David Morel: We’ll have to tell us a bit more, what are baits!
Bruno Garcia: The bait, we say a bait is of the feminine gender it is quite simply what you put on the end of the hook. When we talk about bait we are referring to something natural, an earthworm, a maggot, a grain of wheat, corn, etc. We also talk about bait but this term is often confused with groundbait, this mixture of flour that we use to attract fish to a specific place. Attention a lure, a spoon, a crankbait, etc, is not a bait.
And why this subject today?
Bruno Garcia: Subject that we had already discussed at the beginning of September without going into detail. So why this choice, quite simply because depending on the seasons the choice of bait will change. In spring and in the off-season, as currently in autumn, insist above all on animal baits: bloodworms, earthworms, maggots, wood carriers.
The door – wood?
Bruno Garcia: Its real name is the caddisfly. Yes, the one I’m referring to is the scabbard caddisfly, an insect in its larval form that will eventually turn into a butterfly with roof-like wings.
In the shape of me?
Bruno Garcia: But not in the shape of you! roof shaped, the roof of the house, ROOF
Back to the caddisfly
Bruno Garcia: All fish are fond of this larva. This one is very particular, using its saliva the caddisfly builds a sheath to protect it from predators. Depending on the current, he will make it with wood residues but also with some slightly heavier materials such as small gravel to position himself well at the bottom. And, at the entrance to this sheath, he will make a small web which will be used to capture the micro-organisms, the basis of his food. It is already a bait that is aimed at medium-sized fish.
Why does this food change with the seasons?
Bruno Garcia: Question of water temperature, the cyprinids since it is to them that we are addressing ourselves in particular, roach, bream, tench, carp, crucian fish will feed more easily on plants, algae for example in summer when the temperatures are higher, when animal feed richer in protein will be preferable from the first drops in temperature, as at present. The fisherman will therefore have to adapt. Although the maggot performs well all year round, it will be even better and more versatile in the fall and winter.
Surely some of these animal baits are better than others?
Bruno Garcia: Yes, the caviar that is intended for all small and larger species is the bloodworm, the small larva of the chironomid, with a beautiful ruby color. It is the larva of a mosquito that lays eggs in ponds of mediocre quality, nicknamed this worm: the muddy. It is also regularly found at the outlet of sewage treatment plants. That’s not where the water is the purest.
A little advice to put it at the end of the hook?
Bruno Garcia: It’s a bait that measures 1 to 2 cm in length and is very fragile. A thousand precautions to sting it at the end of the hook. First a fine iron hook n° 20 or 22 and if possible avoid the barb, this small hook which is intended so that the hook does not turn back. If your bloodworm empties it will no longer be effective.
A fishing event this weekend in the region?
Bruno Garcia: A “carp enduro” over 48 hours organized by the Saintes fishing association. The profits will be donated to the Telethon, municipalities of Brives-sur-Charente, Dompierre-sur-Charente and Rouffiac, it started yesterday Friday and it will end next Sunday. I’ll let you know the results next weekend.