These are the most common types of baits used in carp fishing in the past and today. Some have been out dated by more modern techniques of food attraction, however the original carp baits can still produce great results in today's carp fishing.
Man made carp baits
Bread: made to sink with water, bread is a well known method to match anglers for liquidising ground bait. Bread flakes or bread crust are a great alternative for surface fishing carp.
Luncheon meat: with your hook inside the meat or hair rigged, luncheon meat can also be flavoured with sweet or savoury tastes. It's one of the cheapest big carp baits available.
Cheese: cut cheese into small or large cubes to your preferred size just like luncheon meat. Stronger smelling cheese is most effective and also can be fished in paste form.
Pepperoni: these meat type sausages have caught many carp and are easy to hair rig and guarantee bait remains on the hook at all times. It can prove to be devastating winter bait.
Dog Biscuits: dog biscuits are extremely popular for surface fishing carp; simply add 1/3 water in to a food sandwich bag with biscuits and freeze over night. Once they're naturally thawed, they'll expand and become rubbery for hook direct or hair rig.
Sweetcorn: the high attraction of natural sweet flavour and bright yellow colour of sweetcorn is perfect when you're fishing over a dark bottom. Sweetcorn can also can be flavoured and coloured with other sweet flavours to boost your results.
Maize: like sweetcorn but more effective, maize is useful when you're fishing hair rigs as it's a harder bait and will not attract smaller nuisance fish which can eat the softer baits. Ideal for hair rigging in multiples to create larger bait.
Tigernuts: though they're natural the process of cooking means we can classify them as man-made. These nuts are extremely popular with carp, especially in summer. Boil them after a 24 hour soak and they will swell up and release high levels of natural sweeteners, giving carp that crunch effect and taste. Their hardness is ideal for hair rigging with the largest nuts being most popular. Also peanuts and brazil nuts can catch carp with their natural oils though they don't release the sweet sugar slime found with fermenting Tigernuts.
Trout: Marine and Bloodworm Pellets are ideal for PVA bags, ground bait and spod mix. They can also be moulded around method feeders by pouring hot water on them, to create a scolded pellet or a pellet paste. Larger pellets can be drilled and hair rigged with the help of superglue to keep them fixed on the hair. Each pellet has a breakdown time based on their content and if used as hook bait they will have to be changed regularly before they dissolve. The Natural Carp Food range offers a highly flavoured, boilie-needle friendly pellet bait called Hooker Pellets, which release endless vitamin rich oils and will stay hard for 36 hours. Also in the range is the Pellet Mix or Pro-Match Bloodworm Pellets.
Soft Hook Pellets: these are specially designed for up-in-the-water fishing with the pole, as they are extremely buoyant with a slow sinking rate - even with a hook inside. They can also be fished with feeder and will get carp feeding aggressively.
Boilies: boilies are perfect for instant attraction because they are a solid mass of food for carp with big appetites. They're the most commonly used bait in modern carp fishing; usually they are hair rigged and they will stay on the hair all night long. Available in multiple sizes to encourage carp to feed hard, they are useful for differentiating between sizes of carp and for different types of carp rig systems. The three most popular types of boilies are freezer baits, shelf-life boilies and homemade boilies.
Natural carp baits
Maggots: fished on the hook or with careful handling, maggots can be threaded onto cotton by needle and then tied in a bunch to a ring on the hook or hair rig. The vigorous movement will always attract carp into feeding but unfortunately all other types of coarse fish too. Maggots can be flavoured with sweet tastes or fish tastes and are highly attractive when coloured; red is the most attractive colour to carp.
Casters: these are maggots which have developed into their chrysalis stage; the common blue bottle fly is most popular. The colour goes from yellow to deeper red when close to fly hatching stage. Keep them in water for freshness and to make them sink.
Worms & Grubs: these can be found in your garden or compost heap and are very attractive fish baits, though they are very tricky to keep on the hook - but with the help of modern tackle this can now be more easily done. The larger species tend to be best at keeping nuisance species away and once they enter the water they rigorously move to attract carp to eat. They make perfect carp stalking bait when fishing the float close to the margins. The famous bloodworm is a member of this group.
Cockles & Mussels: these are amongst the less talked about carp baits. They are available at most fresh fish counters or pickled cockles are an especially good alternative to keep with out the fear of going off. Slugs and snails with out shell are also highly rated their thick structure makes hooking and staying on easier than worms, though they are not so active in water. These are good in times of flooding - especially on rivers. There is an abundance of these in the Green Lipped Mussel recipe.
Shrimp & Prawns: without their shells, shrimps and prawns make great stalking baits. Perfect for margin or close-in fishing, they are especially attractive as single hook baits and are preferably fished directly on the hook. The same applies to crab meat and also small crabs; carp will eat and chew these down too. That's why our two best selling boilies have these powerful natural tastes.