The Live-Liest De-bait In Angling

AS I write this, I am flitting between windows on my computer, ordering protective clothing… not just a tin hat, oh no, this week’s feature requires a full-on suit of armour!

I am of course talking about the great debate that seems to rage in angling… the debate of live baiting.

Whether you do it or not, it always raises a few eyebrows, but one thing is for sure, it seems to outfish everything else when it comes to predator fishing.

Having sussed out a few highly effective lures over the past few months, I thought I would be pretty much unbeatable, and wanted to prove a point.

My point was that pike hunt on sight and not the ‘smell of fear’ of a roach or other prey fish, I was convinced that it didn’t matter whether a bait was real.

Gauntlet

My mate ‘young Bob’, a fishery manager in France, had no such fears. He was convinced that live baits would out-fish anything. 

The gauntlet (well, more of a welly) was thrown down. Unfortunately it came in the middle of a freezing-cold storm, easterly wind, and minus temperatures forecast all day. I’m sure that it’s the cameras that cause this, or it could be me building my excuses beforehand.

Thinking about it on the lengthy journey to the venue, I should have picked a weaker opponent, as Bob Hodges is a fish magnet. He just catches fish, any type, anywhere, and on any method. Again, can you see what I’m doing here, I’m building my list of excuses, just in case.

Whatever the weatherman was saying (or woman, for you PC police), we were going to encroach on one of angling’s ‘taboo’ subjects.

Like it or not, and I can see the editor reading this through peeping fingers, live baiting is sticking a hook in a fish with the intention of catching a larger, predatory one.