Corn is not the only cereal that fish likes. There are others such as wheat, spelled, barley and kamut that may be of interest to fishermen dedicated to cyprinids.
During the hot periods, one of the most difficult problems to solve is that of the excessive power of the little fish which, in many cases, prevents fishing with different types of bait. The first of these is the maggot, but sometimes also the trigger of horsefly, large worms and other baits of animal origin is almost impossible. Even with caster and pellet it is sometimes difficult to reach the bottom.
There are places where alborella run at the slightest touch of the hook triggered on the surface of the water, in others the cebacek with that hard and pointed mouth mince anything to eat understood at their shooting. And then there are only perch, blades and so on that they are not sure to pray to swallow the bait.
All this happens mainly in lakes, including the carpodromes in which the manager did not bother to introduce some predator to limit the number of "little ones".
When this happens, we must make some arrangements and we must also deal with the particular regulations of each of the structures in which we go fishing. Some are not allowed pellets that are a good way to avoid alborelle & C. and then we must also take into account those lakes in which, although there is no problem of minnows, you cannot use maggot and even caster and pellets.
Methods for circumventing the obstacle exist. For example, we can fish with groundbait, or triggering cooked pasta, but the system that goes the most is the trigger of corn, also using it for baiting.
Bait cheap, clean, easy to use and trigger, these are the keys to the success of this cereal that now the fish know so well to be well accepted in all seasons.
But "cereal" does not mean only corn and for those who are always looking for news and does not stop at the first bait that finds satisfaction even in finding something different, we suggest to try with other cereals, the most common and we have an eye every time we go to the supermarket on the shelf of dried vegetables.
We are referring to pearl barley, wheat, spelled and all other cereals that this time, instead of the vegetable soup, we will use to catch the fish. All the minnows feed on grains, especially the larger ones, they are rich in carbohydrates, they contain a little protein and, above all, they represent a really good alternative to classic baits.
We believe that wheat, barley and similar, allow you to do a little more refined fishing than the classic carpodrome with corn. They are not lures, so to speak, for massacre, but for a selective fishing, to choose and aim for that particular fish, difficult to catch, because it wants a delicate line, maybe very light, with a hook and a small bait that does not he can be a big-cat because he would be annihilated instantly by the ravenous alborella.
The preparation
The convenience of corn is proverbial: whether it is the food or, better than that prepared specifically for fishing, just open the jar, "fish" inside and trigger.
All this does not apply to other cereals. So you have to prepare them before the fishing trip and, all in all, this is not a great evil because it gives us the opportunity, in case it is considered useful to give a personal touch to these baits.
But of this we will talk later, let's see first what are the main rules for cooking. First of all, we strongly recommend to soak the desired amount of grains in warm water at least the day before cooking. This will allow the seeds to soak in significantly shortening the cooking time that can be carried out in a classical way, with boiling in a pot and plenty of water, or, in the pressure cooker, because in a few minutes you reach the goal.
It is advisable to use natural seeds, but there are also those who choose to process them a little and, before cooking, you can give the first touch by adding sweeteners, first of all sugar, or a little salt that allows to better preserve cooked seeds. These, in fact, have a tendency to ferment very quickly, especially in summer and salt slows down this process, at least for a couple of days, and is not that much trouble the fish, indeed!
If you choose to add salt, however, it is better to make it almost cooked because to do it right away, even worse, soaking the seeds in water already salted causes hardening of the tegument and everyone knows that a hard bait does not have the same liking of a beautiful soft one.
In any case, the choice of preparing a harder seed can be a good strategy for a quick catch or when there are many types of tackles and you want to avoid the annoyance of re-stopping the hook due to the loss of the bait.
In any case, the degree of cooking of the seeds must be carefully monitored to avoid overcooking, especially the pearl barley which, having a very thin tegument, cooks in a short time and becomes unusable if overcooked.
Another method
Controlled cooking is certainly the best method for obtaining perfect baits, but there is no way to avoid standing in front of the stove, checking the progress of cooking from time to time. In this case, it takes a rather large thermos in which you put the soaked seeds for a day in warm water. At this point, boiling water is added and everything is closed.
