Chicken Feed Pellets Cream Corn Fish Bait

Everyone seems to use corn for carp in the US. And corn works great, but eventually the fish will learn that corn hurts, and they'll become wary. I'm going to take you through a list of the best baits for carp fishing, so you can have the variety your need to catch some of those big wary carp!

Know What Carp Eat

Carp are found throughout the US in most bodies of water. They are a hardy fish that can survive in most conditions and live off a wide variety of food.

Carp can eat bugs like aquatic insects, and terrestrials like beetles, grasshoppers and crickets.

They also will eat vegetation, fruits and seeds that land in the water. I have heard of anglers catching carp under fig trees using the figs as bait. The fig tree is doing the chumming for them!

The other main food source is shellfish. Carp love crawfish, freshwater clams, snails and mussels.

In some ponds, even bread can be considered a regular menu item for the carp. If you are fishing somewhere that people often feed ducks, then bread could be absolutely deadly!

Most of the bait we use for carp fishing is man made. But we add fruity flavors like strawberry jello and fruit scented oils. We can also use baits that are high in protein like meats and soy products. The goal is to find baits that are easy for anglers to handle, and highly attractive to the carp.

Types of Carp Bait

There are a few categories of bait for carp fishing. There are dough baits, meat, pack baits, ground baits, pickup baits, bread and corn.

Unfortunately there isn't one bait that works miracles in every body of water. I'll be covering multiple baits in each of these categories and telling how they work in different situations. You can then take this information and apply it to your lake or pond and find the best bait for carp fishing in your area.

Dough Bait For Carp Fishing

Dough baits are made up of various ingredients bound together with some type of a binder. The binder is usually glutinous flour and/or eggs. If you want to make your own dough bait then as long as you have that binder, you can experiment with all types of carp attracting ingredients.

Here is a list of popular carp attracting ingredients you can use if you decide to make your own dough bait.

• Oatmeal
• Corn
• Wheat Bran
• Jello Powder
• Cool-Aid Powder
• Grits
• Cracked Wheat
• Soy Curdles
• Fruity Pebbles Cereal
• Maize Flour
• Corn Meal
• Cornflakes Cereal
• Shredded Wheat Cereal
• Rice
• Bananas
• Berries
• Cream Corn
• Powdered Milk
• Hot Chocolate Powder
• Soy Meal

This is just a small list to get you going.

Dough baits can either be fished in their doughy, moldable form, or they can be boiled into tough balls that can stay on a hair rig for days.

Boilies

Boiled dough baits are called boilies. As mentioned above, they become tough when boiled for just a few minutes. Once they are boiled they need to be fished on a hair rig. They are too tough and will crumble if you try to put them on a hook. I'll go into how to tie a hair rig below, but first, here is a recipe to make your own boilies.

How to Make Boilies

1. In a mixing bowl, add 1 cup of corn meal
2. Next add 1 cup of flour
3. Add 1/2 cup of sugar
4. Add 2 eggs
5. Mix everything well and kneed into a dough
6. If the mix is too dry add a little water. If it is too wet add a little flour. It should come out similar to bread dough that you can roll into little balls
7. Pull off little bits of dough and roll them into balls about the size of a marble or a little bigger
8. Dump the balls into boiling water and boil for about 3 minutes
9. Lay the boilies out to dry on a paper towel or drying rack for a few hours

This is just a basic recipe. You can experiment with many other ingredients. See the list above and start experimenting.

How to Tie a Hair Rig

1. Cut a leader off at the length of your choice (around 18 to 24 inches).
2. Tie a small loop in one end of the line. The loop should have about a 1/8th inch diameter.
3. Take the other end of the leader without a loop and thread it down through the eye of the hook with your loop hanging out over the bend of the hook.
4. Pull your leader until your hair is the desired length. This should be about 1.5X the diameter of your boilie. So if your boilie has a 1/2 inch diameter, then make the hair about 3/4 inches long.
5. Now take the long end of the leader and pull it back and wrap it around the shank and hair about 7 or 8 times.
6. Pinch the wraps against the shank so they don't come undone and thread the leader back down through the eye of the hook.
7. Pull everything tight.

It should look like this…

Hair Rig With Knotless Knot

How to Bait a Hair Rig

To put your boilie or other bait on the hair, you'll need some sort of baiting needle. These are a little hard to find in the US, but you can make one pretty easily. Just use a regular sewing needle, cut into the eye with a file, then stick the sharp end of the needle into a piece of wood for a handle.

DIY Baiting Needle

Stab your boilie onto your baiting needle, then hook the hair loop onto the eye of the needle and pull it through. Then put a bait stop through the hair loop and pull the boilie back until it's tight against the bait stop. For a bait stop I just use a small twig or piece of a match stick.

Home Made Boilie On a Hair Rig

Boilies are one of the most popular commercially produced carp baits. However they are still hard to find in the US. Fortunately Boilies are easy to make and there are lots of recipes available online.

Pick-Up Bait for Carp Fishing

A pick-up bait is used along with a pack bait or particle bait. The pick-up is the piece of bait that is actually attached to your hook, either directly on the hook or attached with a hair rig. Your pick-up should stand out slightly from the rest of the pack bait. You can do this by using a bait that floats a couple inches above the pile of pack bait, or by changing the color, or adding scent.

