I recently got my hands on a couple of jars of CC Moore Hi Viz Tiger Nuts. I’m a little behind the 8 ball as they first hit the market over 12 months ago, but as soon as I saw them I made a mental note to purchase some in the future. I have long been a fan of Tiger Nuts ever since I first used them, over 20 years ago. They are a very misunderstood particle as they need careful preparation with them usually being in a dehydrated state. It is essential to soak them for at least 24 hours and then boil them for 30 minutes or so. This not only makes them safe for carp but also helps the nuts release their natural sugars. Personally, after boiling I always add a little salt, sugar and molasses to help them ooze carpy goodness!
The key with any bait is in its’ application. Too little or too much can be the kiss of death and with tiger’s it is very easy to over bait and completely ruin your chances of success. A little goes a long way with tigers and with many companies now selling them prepared they are a cheap and effective way to target big carp. Now I won’t go into a debate on if they are effective or not as the evidence is clear to see from the hundred’s of thousand’s of captures over the last twenty years. Put simply, they work! In my own fishing I tend to use tiger nuts in conjunction with hemp and cracked corn as I find it really keeps the carp in your target area for longer periods of time.
Back to the CC Moore Hi Viz Tiger Nuts. My package arrived late August and also included a couple of kilo’s of regular tigers. My plan was to use them on a session in Upstate New York and to fish the Hi Viz Tiger’s as hook baits over the top of a particle mix including hemp, cracked corn, millet and regular tigers. My target location was a popular section of the Seneca River and although I only ended up fishing under 20 hours the results speak for themselves. Here’s an overview of the session and you can make up your own mind as to the effectiveness of tiger nuts.
ARRIVAL
On arriving at the swim I was pleasantly surprised to find it completely empty. I slowly set up my rods and tackle and then started to work out the areas I would fish. I decided to fish two rods over a bed of boilies and the remaining rod would be fished tightly over my particle mix with the Hi Viz Tigers as hook-baits. After putting a few kilo’s of boilies out I proceeded to spomb half a bucket (5 gallon) of particle mix at a range of 50 yards. This may seem like a lot of bait but with the number of fish in the river I was sure it would be eaten in quick order. I clipped the spod rod up and made sure the baited area was no more than 10×10 yards. After spombing I then walked out the rod along with my rig and also clipped it up and marked it so that I would be fishing right on top of the area. Rather than fishing straight away, I left the spot for 2-3 hours and fished single hook-baits into another area. The idea was to allow the fish present to get a free feed, without rigs and line in the area and then top the area up again before actually putting a hook-bait out.
THE RIVER
The Seneca River is famous for it’s common carp. It is an amazing river system with a huge stock of fish and they have seen lots of different approaches so I find it is an excellent river to test out tactics and bait. With the use of the particle mix I was hoping to get the fish feeding competitively. I was also interested to see if the Hi Viz hook-baits would result in quicker bites over the spombed area. After leaving the area for a few hours I put a rod out and sat back to await results.
ACTION, ACTION, ACTION!!
I did not have to wait long as within 30 minutes the rod ripped off. I started with the Pineapple Hi Viz hook-baits and after several fish I then changed over to the Tutti Frutti version to see if they were as effective. Over the first 3 hours I landed several nice fish to upper doubles and when the action slowed down I spombed an additional 10 or so loads out. This was similar to a dinner bell as the fish came straight back into the area and the action picked up again. I continued this approach over the next several hours and while I did pick up the occasional fish on the boilie rods the main action was off the tiger nut rod.
The action continued until the early hours of the morning with not only carp, but bull heads and channel catfish also finding the Hi Viz Tiger’s irresistible. Around 3.30am I waved the white flag and wound in all of the rods so that I could get a few hours of shut eye. On waking, the area was alive with other anglers and most of them were casting directly into my baited area as the fish were rolling continually, no doubt still feeding on the particle mix and tiger nuts. As I was almost out of particle mix and also not wanting to compete with the other anglers I decided I had caught enough fish and spent the remainder of my session scouting out a few new areas to try in upcoming sessions.
RESULTS
Over the course of the short session I landed over 25 carp with 20 of these coming on the tiger nuts. I also landed an additional dozen or so catfish on the tiger nuts, proving how attractive they are to all species. Most of the fish were in the mid to upper double range, but I did land a few nice twenties with a 25lb carp being my largest of the session. There is no doubt the Hi Viz Tiger’s will no become a permanent feature in my particle fishing in the future and I can think of at least one water I will be using them this fall to try and tempt a big kipper or two.
To purchase CC Moore products be sure to visit Big Carp Tackle before they sell out!!