How To Use Berley (Ground Bait)

Berley and ground bait are terms used to describe anything placed into the water to attract fish to your fishing area.  Berley is sometimes called chum, particularly in the US.  Sometimes berley can make all the difference, allowing you to catch fish when otherwise you would not.  As well as bringing the fish closer to you the berley will help to get the fish into feeding mode.  Once people have tried burleying a few times they generally stick with it as the results speak for themselves.

What To Use For Burley

There are many options here such as frozen burley bombs, pellet based burley and home made.  Frozen burley bombs are an easy effective option, you can buy them from most shops that have a good amount of bait.  Pellet based burley is probably not quite as good as frozen products but because it is dry it doesn't go off  - this is great if you're going away somewhere and won't have access to a freezer.  You can make your own berley by saving and freezing fish guts and or mincing fish frames.  Oily fish tends to make a better burley trail.  

How to Disperse The Burley

The main aim is to keep a nice steady trail of burley going out, with this in mind it's preferable to have your berley dispensing automatically.  To do this suspend your burley just on the water line so any waves or swell will slowly wash out the good stuff.  Most burley bombs come with a bit of netting to hold it in and while these are good for boat fishing they're not strong enough to handle rubbing against rocks and will soon rip open and dump all of your burley into the water in one go.  What you want is something tougher like an onion sack and tie a fairly strong cord or rope to the sack.

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