This season I'm going to going to dedicate one rod to alternative hook baits. I'm only going to fish a margin spot that I know produces Carp, so I know the Carp feel confident feeding there. I'm starting with Dried Prunes and will post my results on this thread, good or bad

In reply to Post #1
Why prunes fella?

In reply to Post #2
To keep the fish regular

In reply to Post #1
You'll look a right plum ☺

Seems a bit of a odd choice of bait.

In reply to Post #1
I used to fish with an old boy 20 odd years ago who swore by alternative baits, his favourite's were either mussels or cockles, he also used to make his own paste up using cat food, he did catch a few on them as well!

In reply to Post #6
Gerry Stapleton......?

In reply to Post #2
Why not? Carp love Plum flavoured boilies. I'm really going to be thinking outside the box with this experiment, so if nothing else it will be interesting testing.

In reply to Post #8
Plum boilies don't taste like plums though.
If you want 'alternative' then go cockles or prawns.

Ive caught plenty of carp on cockles...very under used and underrated bait....

Cockles on the hair with a golf ball size pva mesh of pellets....jobs a goodun

In reply to Post #8
When you say carp love plum flavour boilies, do you mean the flavour label or the liquid base?

In reply to Post #11
Brazils

In reply to Post #1
Interesting thread, I'm all in favour of alternatives when small fish allow. I've caught on banana skin but I must say it was not very successful. My favourite alternative bait is hot dog with the brine poured away down the bank into the margin. Seems to work very well on one particular lake where the carp are cute.
Look forward to seeing your results and good luck with your prunes

Way back in the 80's after reading George Sharmans book I think,I spent 5 weeks baiting one swim on a club lake with raisins a kilo bag almost every night and the fish were all over them.
Come June 16th as usual the fish started spawning I blanked and never used them again!!!!!

In reply to Post #14
Iv'e done Cockles, Prawns, Crab-meat etc plus many Nuts, Beans, Chick Peas etc, and all to very good effect. Time for something completely different. The lake I'm fishing also has a nut ban. I decided on starting with dried Prunes as I wanted a larger size dark colour bait and they can also easily be moulded into different shapes. Also the Plum flavour has worked well for me in the past, so that's my starting point, dried Prunes

Prefer Mussels to Cockles, though they are harder to keep on the hook, tend to fish those with a forward facing swing arm indicator sat close to the rods match style. Belly Pork is 1 I've had good results on, it swells to 3 times the size in water and goes really soft, I can only assume it covers the hook because a lot of takes are savage.

Also had a lot of luck using Korums bait cages, also Solars of yester year, lets you use a lot of baits that you couldn't on their own.

Let us know how you get on

In reply to Post #6
The old boy was more than 20 years behind the times, we were using cockles, prawns and cat food based boilies in the 1970's and 80's.

To OP good luck, I would be suprised if prunes work but there's plenty of other things to try.

Cheesey pepperamis used to be amazing, had 100s on it until they discontinued it. The look on the till workers face when you come through with about 100 of em was priceless.

Various dog reward type chew sticks, cheese strings were good too.

In reply to Post #17
Iv'e got few items in mind to try, and they're all black or very dark. My mind is open to all possibilities when it comes to bait. If you can catch carp on a tiny bit of black foam with no added attractor or flavour , then surely everything and anything is possible. As I said before Carp are like Pigs of the lake.

In reply to Post #12
Brazils are a good one or fishing over particles.. A balanced bit of Cork.