After a few hours the seeds will be cooked and ready for use. Of course, you cannot expect them to have the perfect cooking degree as you get at the stove, but you can stay close to it. By opting for this method, we must carefully take care not to overload the thermos because the cereals soaking double their volume and therefore ...
Coloration and aromatization
We do not recommend this practice when cooking. Coloring in cooking means to have a more intense and brilliant color, but also to risk making messes and very dirty.
Flavoring in cooking, on the other hand, means losing part of the aromatizing power of the substance used for evaporation, as well as spreading fragrances that may be dangerous for your safety. Wives and mothers have a certain tolerability that does not go beyond the vanilla. Already with the "Tuttifrutti" you run risks, but if you use fish aromas or similar, a mutilation is the least that can happen.
Therefore, for all these reasons, it is better to aromatize the cereals by putting a little 'flavoring or coloring in the container of cooked grains, with their cooking water, when the latter is cold, closing hermetically. In a few hours they will be colored and flavored.
Obviously, for a greater effect, we recommend alcohol-based substances avoiding those based on oil that do not spread in water.
The baiting
Cereals can be used for baiting just like corn. You can use only one type of cereal, but also more cereals mixed, indeed, to tell the truth, other seeds can be added to the mix, as for example, cooked hemp and the mixture can be added safely to the groundbait to enhance the effects , but the best use is to put it in the water as it is.
Now, the problem is how to use it, because it is practically impossible to fry it, since the cereals should be kept in their cooking water to prevent them from drying out. The best way is to bake with the cup, but even here you have to put in place a little trick, as the wet grains remain stuck to the sides of the cup.
The best system is to collect a little water from the surface once the cup has reached its destination. This causes the grains to come off the walls and just bend them sideways because all the contents are poured into the water.
The line
We think that it has been intuited that fishing with cereals is a fairly refined and precise fishing. Not that the other specialties of fishing strike are rough, indeed, however, that with cereals, is a specialty that requires a little 'more preparation than others.
The float, for example. Better to choose models with a fairly large antenna rather than those with a fine antenna made of plastic or fiberglass. The best ever for fishing with grains are the floats with hollow plastic antenna, those with internal thread, so to speak.
This type of antenna has a technical particularity that is very useful. The float should be calibrated as follows: with the hook triggered with a grain of cereals (this also applies to fishing with corn), lead pellets are put until the antenna goes into "bubble" calibration, so only the apex appears from the surface of the water.
Then the bottom is measured so that the hook (and only it!) touches the bottom. In this way, the bait is resting on the bottom (but without having final support on the ground) and no longer weighs on the float which, deprived of this light ballast, will show a little more antenna than before.
The portion of the antenna that comes out of the water, usually from half a centimeter, represents the support on the bottom. At the slightest sinking or at the smallest lifting of the antenna must follow the retrieving.
It is evident that in this fishing what must be privileged is the stability of the line that can be obtained with a low plumbing made with a lead of the n ° 9 to the rig knot and from a bulk to calibrate about 15-20 cm above.
Even the rig must be short: 20 cm with threads from 0.09 to 0.11 if you are looking for crucian or ruddles, going up to a 0.14 if in the viewfinder there are the carp. Even the hook follows the same logic and if until now we said that fish with corn or another type of cereal changes little, in the case of the hook this is not valid.
It should be noted that in the case of corn we fish with a rather large and heavy bait inside which it is easy to hide a hook hiding it completely from the sight of the fish. Not so in the case of barley, wheat, etc. Meanwhile, the smallest bait claims a small size hook (from 20 to 16) and then it is almost impossible to hide it inside.
For this reason, since the color of these cereals tends to clear, it is advisable to use nickel-plated hooks, possibly opaque, with a medium-short stem and round curve, triggering a grain, but also two, transversely passing through the kernel. Naturally, I recommend the use of tried-and-tested carp hooks.
When
If we take for example what happens with corn, one would think that all other cereals can be used more or less always. In fact, as we said at the beginning, the fact that cyprinids, especially carp, are also taken in the winter with corn depends on the wide use that is made in each season of this bait.
Not so with other cereals, at least until these baits are not commonly used, so we indicate with the summer and early autumn seasons of election. It is, however, to try, because, especially with the mixed triggers such as a grain of wheat with a maggot, or others more or less imaginative, even in winter, in the carpodrome, we can have some pleasant surprises.