Boilies

We already talked about boilies, but they work great as a pick-up bait. You can get pop-up boilies that float, or make your own. Instead of boiling your homemade boilies, put them in the microwave for about 20 seconds. This will make them float rather than sink.

Your pick-up bait doesn't have to float, but it can help.

Corn Puffs

Corn puffs are a popular pick-up bait for carp fishing. Especially in the Carolina pay lakes. They are extremely buoyant and work great to keep your hook up off the pile of pack bait if that is what you want.

Corn puffs are pretty much popcorn, but they are found in the cereal isle advertised as a healthy cold cereal. If you have Asian markets near where you live you can often find them there advertised as Korean Popcorn.

How to Prepare Corn Puffs

These can be put strait on the hook or hair rigged right out of the bag. However, many people will add a little flavoring. To add scent, put a handful of puffs in a Tupperware and add just a few drops of your preferred scent. Then put the lid on and shake them for a couple minutes until they are coated. The trick is to use very little scent. If the puffs get too much liquid on them, they will shrivel up and become useless.

After you add scent, you can put them in the microwave for about 10 to 15 seconds. This will make the puffs much tougher, and help prevent them from shrinking with the scent liquid.

Kix

Kix cereal are those little yellow cereal balls. Out of the box they are very hard and crispy and can't be attached to a hook. The preparation process softens them up so you can put them on the hook. They don't float as well as corn puffs, but this can be a good thing depending on your preference.

How to Prepare Kix

To prepare Kix, add scent the same way you would with corn puffs. Put a handful of Kix in a water bottle or Tupperware with a few drops of liquid scent, then shake them around. After they are well coated, let them sit for 30 minutes or so to really soak up the liquid and become spongy.

After they soak up the liquid, they should be spongy enough to put on the hook.

The fact that they don't float so high off the pack bait can be good if you feel like the carp are more interested in sucking up your pack bait rather than taking in your pick up. If you are getting a lot of carp feeding on your pack bait, but you aren't catching any of them, then Kix might be your solution.

Corn

Corn is probably the most popular bait for carp fishing in the US and there is good reason. Carp love the sweet flavor, and the yellow color is easy for them to see.

Corn sinks, which can be a good thing if the carp are only willing to eat your pack bait. Corn can also be one of your ingredients in your pack bait so wary carp won't be able to tell the difference when they are sucking it all up.

How to Prepare Corn

Corn can be used right out of the can, and threaded on the hook, or on a hair rig. It's usually best to use 2 to 4 kernels on a hook to help hide the hook and make the offering stand out.

If you want to add color and flavor, you can add jello powder to the corn. You can also buy commercial cure made for corn, shrimp or salmon eggs. This is designed to add color, scent, and to toughen up the corn.

In some places you can find fake corn kernels. Some of these are designed to float so you can have the benefits of a pop-up if you'd like. Fake corn also stays on the hook or hair rig so you don't have to re-bait your hook every time you catch a fish.

Small fish and turtles also love corn, so by using fake corn on a hair rig, you won't catch so many turtles or have your bait stolen by little fish.

Pack Bait For Carp Fishing

Pack bait is a mixture designed to be packed in a ball around your hook bait and lead. It is then cast in and when it hits the bottom it is supposed to break down fairly quickly exposing your hook bait. As a fish swims by it'll notice a big pile of food and will go to eat it. As it's eating, it'll suck up your hook bait and you catch him.

This is similar to chumming except that your chum is concentrated within a 6 inch diameter of your hook.

There are many different recipes for pack baits. Some are designed to break down slower which is good if you want to keep your bait in the water and make fewer casts. For example if you are leaving your rods out overnight and want to get some rest while you wait for a bite.

Pack baits that break down faster are good if the fish are really active. They will quickly expose your hook bait to feeding fish, and are easily slurped up.

Panko

Panko or bread crumbs make a pack bait that breaks down very quickly. This is good for quick fishing action. The bread crumbs are light and will float around the area bringing fish in.

How to Make a Panko Pack Bait

Mix a box of panko with one pack of jello powder. Next, drain off a can of sweet corn and add it to the panko and jello. Mix it all up well. It should have enough moisture to pack into a tight ball. If the mix needs more moisture, add some of the water you drained out of the corn. If it is too wet, add more panko.

Since the pack bait has corn in it, you can use corn kernels as your hook bait.

Grits

Grits make another fast breaking pack bait. This is a popular pack bait at the Carolina pay lakes. Like panko, grits will waft around in the water, bringing fish in. The whiteness of the grits stands out on the dark lake bottom so it is easy for carp to spot.

How to Make a Grits Pack Bait

Mix the following ingredients in a bucket

• 18 oz. of instant grits
• 24 oz. of quick grits
• 2 cups of Karo syrup

The Karo syrup can be substituted with cream style corn. Using Karo syrup will prevent this bait from going bad. Cream style corn will start fermenting within a day.

For your pick-up bait, use puffs or Kix.

