After being around many very good anglers for a number of years, one thing becomes very clear, when angling skill levels are equal, the man who comes out on top is always doing something different, always keeping one step ahead.

Whether that is by using different types of bait, by perfecting a new rig, or just being the one person to fish that unpopular swim.

To be the one person everybody else is chasing you need an edge. One of the easiest places to start looking is at your bait. Not just the types of bait you use, but the way in which you present it.

Groundbait is a little used method these days, few anglers still use it as it makes their hands dirty and now favour 'cleaner' alternatives such as pellets and boilies. With the numbers of new products out each year there is serious scope for you to be different with your chosen bait. I have been using various types of groundbaits for the last few seasons, and although my catches have not set the world alight, they have been good during less productive times of the season when everybody is scratching for a take.

My good friend Phil Adnitt and I have put together a few pictures and tips to hopefully get your grey matter thinking. Only you know what bait you are using, and which lake you have chosen to fish this summer, but these tips are meant to get you thinking about ways which you can utilize your knowledge of a particular lake, and evolve your bait presentation to take it to a new level.

Groundbaits are available to complement most types of boilie these days and by matching the attractors using oils and flavours, etc, you can put out a bed of bait that is leaking off your signal very quickly, thus alerting the carp to the presence of food in your swim. Carp can become wary of small round food objects, but they still want the nutritional content that the boilies have. By having powdered bait in a thin layer on the lake bed (and water around it), along with the boilies and any other food items you put in, this gives a new look to a baited area. Something that might not alert the carps' senses to a dangerous meal!

Take a look at the pictures, and try to visualize what you could do with this alternative approach.

Picture 1 - Shows a few basic examples of ingredients you could add, hemp, pellets, whole and crumbed boilies. How about adding some Sense Appeal, Multimino, hemp oil or salmon oil to give it a kick, or maybe some of the freeze dried bloodworm and insect variations?

Picture 2 - The way in which you mix the individual components together will depend on the method of delivery. Here Phil is mixing by hand to get a nice fluffy consistency which will be perfect for squeezing into balls for catapulting or casting.

Where applying the bait by hand (or Cobra spoon) you can experiment with varying consistencies of groundbait mix - you can even go as far as pouring it in as a liquid!

Picture 3 - For stinkier mixes you may wish to use a spoon to thoroughly blend the contents of the bucket. Delia would be proud!

Picture 4 - Delivery Tools. There are a number of ways to get the bait out into the lake, by hand or cobra spoon for close in work, groundbait catapult for medium range, smaller balls can go further with a boilie pult, or the latest and most effective method "The Flinger" just tie it to your line, and launch balls out to over 100 yards!

Picture 5 - It is vitally important to match the size of the groundbait ball to the chosen delivery tool. Too small and it'll take you all day to get a bed of bait out, too large and both the distance and accuracy will suffer. Take a look at the pictures for an example for the respective methods. Let's take a closer look at each method in turn.

Picture 6 - The Cobra Spoon. This can be screwed into a shorter one piece landing net handle and balls can be flicked out as if casting.
Alternatively it can be screwed into an extendable landing net handle and used to introduce slop (runny groundbait) or other baits in the margins.
Perfect for slipping hookbaits and freebies under marginal bushes!

Picture 7 - Groundbait Pult. A simple and straight-forward pult, 'whopper-dropper' style. This is a workhorse and designed to put good sized balls of bait up to 50yds.

Picture 8 - Small Catapult. If more accuracy is needed then this is much better up to 50 yards range. Use with smaller balls of bait.

Picture 9 - 'The Flinger'. Used with orange sized balls of bait, we've managed to put them up to 110 yards with the right tackle. The most fun you'll have whilst baiting up! Try clipping up to get the baits on the money every time.

Picture 10 - Here's a tip, before you start baiting up, get a stack of baits on a bucket all ready to go - then aim to hit the rings with each free offering. Try and get all the balls of bait the same, this way your accuracy is better no matter which method you choose.

Picture 11 - PVA Bags are also a great way of using groundbait, just leave it to dry and add your broken baits and pellets and throw in a few whole boilies for good measure! If you want to moisten the mix use a little hemp or salmon oil which is not water-based so won't dissolve the PVA.

Picture 12 - The finished parcel complete! Chuck it all in the bag, add your baited hook and cast out - simple!

Picture 13 - Here's Phil with a pukka Ghostie. The bag pictured above, proved irresistible just 15 minutes after casting out, 1 of 14 carp hooked that day, whilst all around managed less than half that amount!

Picture 14 - And here I am with a nice little mirror from Tri-lakes, caught while putting these pictures together. Perfection Groundbaits Nut Mix doing the business as usual!

Tight lines
Alan