Baits

The two pictures above show how I bait up some of the time. The top picture is of n #2 hook baited up with a plain floatie and n sweet white dough(SWD) backing. On the bottom we have a #2 hook with a single maize pip also with a dough backing.

For comps and social I always have the following:

-Floaties: Plain in various colors and some flavoured, like bunspice, garlic and almond. Used alone or with dough or pap backing or with worms.

-Dough: I make my own from Semolina or Cake-flour or I buy ready-made Semolina dough from the shop. My favourite flavour dough is plain and sweet, garlic, strawberry. Dough can be used as is or alongside other baits like maize, floats or worms or even pap…

-Worms: I prefer the longer earthworms(also called snake worms or “springwurms”). These can be use in a bunch or just a single one on the hook. They can also be used with a floatie to lift it out of the mud or if the fish are not feeding on the bottom.

-Maize: I don’t use maize a lot during comps as they tend to take longer than other baits to get a bite, but on rare occasions they do tend to catch more and bigger fish on certain specific days so don’t leave them at home. When I social, I like using maize as they do mostly tend to get bigger fish. For comps I would only use 1 or 2 on a hook, but for social I would even use as much as 5 or 6. Works best during winter, but you need to be a bit patient. Let it lie for at least 2-3 hours(not good when comp fishing). My favourite flavour is Supercast Juana an Power-Baits Bloutrein(Spirits).

-Bread bait(pap):  Mostly overlooked, but very successful bait. It is normally made with various recipes handed down from father to son over the ages. Easiest pap to make is to take a slice of brown bread. Remove the crust. Pour some dip of your choice over it (not too much). Add a little custard powder over it and start kneading into a smooth paste. Pap can be use as is or as a backing for any of the abovementioned baits. 

Example of a sliping Rietvlei Trace loaded with mieliebomb and baits. Some dip added to the bomb to attract fish to the feed.

Another example of a loaded trace. This time the hooks are stuck into the mieliebomb to make the whole thing more streamlined for casting and to prevent the lines from tangling or the bait from getting knocked of. As you can se the one hook is loaded with dough and the other with a single floatie.