more than anyone is really accurately aware of and is a more truly shocking thing when you calculate just how much of your bait is consistently going to waste...

There is no point spending money to feed fish unless perhaps you are a fish farmer! If you keep on doing what is not working most efficiently and expecting different results, this is akin to the common definition of insanity. Carp and catfish are living dynamically reactive creatures and really do remember and associate with dangerous baits, rigs, spots in swims, tackle detected and so on.

Even hard-fished for big catfish as well as carp can become particularly unresponsive to popular baits and techniques even though they may have been so successful previously! So how do you save all this wasted money on bait used in free baiting and actually improve your catches by converting your baiting into more fish, consistently; because that is the big issue here! You see it is not just bait costs which mount up through the year, but all the associated but increasing costs of fishing; like time not earning, travelling costs, food and drink money, fishing memberships or tickets, the huge regular costs of replacing all those fishing tackle bits etc!

So converting your bait money at the very least into better catches, is perhaps even more of an issue, especially in tough times. Of course every fishery is different and these days there are many waters that are over-stocked to the degree that it appears everyone catches fish successfully. But who is to know just how much better your individual catches can really be until you truly get innovative and prove it to yourself?

It is the common habit of the average angler to put out free baits upon arrival at a fishery without too much thought about his or previous anglers impacts at any one moment in time, where fish may not actually feed confidently on baits that are fresh as they are associated with danger. The first few days and nights on many waters can just be largely a waste of time if fished conventionally. On harder waters it is most often the case that fish will shy away from fresh baits, preferring to feed on them when water has penetrated and leached them for a number of days and nights.

Many anglers on pressured waters introduce their free baits into a swim upon arrival and then after leaving fishless perhaps after 48 hours, another angler comes along and again introduces fresh bait in the same swim; mostly with the same fishless result! Looking at the bigger picture, this kind of thing must go on constantly all over the world on pressured carp waters. Of course over time the fish might eat the old baits gathering in the swim with more confidence and Mr average angler times it lucky and gets a surprise fish result while being oblivious that he's fishing over other anglers build-up baits. But sometimes the gathered bait can all go off and kill the swim completely (again, this is something Mr average angler may be completely unaware of as he proceeds to bait up, again...)

Our angling behaviours can become simply habitual processes, where the thought of what has worked in the past must still work today dominates. But I tend to find each day is a different day and fish behaviour is dynamic constantly changing and adapting and what worked so well yesterday is the very thing the fish are so keenly wary of today!

For instance, it was very lucky of me to catch a carp of 38 pounds; an amazing very pale white mirror (not koi carp) from one very pressured UK water. In over 7 years it was seen but not caught, but it was the combination of new bait, rig, baiting method and frequency and other things combined that produced this fish, (that all those anglers did not do previously,) and this unique combination produced dozens more good fish following this capture.

Using new attractant substances and feeding triggers combinations in a new baiting design, teamed with innovative bait application methods which rarely if ever have been exploited on your water before, will obviously give you great results compared to just going through the motions again and again! With a little thought you can always find something in your approach that is new and different on any water, that reaps you far greater catch results than otherwise would be achieved. This can mean literally anything!

Your fully considering the short and long-term impacts of the competing baits and similar rigs and methods upon fish behaviours over time is essential, for consistent success, on so many pressured waters and even easy waters! With the application of a little thought, your catches on many waters can become far better and more consistent; and the advantages of doing your own unique thing always pay-off handsomely with correct fine-tuning. But this is without spending hundreds or thousands of pounds on popular baits that fish may already behave cautiously towards; hence such bait wastage!

To leverage the true power of your baits does take a little extra effort on your part but that effort is never wasted! But I hope this article makes you think a little more of further possibilities the next time you bait-up, as usual... This bait secrets ebooks author has many more fishing secrets insights and bait edges available and just one could impact very significantly on your big fish catches!

By Tim Richardson.