Most bait boat users tend to place a handful of bait into the boat alongside the hookbait. It’s almost an addiction to them; they have to put something in or it’s not right. After extensive use, the carp will get wise to any presentation, so if bait boats are used on your water, try a few of these tactics next time you’re on the bank:

Using two hoppers

An awful lot of big fish tend to get caught by anglers using bait boats. By filling one hopper on the boat with all of the free offerings and the other with just the hookbait, it allows you to accurately place the hookbait right on the edge of the bait and in a good position of catching the bigger wily fish which like to hang around just off the edge of baited areas. A heavy bed of pellets and boilies in the one hopper with a largish size hookbait in the other has worked well for me and some of my friends who use boats regularly, but obviously there are other options available depending on the type of water you are fishing and what pressure the fish have been subjected to.

Using PVA bags

On waters which are fairly deep or very weedy and you want a much more concentrated area of bait, a PVA bag on the bottom may be just the answer to trick the carp you‘re after. This is a presentation you very rarely see anglers using in a boat, but the difficulty with using it is keeping it dry before you drop it. Some boats are so low in the water they are useless for PVA presentations. Their hoppers run so low to the water surface that they take on board water through the door openings. The Lakestar has a hopper that sits a lot higher and is much better. However, just to be safe, I’ll put a nice spread of pellets on the base of the hopper, sitting the bag nicely on top to keep it out of harms way. Occasionally I’ll also double bag the presentation too, especially in rough weather when you get a bit of splash coming over the top.

Single hookbaits

I’ve had a lot of success using my boat with a single hookbait presentation, especially on waters where boats are used a lot. A few years ago I caught fairly well on the Motorway Pond doing this and in more recent times I have also taken some nice fish from Tilery Lake doing it.

Stringers

Like using single hook baits, you very rarely see anglers using stringers in the boat. This is a tactic most widely associated with casting, so try variations alongside the hookbait. I’ve caught well with two bait stringers, all the way up to twenty bait stringers offered on attachments coming off the lead and hook bait.