Prebaiting

i have considered prebaiting before and it could be an excellent tactic. i wouldn't feed liver as a prebaiting food though. the best option is probably something that attracts minispecies, like old maggots, sweetcorn, bread, ect. or a bait which the cats will eat it self like big pellets boilies fish sections ect. it is an interesting topic, though the trouble is that most uk cat waters are really small and it's probably the most gutting thing ever to walk up to you're predaited spot with so much effort put into it, only to find another angler there, especially if it's a carp fisherman.

No point pre baiting m8
If a cat is hungry they reckon it will cover a great percentage of the lake for food, put that in thought if theres a good head of cats then they will come across your bait regardless
Pre baiting is just a way of costing you more money to fish.
Saying that I think if you fish a venue try to do 2 nights as if they don't feed on night 1 then they should come across your bait on night 2
If the muthas are hungry then again what do I know my efforts have been greatly slammed in my face this season

ok cheers for the replys.. i may still try it as i hav a lto of liver in the freezer atm which is wasting away bt only for 2 night befor. I'll see how this goes bt if i catch i wont put it down to the pre baiting..

pre baiting is always a problem as im sure most people live a distance from their local cat venue not just dose the question of bait price come into it but fuel aswell. insted of this extra cost why not invest this on an extra days fishing just as slain said. once you are in and working to maximise your time on the bank i use baits that will breakdown quickley and provide a good cloud or sent trail, have you tryed injecting your baits?.
as soon as i get out my car the 1st thing i reach for is my bait bucket and start pre baiting. the best mix i found was the liqidised liver mixed with pure fishmeal groundbait, i also add oils and other liqids. the fish meal gives it more weight helping it to sink as liqid liver will float by itself.
i also use a few bags of 2mil fishmeal of hallibut pellits as opposed to larger pellets as they break down very quickley forming a thick oily cloud on the bottom without providing particals for carp etc.
i also know that dan (sandy the dog) uses pva bags of fish oil
if you have any more questions about the liqidised liver just ask and i will send you all the details. evo

liquidised liver is looking a better bait every day, lol. have you tried soaking 20mm+ pellets in small amounts of liquid liver so they carry the scent also makes them disolve quicker.

cheers evo i think thts prob the best way, and im luckly enough to be just 3 min from my water which is why i asked about the idea, bt reading people replys has shown me otherwise. No ive never injected my baits when cat fishing, done it for pike tho.. does this work? what liquids would you recommend for cats?

injected deadbaits are very good for catfish, laurencewood. theres loads options to choose from. i love the smell of richwoth ultraplex or KG1 when im using boilies or flavouring lunheonmeat, but i harly ever use deadbats for catfish so im no expert. i have heard that herring oil or anchovy oil work well.

ave haerd that liquidised mackeral injected into roach or rudd is quite a good bait if laid over a bed of fishmeal groundbait with little bits of mackeral and chopped up lobs is supposed to be real good...

Freshwater deads are a must for me no matter what venue i am on laurence. Have found over time that they are the most consistant bait for me. However since i started injecting them with herring oil the catch rate has gone through the roof. For example i fished a venue and had the head half of a skimmer just in the margins with a few chopped pieces around. Only the hookbait was injected and had a run within the hour, missed the run but got the bait back. Re-injected it and dropped it back in, 20mins and another run, a mid twenty cat and i got the bait back. Re-injected it and dropped it back in, putting fresh chunks around every time. One hour later another run and a mid thirty cat. Didnt get the bait back this time, gutted. By the time of the third cast with the bait it was hollow and i was just relying on the oil. It was a fantastic afternoon and since then a bait doesnt hit the water without herring or trout oil dripping from it. And i can assure you the liquid liver is fantastic. Was fishing with evo when he first used it. My normal baits were thirty yards from his and i had to sit and watch him get run after run and bank a 35 when i didnt get a bloody sniff. Was very impressed with the stuff but if i tried making it at the mo our lass would go mental!

salmon oil for me mate we have all had the days when the fish are just not feeding but when they are i have had all my runs and catches this season on deads injected with salmon oil. i have used a number of dead baits roach scimmer pollen lampry and eel sections all proved to work when injected with salmon oil. i have tryed two low stocked venues this season foss hill and the difficult pond one at willowbank. at foss hill i had 7 runs in 24hrs some when the bait was in 2min max. at willowbank i had 3 runs in less than an hour on the same rod and deadbait each time just reinjected after each take i think its deffo a winner for me. i would never think of casting without injecting first. evo

cheers deffo going to try one this friday then.. do u buy the frozen or catch them from the lake and kill them urself?

i take one pack with me i would go for roach lampry or eel. this is just incase the fishing is hard, if you can catch some roach or skimmer from a local venue the day befor and freeze them quickley even better. i hate wasting time catching bait when all of my cat rods could have been in for an hour or two longer you know what i mean

yer i get you, hate it. hense why when im catching lives i often just put the rod out with worms or pellet in the mean time. I'll head down the tackle shop soon n get some dead baits soon. And i'll hav to look through my pike gear for the injecting stuff :D.. looking forward to trying these

Freshwater deads are a must for me no matter what venue i am on laurence. Have found over time that they are the most consistant bait for me. However since i started injecting them with herring oil the catch rate has gone through the roof. For example i fished a venue and had the head half of a skimmer just in the margins with a few chopped pieces around. Only the hookbait was injected and had a run within the hour, missed the run but got the bait back. Re-injected it and dropped it back in, 20mins and another run, a mid twenty cat and i got the bait back. Re-injected it and dropped it back in, putting fresh chunks around every time. One hour later another run and a mid thirty cat. Didnt get the bait back this time, gutted. By the time of the third cast with the bait it was hollow and i was just relying on the oil. It was a fantastic afternoon and since then a bait doesnt hit the water without herring or trout oil dripping from it. And i can assure you the liquid liver is fantastic. Was fishing with evo when he first used it. My normal baits were thirty yards from his and i had to sit and watch him get run after run and bank a 35 when i didnt get a bloody sniff. Was very impressed with the stuff but if i tried making it at the mo our lass would go mental!

Hows about actually fishing a herring as a bait? if they like the oily smell so much it may be worth chucking one on a nice little 4/o.???

-sas

I do on occasion tel, Some venues I have fished though the carp and the pike love the sea deads but i have found that fishing the freshwater deads not much other than cats tend to pick them up. Ok I have had the odd pike but not as many as i have had by accident on the sea baits, Its just a personal preference mate thats all. You know how it is mate, some baits work at some venues and some dont. As for catching the baits laurence, am with evo on this one, for me you cant beat a totally fresh bait but i always take a pack or two with me as a back up or to chop up and use as loose feed.

im in two minds on this one because cats like pike patroll the islands and margins they could just take the prebait and move on. but wat about using something like a big shrimp cage with dead smelly fish in that woulb maybe keep them in the area for a short period of time.

sas, it seems strange to me that you get less pike action on freshwater baits! i wonder why, as pike love frshwater baits. it makes no sense, pike live on roach, rudd, skimmers, ect, so why aren't they eating them on your hooks? just a thought as i always use freshwater baits for pike anyway.

if ya get less action on freshwater baits the sea baits why still fish freshwater baits?

dont know nick but they dont you do get them kill your live bait and i did get a small one a few weeks a go .and your not using trebble hooks so if they pic them up they dont usualy get hooked and in the summer when ur cat fishing there are loads of pry fish about and i think pike would rather pic them of by shooting in to a main shole then in winter the pry fish are less active and a dead or a semi live are just there they dont have to go chaceing about