You’re on holiday, near a river or lake and want to make sure you get a few fish….

…how do you guarantee you catch one? 

Most anglers will tell you there’s no guarantees in fishing…and they’d be right!

So what’s the next best thing?

It’s called pre-baiting!

Pre-baiting is letting the fish know that dinner is ready- whenever they want it.

So what’s it take? 

Simple ….

a guaranteed feed!

Fish keep returning to a food supply and you can give them one by putting food in the same place on a regular basis.

European anglers do this all the time and the results are mind blowing!

Ever seen the number of sea gulls at a tip site, how many pigeons hang around the city or how many ants you get near your household bins?

They’re in it for the steady supply of food. Fish will do the same thing.

So how do you set up this local cafeteria?

By using a berley supply and putting it in one spot that you will fish.

 Sounds easy, right…and it is if you do a couple things to make sure it’s the right place to put the food…after all… you gotta be able to fish it when you’re ready. 

Choose a spot that would normally hold fish like the ones I’ve talked about in my blog on How to locate fish.

Once you’ve got your spot… and there’s no snags, you start the feeding process. This will take a minimum of 3 days of regular feeding.

Make up a berley mix of breadcrumb and a bit of the bait you intend fishing with….a couple of types of bait is best, so you have choices when you fish.

Mix the berley with enough water so it can be moulded into balls about the size of an orange. Make up about a dozen at a time and throw them in the same spot…

…it’s easy to do but just takes a little “technique” like this:

• Before you start throwing – keep the balls close together so you can quickly pick them up and throw them…you need to be quick so you know exactly how far you are chucking them.

• Watch where they land and hit that same spot each time…try to land one on top of another.

• Make sure you use a marker ( a tree on the opposite bank, rock in the water etc) as a point of reference so you can throw in the same direction and same distance, each day….it doesn’t have to be the exact same spot but your goal is a pile of berley landing in a tight area for 3 or 4 days.

If you’re fishing running water like a river or creek you need to throw the berley upstream of where you want it to land…

…the last thing you want is it floating  down stream away from your fishing spot.

Make sure you use the same berley and bait on the day you fish…so the fish are waiting for their daily delivery and get exactly what they’re waiting for!

On the fishing day – cast your tackle over the spot you have pre-baited. If the water is flowing you need to estimate where it will land and adjust so it lands in the right spot…..if your hook and sinker or berley cage are heavier or lighter than the berley balls…..they’ll land in a different spot.

Pre-baiting is a really effective method and I have used this in the past to really cash in on the local fish. 

You can also do it in the spot you regularly fish.

After each session, throw in several balls of berley and just make sure you can do this each day so the fish learn to expect it…

….the only thing you have to remember is that other anglers might “cash in” on your hard work if you pre bait a popular fishing spot….

…I usually find a spot that doesn’t get too many anglers when I fish like …

…that way I know I’m the only one to “get paid” for my hard work.

A friend of my brother-in-law has a house near Nagambie lake in country, Victoria. He pre-baited a spot in the lake for 4 days before my brother-in-law arrived…and the fishing was off the scale! They caught a truckload of fish – carp, redfin, trout and a few cod…and my brother-in-law is no “professional” angler!

Finally, there’s what I call “pre-bait roving”!   It just means you chuck in a bit of berley in a few spots and then fish them later.

All you have to do is just walk along the bank of a river or lake looking for good fish holding spots. When you find one throw in 3 orange size balls of berley, with plenty of bait in them, take a note of where the spot is….and move on to another spot.

After doing this to 4, 5 or even more spots you go back and fish them. 

If you spend 20 minutes in each spot, or until the fish stop biting, you can have a great day hooking fish along a water way.

It’s a fantastic way to skyrocket your chances of getting a few fish!