Winter Live System Tips for Short Sessions!

Live System Short Session Tips- Liam Chapman

I’m a big advocate in making my bait as attractive as It can be; there is a whole array of liquids, powders, oils etc at our disposal these days that no doubt can be added to give your bait that individual twist for added attraction!

In the winter months my go to bait will always be the Live System, I have just as much confidence in the Odyssey XXX and Pacific Tuna, but I go for the Live solely because of its colour, the light golden tones stand out over a dark bottom really well, especially during a time when the carps eyesight is much weaker. 

Hookbait choice will always come down to what bottom I’m fishing over, but during the winter my feed will always be 95 percent made up of boilie crumb. Once the Freezer Bait boilies have thawed out, I will blitz them in a food blender (I Do this at home to save time). 

I then put the crumb to a bucket and add your chosen liquid, I prefer the Northern Special Booster Liquid, this adds a distinctive fruity, creamy aroma, very much like the NS1 hookbaits. Add this little and often, mixing regularly making sure the crumb gets a nice even coating. 

Consistency wise you’re looking to be able to ball the mix up in your hands so it holds its shape once moulded, but if you rub the balled mix in your hands it will return to loose crumb. Here you can add extra little bits and pieces if you wish, Live System pellets, hemp, casters, maggots etc, it is totally down to personal preference, but the ‘base’ so to speak is the crumb! 

This versatile mix can be hand balled out, put out with a spomb, baiting pole, baitboat, and also bags & little mesh PVA sticks. 

In my own personal fishing, I like to stay mobile, stay up late in the colder months and listen for showing fish; through the depths of winter and very early spring, just one show can make all the difference and be the giveaway to the whereabouts of many!

All three of my rods will be cast into or as close to that area of activity as possible, a leadclip set up armed with my Northern Specials mounted on super sharp spinner rigs, supple 12-inch booms with a golf ball sized mesh bag of crumb nicked on the hook. A perfect parcel of attraction underneath a potent hookbait; the mesh bag also helps to get the rig out tangle free.

A great little edge in winter giving a huge amount of attraction around your hookbait with minimal food items in the swim. This will also make your 5-10kg of bait go a long way through the winter, saving you a few quid too!! It can also be put into an airtight bag and re frozen for another session, or if using shelf life, stored in an air tight bucket to ensure freshness!

These simple, yet often overlooked tactics have scored well for me during the year when the water temps are at their coldest! As the fish begin to move about once again, building their energy back up, this is when I switch from the crumb to whole sized baits.