in an empty 35mm film case.

I.F.S.A general competition regulations. 12
angling shall be by rod and line and only one rod with winch or reel and running line may be used by a competitor.the paternoster or ledger,trace or other tackle attached thereto shall not have more than three hooks or artificial lures or baits, and only one set of tackle may be in use at the same time.bait additives are not allowed.a treble hook counts as three hooks.......

dont know for definite ,if additives are banned in comps.ground baiting is not allowed,thats certain,most comps have the following rule; "all baits must be on the hook."...... need any further clarification ? Regarding swimfeeders, might be wrong with this,but were they allowed in Ulster comps a few years back ?

dont know for definite ,if additives are banned in comps.ground baiting is not allowed,thats certain,most comps have the following rule; "all baits must be on the hook."...... need any further clarification ? Regarding swimfeeders, might be wrong with this,but were they allowed in Ulster comps a few years back ?

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Did you not read the post directly above by shamieboy.
He even underlined the part about the additives.

not getting involved in whether groundbait should be used in the competition side of things as i gave that up years ago but the statement by Rampant Wreckfish that 'groundbaiting will not work in the sea etc' is very wrong.
I have been experimenting with groundbaits for the last few years and for bottom feeders such as huss, ray, conger it definately works. This is both by throwing it in by hand or using a swimfeeder type rig.
The fact it works for me here in Bantry Bay does not mean it will work off the East Coast or anywhere else so I am not saying 'groundbaiting will always work in the sea etc'
Incidentally if you want to be totally fair in match fishing why not give everybody the same pack of bait to use in the competition. I took part in several matches where this was done and it could not have been fairer.

not getting involved in whether groundbait should be used in the competition side of things as i gave that up years ago but the statement by Rampant Wreckfish that 'groundbaiting will not work in the sea etc' is very wrong.
I have been experimenting with groundbaits for the last few years and for bottom feeders such as huss, ray, conger it definately works. This is both by throwing it in by hand or using a swimfeeder type rig.
The fact it works for me here in Bantry Bay does not mean it will work off the East Coast or anywhere else so I am not saying 'groundbaiting will always work in the sea etc'
Incidentally if you want to be totally fair in match fishing why not give everybody the same pack of bait to use in the competition. I took part in several matches where this was done and it could not have been fairer.

I am refering to match fishing Paul.
If you have a tide run on a beach the lads downtide of you are going to have a good day. If you have waves coming into you on a beach all the ground bait is soon going to be in the wash on the beach.
I will say it again, ground baiting does not work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I didnt say it will not attract fish.
How are you going to keep the ground bait where you want it????
Not many beaches around where you can cast a swimfeeder far enough to get to huss,ray and conger.

Tieing bait to the lead helps. I often use a watch lead and fill mackerel guts in the middle sealed in with elastic when fishing small hooks for flats. The same thing can be done with the grips of a grip lead. Often on shallow sandy beaches the discarded hook bait collected from a flooding tide attract the flats with in a few yards from shore at high water. There was an old trick of burying bait on a sand bank before hand and casting to that spot later on. Never tried that one.

There was an old trick of burying bait on a sand bank before hand and casting to that spot later on. Never tried that one.

I've used a similar ploy before when hunting bass in rock/sand venues. I filled a couple of the kid's odd socks (washed) with scrap fish, guts etc and and a stone, and wedged them into rocks at low tide. An empty plastic bottle, preferably coloured, anchored with twine at the spot, gives a casting target when you come back later. It works.

I will say it again, ground baiting does not work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I didnt say it will not attract fish.

A little contradictory dont you think ?

Surely the aim of groundbaiting is to attract fish to a particular area, and therefore if it attracts fish, it works.................simple as that

Obviously for ground baiting to be effective there are different factors to take into consideration, ie direction of tidal flow, strength of flow, size of tide etc

I for one, would usually save up my discarded hook baits during a session and lob them into the surf, if the tide is running left to right, then I throw it in 30/40/50 yards to the left of my spot.

Also, shark anglers would not have the success they do without a good slick of rubby dubby - thats groundbaiting.

Incidentally if you want to be totally fair in match fishing why not give everybody the same pack of bait to use in the competition. I took part in several matches where this was done and it could not have been fairer.[/quote]

I'm over 30 years match fishing and only once have i seen ground baiting work, an angler who shall remain nameless brought a 50 liter bucket of ground bait and waded out as far as he could and emptied the lot into the sea. The sea was flat calm not a ripple and had no tide run and the conditions were perfect for doing this. Did it work well the angler in question had over 30 fish and walked the competition.
This is reason that a ban on ground baiting came into the rules, it was seen as an unfair advantage to those who could carry and access copious amount ground bait, and where would it stop?.
Unfortunately the same pack of bait that you talk about might not be suitable for fishing certain venues: like in the home internationals rag, mackerel and sand-eel is the usual baits, it's okay for fishing night time on open beaches but not for estuary's in day time which is the norm in these competitions in Ireland.
In an ideal situation everyone with the same bait would make it fair, is that not the case now, everyone I know that fishes competitions has the same access to bait and uses the same bait. Why would you want to make anglers use bait bought from shops or restrict certain baits surely accessing good bait is all part of fishing.
My view on this is that to restrict anglers to using packs of bait in competitions is deskilling our sport of match angling and I don't think that's fair.

not getting involved in whether groundbait should be used in the competition side of things as i gave that up years ago but the statement by Rampant Wreckfish that 'groundbaiting will not work in the sea etc' is very wrong.
I have been experimenting with groundbaits for the last few years and for bottom feeders such as huss, ray, conger it definately works. This is both by throwing it in by hand or using a swimfeeder type rig.
The fact it works for me here in Bantry Bay does not mean it will work off the East Coast or anywhere else so I am not saying 'groundbaiting will always work in the sea etc'
Incidentally if you want to be totally fair in match fishing why not give everybody the same pack of bait to use in the competition. I took part in several matches where this was done and it could not have been fairer.

very good point in regard to bait being supplied as it works to great effect in boat comps, maybe some day it'll happen?