Feed Pellets

You can get a bag of chicken feed pellets for fairly cheap and make a lot of bait. Feed pellet pack bait breaks down a little slower than grits or panko but is a great middle of the road bait.

How to Make a Feed Pellet Pack Bait

Mix approximately 2.5 pounds of chicken feed pellets with one can of cream corn. Allow it to sit for an hour or so. That's it. If you want you can add molasses, and or flavorings to your liking.

For your pick-up bait you can use corn or boilies. You can even make boilies out of the same mix. just add all purpose flour and a couple eggs until it becomes a dough. Roll the dough into balls and boil them. Attach boilies to your hook with a hair rig.

Oats

Oats make a very tough and slow break down pack bait. This is good when you are fishing slow moving rivers and don't want your pack bait to be washed away quickly like panko would. It is also good if bites are few and far between as you don't have to disturb the spot by re-casting every 15 minutes. These tougher baits also stay on better if you need to make long casts.

How to Make an Oats Pack Bait

Mix one 42 oz. can of old fashion oats with one can of cream style corn. Let it sit for about 30 minutes or so. If you want this bait to last more than a day, substitute the cream style corn with 16 oz. of karo Syrup. You can also add liquid scents.

Rice

Rice can make one of the stickiest pack baits. It stays on the lead well for long distance casting. Rice takes a little longer to make than other pack baits so start preparing it a day or two before.

How to Make a Rice Pack Bait

Traditionally people use ketchup to make a rice pack bait, but that method take 3 or 4 days to soak and be ready to fish. I'll show you how to use soda instead to speed up the process, but it'll still take at least 5 or 6 hours to soak so it's best to make it the day before.

Mix the following dry ingredients in a bucket

• 28 oz. box of instant rice
• 1 cup of salt
• 1 cup of sugar

Mix wet ingredients

• 16 oz. of soda. mountain dew is popular but you can experiment. If you do want to use ketchup then use 16 oz. of ketchup instead of the soda.
• Optional liquid scent of your choice.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well. Cover the bucket and let it sit for a few hours stirring occasionally.

Ground Bait For Carp Fishing

Ground baits are similar to pack baits but they are mostly used for chumming. They are usually made up of small bird seed or other particles that take time for carp to eat up. This keeps carp around your baited hook longer. The difference from regular chum is that you can form the ground bait into a ball which you can throw directly at where your hook bait is. This leaves a concentration of feed in one small spot rather than scattered over a few yards.

Bird Seed

Bird seed works great as a ground bait. It is cheap and takes a while for carp to eat it all up and move on.

How to Prepare Bird Seed Ground bait

The seeds need to be soaked so that they will sink quickly to the bottom. If they end up floating or sinking too slow then it'll attract a lot of smaller fish to the area.

You can boil the seeds to speed up the soaking time, but don't boil them too long or they'll turn to mush.

You can then use Karo Syrup to make the seeds sticky so you can form them into balls which can be tossed out over your bait.

Bread For Carp Fishing

Bread is another classic bait for carp fishing. Look for places where people often go to feed ducks. Carp will often roam these areas looking for bread that has sunk to the bottom or been missed by the ducks. Since these fish get bread often, they won't have to think twice when they see yours falling through the water.

There are a couple downsides to bread. For one, all fish love bread. If there are bluegill or minnows around they will instantly race to steal your bread off the hook.

Bread is difficult to keep on the hook. Here is a trick to help. Microwave a slice of bread for 10 seconds or so. This makes it somewhat rubbery. Make sure you keep the bread in a bag so it doesn't dry out.

If you want your bread to sink, just smash all the air out of it when you put it on your hook. If you want it to float then just leave it how it is. For floating bread, try to use a piece with crust on it. The crust will be slightly more buoyant.

I wrote a whole article on how to catch grass carp with bread. the same techniques can be applied to all species of carp!

I caught this big common carp on bread in a canal.

Corn For Carp Fishing

Feed corn can be good by itself or mixed in with the bird seed. It is very cheap and carp love it. Soak it just as you would the bird seed. Feed corn can also be a good hook bait. It is tougher than sweet corn so it stays on better. It's also a bit bigger so it might help if you have a lot of small fish stealing your sweet corn.

Meat For Carp Fishing

Spam is a much less common carp bait in the US. It is popular in the UK, and some catfish anglers will use it in the US.

Spam is very oily and fatty and gives off a good scent trail. This can attract carp, but don't be surprised if you catch just as many catfish.

The challenge with spam as bait is that it's hard to keep on the hook. If you are using small hooks and small pieces of spam, then you can put it right on the hook. but with bigger pieces, you should use a hair rig with a straw.

How to Hair Rig Spam

1. Cut a 1/2″ cube of spam
2. Take a straw and cut off a 1/2″ section
3. Insert the 1/2″ straw into the cube of spam from one side to the other
4. Use a baiting needle to push the spam out of the center of the straw so you now have a hollow straw in your spam cube
5. Thread the hair through the straw and add a bait stop

The straw will prevent the hair from cutting through the soft spam.

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Source: https://fishingwithbait.com/best-bait-for-carp-fishing/