As carp fishermen, we all like to use the same baits all of the time for carp fishing. We have our own favourite bait that we presume the carp love, but what do they really like? What would they eat if we were not feeding them their usual carp baits of pellets and boilies?
Anyway, let’s get to the question at hand.
Do carp like tomatoes? Yes, carp do like tomatoes and when presented right there’s no reason for them not to take them when used as your hook bait.
How many of you have tried them for carp fishing, and what’s the best way to present them to catch carp?
In my opinion, the best thing to do is to use cherry tomatoes for carp fishing. Get the smallest ones you can and use them as if they were a boilie. Once put onto a hair rig, I imagine it would stay on quite well.
When you think about it, natural baits and on venues where carp are becoming wary of boilies, it’s just something different to try that might give you that little edge over other fishermen and may give you a better chance of catching carp.
Our pro tip would be to pierce the skin of the tomatoes before casting them out. This will allow the juices to ooze out into the water and hopefully tempt a hungry carp to come and find out where that smell is coming from.
What about using tomatoes as feed bait?
Another thing you could do is get some old tomatoes that you have going off in your house. Blend these up or mush them up and use them as groundbait to attract the fish. You could then even use a few chunks of this on your hook as hook bait.
What could you mix them with?
You could mix them into your usual groundbait just to add something a bit different.
You could feed them with some pellets in a pot if you are pole fishing.
If tomatoes were such a popular flavour then surely bait companies would sell tomato flavoured bait?
Its a very good point and one that we can’t really argue. However, we think tomato is just something that might give you a bit of an edge when the going gets tough or if fish seemed to get used to the same baits.
Mike has over 30 years of fishing experience in carp fishing and general coarse fishing. He is always looking for the latest fishing kit to try out and talk about and needs a bigger shed due to all the fishing tackle he owns. You can read more about him here.