Thinking Anglers

Nuts About Carp!




Mention the words tiger nuts to a group of carp anglers and you’d be surprised at the positive and negative response that you get back. It’s possibly the one hook and feed bait that seems to attract the most attention on the discussion forums and has been in recent years, the bait to ban on fisheries up and down the country! My first encounter with tiger nuts was on a fishery in south Devon in the late 70s’, when by chance I witnessed the capture of a carp (netting it for the angler concerned) at the Newton Abbot, Rackerhay’s complex. Upon closer inspection I saw this strange type of nut hanging from the hook and promptly stepped back and trod on a bait container that was full of the things! An hour later and after much tea and chatter I was more the wiser to the ‘latest and greatest’ bait to catch carp on! Some 30 years plus and I still regard the humble tiger nut as good as it was back then and have caught countless carp on either single nuts or when fished over particle baits like hemp and sweetcorn.
So why does the use of tigers court so much controversy and why are they on the banned list with so many carp fisheries? In my opinion much of the banning has been down to improper use or in some cases over use. But I do believe there are an element of fishery owners and anglers that have just followed the blinkered view that they are bad, without really looking into the true facts. Yes, uncooked and over baiting is not the way to go, so to a degree I can understand the negative out-look tiger nuts receive. But fished in moderation and prepared properly, they are a great (and often very cheap), alternative to catching big carp!
Years back tiger nuts were mainly bought from pet stores or bird seed merchants that imported them from abroad and a large sack could be bought for a modest amount of money… and you can, if you prefer, still buy them this way. Today however, we live a in a world of convenience baits and there are several firms that sell both tins and jars of ready prepared tigers… simply open the top and away you go! For most of my requirements when it comes to hook baits I use the range from Dynamite Baits.
However, I still like to buy mini tigers in a 25k sack that have been imported in and prepare these myself. I find these mini-tigers great for making up a spod or particle mix for the use of pre-baiting, especially when combined with hempseed and sweetcorn. Being in their raw state (de-hydrated) all shrivelled and dry, it is essential that they are cooked properly and I mean properly. First off they need to be soaked for at least 24 hours, if not longer. This allows the tiger nuts to re-hydrate and take on water. Once they have started to swell nicely it’s into a large pan of water where they are then brought to the boil and allowed to simmer for a while. At this stage I then remove them from the heat and pour the water and cooked tigers into a large bait bucket where they are left to cool. The cooling process allows the tigers to emit the sugary liquid that they contain (something carp find irresistible), and after a few days the sugars start to ferment leaving the nuts pickled in a sweet, sticky goo!
When it comes to picking tiger nuts for the hook bait, I’ll often sift through a prepared jar of large Dynamite Tiger Nuts and select several of the biggest ones. Even though they have already been vacuum cooked and sealed in the jar, I’ll cook them again, as this further activates the sugars within the nut. Once cooked I’ll take about 30 or so nuts and put them into a tub along with a covering of the liquid that they have been cooked in and then I add a few drops of liquid sweetener. This further boosts them and makes them stand out from the free offerings and as they are far bigger in size than the free offerings, makes them a viable target for inquisitive carp!
Another thing to bear in mind is the shape of a large tiger nut, which can be used to your advantage when presenting them on your rig. The irregular shape (singles or doubles), can be quite difficult for a carp to eject in comparison to a round boilie. Something I have also done in the past is to scrape the outer skin away revealing the inner whiteness of the sweet tasting centre. This then gives you a very visual bait, something I have found carp very inquisitive about. So why do they like them so much? Some say it’s the sweet inner, others say it’s the crunch factor or maybe it’s a combination of both. I can only aliken it to a human being eating a packet of dry roasted pea nuts… once you start you’ll find it very difficult to stop until the whole packet has gone!
When it comes to presentations I have used tigers as both bottom and buoyant baits and have found both as equally effective. I do however favour a long Hair and double tigers for bottom baits, as this allows the tiger to travel further back in the carp’s mouth and drop down at the back of the throat area, giving a far greater chance of hooking.
With a buoyant presentation I much prefer the use of a Thinking Anglers Hook Ring Swivel and a single, large tiger, as the lack of weight in the (balanced or buoyant) hook bait can lead to a quick ejection if it were just mounted in a Knotless Knot fashion. The rig ring or Hook Rig Swivel keeps the bait tight to the hook and helps the hook find a quicker hold. There’s a really simple way of attaching the nut to either presentation and simply involves a small length of Amnesia, and a lighter as you’ll see in the pictures.
When it comes to the question of ‘how much to put in’… think long and hard before you make the mistake of over-doing it, remember you can’t take out what you’ve already put in! Most importantly… check first that they are they allowed on your water? I’ve found from trial and error that an introduction of say half a kilo of mini tigers mixed with hemp and corn over two or three areas, twice a week for three weeks, has been adequate to get the resident carp to identify with them. Or, if you prefer a different approach, just introduce large single tiger nuts and scatter half a dozen here and there before fishing in the same manner… you don’t need to use kilos and kilos to get a bite! Whatever it is about the humble tiger there’s no denying that carp absolutely love them… but please remember, use them with care and consideration for other anglers, and above all put carp safety at the very top of your priority list!

Martin Ford