Thread: Corn for Bait

Anyone use canned sweet corn for bait? How do you fish it? Under a float like you would worms or crickets?

It's very underrated as a bait. I use it mostly for carp, but I got a ton of trout on it this summer. Bluegill and catfish love it, too.

It's the perfect size for gills. I usually put one or two kernels on a #12 or #14 fly hook. A small jig hook would work well, too.

I fish it under a float about 90% of the time. For carp, cats and trout, I fish it right on the bottom. For gills, I usually fish 6" to a foot off bottom. Occasionally, I will forego the float and just fish it with a weight on the bottom.

If someone (me) was going to fish off the bank somewhere for bream and didn't know how deep it was how would you start off fishing it? On the bottom with a leader? Or start off under a float and throw it out to a fishy looking spot and if no bites in 10 or so mins raise the float a foot or so?

Originally Posted by smoothlures

If someone (me) was going to fish off the bank somewhere for bream and didn't know how deep it was how would you start off fishing it? On the bottom with a leader? Or start off under a float and throw it out to a fishy looking spot and if no bites in 10 or so mins raise the float a foot or so?

I fish like this all the time. The first thing you have to do is plumb the depth. To do this, guess the depth of the water to start and adjust the depth of the float accordingly. For example, I pick a spot on the bank and (based on the slope of the bank), I guess the depth to be 5'. I then set my float (always a waggler) 5' from my hook. I add enough weight around the base of the float so that 1/2 to 1" of the float is sticking out of the water. I then clip another split shot onto my hook and cast the rig out. If the float disappears, I've got it set too shallow. If the shot on the hook does not register at all, I know it's set too deep. I then adjust the depth of the float in 6" or 1' increments till I find the EXACT depth. After I've found the exact depth, I cast around and look for any drop off's. I recently picked up one of the portable Hummingbird sonar units which are great to use on new waters. This helps a lot, but you still need to use the float method to fine tune the depth.

After I've determined the depth and found any drop-off's, I chum to draw in the fish. Maggots are unbeatable for gills, but corn will work, too. The key phrase to remember when chumming is "little and often". Chumming is an art, not a science, and most people screw it up by throwing in too much bait. In warm weather, I'd probably chum 5-6 grains of corn every 5-10 minutes -- less in colder weather. Based on how the fish respond, chum more or less.

Hope that helps.

Originally Posted by smoothlures

If someone (me) was going to fish off the bank somewhere for bream and didn't know how deep it was how would you start off fishing it? On the bottom with a leader? Or start off under a float and throw it out to a fishy looking spot and if no bites in 10 or so mins raise the float a foot or so?

... using a slip sinker, and just cast it out and let it set on the bottom. Leave a couple of feet of slack in the line, and when you see the line tightening up ... set the hook :p
This is how I used to fish for Carp/Catfish (though, not with corn) and it worked pretty good.

If I was going to use a float ... I'd probably use a very small one, with no sinker, and a hook no bigger than a #6.
If your outfit will cast it -- you might even consider just a hook with 1-2 kernals of corn on it, and cast it as far as you can, then let it slowly sink.

I don't think I'd wait more than 3-4mins, before adjusting depth or changing the spot where I threw the bait.

I may have to give this "corn" a little "field testing", myself :p

.... luck2ya ... cp

Great info, thanks a lot.

Carp seem to like it alot--never caught no perch with it,caught some catfish,but i think its mostly just premium sucker fish bait.

I dont want to hijack this guys post, but do people actually eat carp?

Originally Posted by dmbutler47

I dont want to hijack this guys post, but do people actually eat carp?

They were brought to Europe from Asia as food fish. Likewise, they were brought from Europe to the US for the same reason. As with any fish, the cleaner the water they come from, the better they taste.

I, however, do not eat them. (I don't eat anything I catch -- gills, crappie, etc.) I fish for them because they're big, they fight incredibly hard, and they get almost no pressure.

No one that I know of eats them. They're just fun and pretty easy to catch on light tackle cause of their average size.