Best Carp Fishing Baiting Gear and Equipment
As outlined in the article Beginners Guide to Baiting for Carp Fishing, we went over how to use specific pieces of gear to pre-bait accurately for carp fishing.
Carp Fishing Gear such as this can be tricky to find in North America, but this resource page will go over many specialized items and tools used to bait for carp fishing and where new anglers can find and buy them.
I will list the Best Carp Fishing Baiting Gear below by what I use most. The prices fluctuate, so I will link two different sources in each section so you can easily find the best options to suit your budget and needs.
Table of Contents
Baiting Needles
Baiting needles are thin needles that make a small hole in hook baits. Your line is then hooked onto the end of the needle and pulled through the bait.
Gone are the days of threading your bait directly on your hook and hoping it will stay put. With a baiting needle and hair rig, you can ensure your bait will not come off even after the hardest of takes.
A must for every carp angler. The most affordable piece of baiting kit. Baiting needles are used to thread boilies, corn, wafters or any other hook bait onto hair rigs.
Carp Fishing Spomb
If I’m fishing lakes at a medium range, a spomb is my go-to tool for delivering a lot of bait to certain areas. It’s often beneficial to mark your targeted area with a marker float to increase accuracy.
You simply fill the spomb with your bait of choice and snap it closed. After casting it out, the spomb hits the water, which triggers a button on the front, opening it and dumping your bait.
I have one of each of the three sizes; a mini spomb, a midi spomb and a regular spomb. If I need to reach greater distances, the large spomb is just too heavy. The midi is an excellent all-around choice. The mini is mostly used when you only want to add small quantities of bait.
Carp Fishing Spod
Spods are another choice for baiting, much like spombing. They are merely a cylindrical torpedo that is open on one end.
Once the spod hits the water, the tip floats and dumps your bait out of the back. They are very cheap, so if you’re on a budget as I was when I first began carp angling, they are a great option to get started.
Luckily spods are one of the cheapest baiting tools on the market. You can easily find packs of two-four on Ali express. It’s often beneficial to have multiple spods in the event your line breaks and you lose one.
Baiting Spoon
Baiting spoons are great for placing a lot of particles evenly over a near distance. Longer handles can be attached to the spoons to reach greater distances. Not all baiting spoons are created equal. Many of the cheaper spoons have snapped and cracked on me. I will link to a highly durable spoon like the one in the pictures below.
Quick Tip: Carp fishing net handles have the same threads as baiting spoons, so you can quickly switch the handle to bait further without having to lug more gear around.
Boilie Throwing Sticks
Throwing sticks are used to toss single boilies to the desired location. They take some practice to get used to, but once you’re used to them you can keep a steady slow trickle of bait going into an active swim with minimal disturbance.
The main advantage of boilie throwing sticks and why many carp anglers opt to use them is the minimal disturbance to the fishing area. The crash of a spomb or spod hitting the water often spook fish already feeding. Using a boilie stick, you can spread single boilies out over the area undetected.
Although they aren’t as accurate as other methods, this can be an advantage. If boilies are spread out over an area, it will cause fish to move around the swim while feeding continually. This will increase the competition between fish and put more within range of your hook bait.
PVA Mesh
Much similar to baiting with PVA bags. Mesh can sometimes be more affordable as you can adjust the size of the mesh to the amount of bait you wish to put out.
Mesh also comes in long tubes, so it will last for those longer sessions where you may run out of bags. It is also more cost-effective to purchase PVA refill rolls and reload your tubes once they run out.
PVA Bags
PVA Bags work in the same fashion as Method Feeders and Leads. Dissolving within the vicinity of your hook bait once it lands on the lake or river bed. This is my preferred baiting method due to the fact that they ensure the bait stays near your rig even in fast-flowing rivers.
PVA Bags work great in tandem with small pellets, dry particles, stick mixes and PVA-friendly liquids.
Although they take a little longer to dissolve than PVA mesh, PVA bags are just as effective.
There are varying sizes of PVA Bags, larger ones for holding more bait and smaller ones for casting further.
I prefer the Korda Solidz PVA Bags found at Carpkit, but there are also much cheaper options at Johnson Ross Tackle and Ali Express.
Baiting Catapults
Baiting catapults are basically slingshots that are designed to fire carp fishing bait such as boilies and other small particles to the area you’re fishing. When the area I’m baiting is just out of reach of my throwing spoon, I normally opt to fire some freebies out via the catapult.
The main design of the catapult is the same between carp fishing manufacturers. There are a few specialty models that you will note have different pouches. The pouches differ to accommodate different baits. A boilie pouch will differ from a small pellet pouch to provide maximum distance per the bait you are using.
Still, getting proficient with a baiting catapult can be an affordable and effective method for baiting at close range.
Method Feeders and Leads
My main baiting choice for carp fishing. The majority of the time, I tend to target carp with pack bait.
Packing bait tightly around method feeders and leads allows me to ensure I have a nice pile of bait and attractant directly around my hook bait every time I cast.
For more information, check out our Recommended Carp Fishing Gear Page.