There are several situations in which groundbait can be beneficial during winter, but timing is crucial. When used appropriately, it can enhance your peg significantly; however, using it at the wrong time may blow your swim before you realise it.
Stimulate the silvers
The first and, of course, most obvious time to use it is when targeting silvers such as skimmers and roach. They both respond brilliantly to the right mix and, in my eyes, you can’t beat something like Ringers F1 Black when you are looking to catch both species. This is a sweet fishmeal and lends itself perfectly to a mixed bag.
It’s quite an active mix, and should ideally be mixed the night before fishing to ‘deaden it’ a little. Ringers Original Bag Up is also something I rely upon a lot in winter. For me there is no better skimmer mix than this and, again, it’s best whipped up the night before and left slightly on the wet side.
LEARN HOW AND WHEN TO USE FISHMEAL GROUNDABITS IN THIS EXPERT GUIDE.
Priming the peg
There are two ways to feed, but the more common is to pot in two or three balls to kick the swim off and then loosefeed over the top when after roach.
If skimmers are the target, I don’t normally loosefeed, preferring instead to solely pot in. I might add a few loose offerings to the mix for skimmers, and this would be a pinch of micros and some dead maggots or pinkies.
Chopped worm is an awkward one in the cold, as it’s not always effective, so unless I had prior information to say it was working, I’d hold off feeding any initially. The same applies to roach, although I will add a few casters to the mix too. I’ll let the fish tell me when to top up, with another introduction if bites start to slow up or I feel I need to tighten the shoal up again.
The other approach for skimmers involves feeding tiny little nuggets of groundbait with just the odd loose offering inside. This approach works best on relatively shallow venues where it is 5ft or less.
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Finicky F1’s
Groundbait for F1s is an interesting one, as sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. As a result of this, it’s rare that I will start off using it. The groundbait I’d use is Ringers Crushed Expander in the natural version although, if the water is very clear, I’ll consider using the black.
I like to over-wet it and let it soak up all the water, so it almost goes like a cake. I’ll then push it through a fine riddle to break it up, and it’s then ready to be fed.
When it comes to feeding, it’s all about small amounts, fed through a pole-mounted pot with the odd maggot or pinkie mixed in. What I will say, though, is that on its day it can be deadly and, if you’re struggling, feeding a little bit on a regular basis can often spark a swim into life.
CHECK OUT THIS EXPERT GUIDE ON THE RIGS YOU NEED TO CATCH MORE F1'S!
Recently stocked stockies
The final instance in which groundbait can work is for small carp that have just been stocked. Looking back a few years, I won many matches at Bishops Bowl when the carp were new by feeding groundbait and maggots.
Groundbait choice is an easy one, with Ringers Natural Bag Up Mix having all the ingredients to spark a response. Again, mix it slightly on the wet side and feed in small balls. You can add maggots to the balls, but just be aware that live ones can wriggle and break them down if they aren’t cupped in quickly. I don’t know why, but newly stocked carp seem to love groundbait, although as they get more established it seems they move on to other baits such as pellets.
I normally have two lines and rotate them, feeding one before fishing the other. When bites fade, it’s time to switch and top up the one you are leaving. I never like to feed and follow the ball in with my hookbait, as it seems much better to let it settle and then go over it.
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