During the summer months, some of the most effective fishing can be carried out with simple freelining, using natural baits.
Natural bait fishing is mobile for the most part, moving from swim to swim, and is a recommended form of fishing for several species.
From time immemorial the traditional bait for many species has been the worm.
Worms and maggots are still favourite bait of many anglers and, certainly in the summer, more fish are probably caught on them than on anything else.
Lobworms and Redworms The lobworm is one of the most universally effective baits, and one of the easiest to obtain.
Choose a calm, mild night after steady rain and go on to close-cropped grass about two hours after dark.
Use a torch as dim as possible and wear soft-soled shoes.
You will see many worms lying completely out of their holes, and many more half in and half out.
Grip the body adjacent to where it leaves its hole and pull gently without breaking it.
Broken worms do not survive long in a wormery, and a dead worm will lead to the rest of the stock dying quickly.
To keep lobs, you can use moist, but not soaking, garden soil.
Every few days, place vegetable waste on the soil, and cover with damp sacking.
If they are not overcrowded, and kept cool and damp, worms will keep in good condition for months.
The much smaller redworm is another excellent bait.
You can ensure a good supply of redworms if you make a compost heap of grass cuttings, leaves, kitchen waste and animal manure in a shaded part of your garden.
As the compost rots it becomes full of redworms.
Slugs For summer chub fishing, the slug is recommended, the bigger and blacker the better.
The only problem with slugs is that they can be very uncertain in supply and are difficult to keep fresh for long.
It is best to collect them the evening before fishing, or, better still, at dawn on the day itself.
On a dewy morning, you will find many slugs in the dampness of bankside vegetation, particularly round the roots of rushes and burdocks.
Keep them as fresh as you can in a large bait box, out of the sun, with plenty of damp green stuff such as lettuce leaves to cover them.
Cockles, Prawns and Shrimps Prawns and shrimps are terrific baits, their problem being that they are extremely fragile, as well as being expensive.
Always buy fresh, shelled cockles from a fish market.
Do not buy them preserved or bottled, as they are kept in vinegar for human consumption.
These are useless as angling baits.