Starter bait boat ??

[Simon Hinson]

Looking at getting my first bait boat. Don’t want to spend a lot on my first one. Is there any anyone can suggest that I can dip my toe in the water with. An start off with as an entry level bait boat please ? I did try to make one from a remote controlled model boat but found the bait dispatching mechanism hard to build. Went for a piece of guttering on the back where you can place a pva bag. Then slowly pull it off once the boat is in place. Came unstuck when I drove the boat out of range an could not retrieve it. Think the proper bait boats return themselves when they get out of range. 

[framey]

Actor for around 200£ Seem to be getting good reviews 

you should be able to pick up a mk1 pro cat for relatively not a lot of money

[elmoputney]

I keep wanting an actor at the minute 😳

I think it would be useful for stealthy and quick prebaiting at night, Whack a marker out, 1.5kg per trip few trips out and hardly any disturbance and a Big bed of bait for the carps to find and hopefully no one seeing me do it 😬

[Simon Hinson]

That’s it my casting isn’t that good during the day. So long range or even accurate casting at night is a big problem. Plus getting into tight spots on the far margin is handy with a boat. I know I should maybe just practice more on my casting an that would be the cheaper option. But at the rate I loose rigs an leads a bait boat is just another option to think about. It’s better to have it an not need it, than need it an not have it. There are some boats at about the £100 mark getting good reviews online to rival some of the more expensive ones. 

[elmoputney]

11 minutes ago, Simon Hinson said:

That’s it my casting isn’t that good during the day. So long range or even accurate casting at night is a big problem. Plus getting into tight spots on the far margin is handy with a boat. I know I should maybe just practice more on my casting an that would be the cheaper option. But at the rate I loose rigs an leads a bait boat is just another option to think about. It’s better to have it an not need it, than need it an not have it. There are some boats at about the £100 mark getting good reviews online to rival some of the more expensive ones. 

I think practice first tbh, if I was to get a boat it wouldn't do much I couldn't do without it, it's well worth taking the time to develop your skills first, get good at clipping up and all that so you can hit the spots you want to, it's important to learn and develop the basics, I'm no good at fishing at distance, I've never had to fish that far really, and it is something I want to get better at but I wouldn't feel happy catching a fish at a range I couldn't cast to using a boat, I would see that as cheating, its up to you but that's my take on it, if you aren't sure of things and want to get better just ask on here lots of friendly helpful people about 👍

[Simon Hinson]

2 hours ago, elmoputney said:

I think practice first tbh, if I was to get a boat it wouldn't do much I couldn't do without it, it's well worth taking the time to develop your skills first, get good at clipping up and all that so you can hit the spots you want to, it's important to learn and develop the basics, I'm no good at fishing at distance, I've never had to fish that far really, and it is something I want to get better at but I wouldn't feel happy catching a fish at a range I couldn't cast to using a boat, I would see that as cheating, its up to you but that's my take on it, if you aren't sure of things and want to get better just ask on here lots of friendly helpful people about 👍

Practice makes perfect I agree on the casting. Plus it’s the cheaper option it’s free to practice plus if my casting improved I could always try spodding instead of a bait boat. Practice the basic makes perfect sound advice. 👍🏻

[elmoputney]

6 hours ago, Simon Hinson said:

Practice makes perfect I agree on the casting. Plus it’s the cheaper option it’s free to practice plus if my casting improved I could always try spodding instead of a bait boat. Practice the basic makes perfect sound advice. 👍🏻

If you haven't got a spod rod get one before you buy a boat, it's the rod and reel you will end up using most tbh, i use mine for finding spots and measuring distances with distance sticks,as a marker rod, creating spots and clearing spots with a grappling lead or small weed rake , baiting spots, spombing, spodding, air bombing, basically it goes to the lake more times than my fishing rods and I would be lost without it, it is the most essential rod I own 👍

[Simon Hinson]

3 hours ago, elmoputney said:

If you haven't got a spod rod get one before you buy a boat, it's the rod and reel you will end up using most tbh, i use mine for finding spots and measuring distances with distance sticks,as a marker rod, creating spots and clearing spots with a grappling lead or small weed rake , baiting spots, spombing, spodding, air bombing, basically it goes to the lake more times than my fishing rods and I would be lost without it, it is the most essential rod I own 👍

Thanks 👍🏻

[salokcinnodrog]

17 hours ago, Simon Hinson said:

That’s it my casting isn’t that good during the day. So long range or even accurate casting at night is a big problem. Plus getting into tight spots on the far margin is handy with a boat. I know I should maybe just practice more on my casting an that would be the cheaper option. But at the rate I loose rigs an leads a bait boat is just another option to think about. It’s better to have it an not need it, than need it an not have it. There are some boats at about the £100 mark getting good reviews online to rival some of the more expensive ones. 

Everything comes with practice, using a bait boat, casting, even playing fish. 

 

I fish waters where bait boats are banned, so my spod rod gets plenty of use, even with practice I still get the occasional miscast. It usually occurs when I try to rush a cast. Even on the reservoir, where bait boats were allowed, I preferred to spod bait out. 

A very good thing to practice is getting used to casting with the line clipped up, both with the spod rod and fishing rods. 

Something I do personally find useful is using just enough lead to get the distance. So say my cast is 100metres and I can easily reach it, or beyond, with 3oz lead, or just reach it with 2.5oz, then I use the 2.5oz. By adding a stringer or bag I should still be right on the clip. Loss of Aerodynamics vs test curve and best casting weight.