Static Carp Angling with Baby Potatoes

In the past, about 50 to 60 years ago, boiled potatoes were one of the most popular carp baits used for angling. There are still carp anglers who use this bait. It’s still effective, even in pressured waters where modern baits fail. I think younger anglers are less familiar with it, having grown up in the boilie era, which started in England in the 1980s.

Angling with Potatoes: Then

Carp angling with potatoes was different back then, as they didn’t have hair rigs. A piece of potato was pushed onto the hook and stopped with a piece of bread crust on the hook point. Casting this way is limited, as the potato will fly off with a strong cast. Also, the potato would crumble in the water after some time, requiring more frequent bait changes back then.

Angling with Potatoes: Now

Angling with potatoes can now be done in a modern way, called “static carp angling”. Use canned or bagged baby potatoes. They’re the perfect size for hair rigging. Buy a can or bag of baby potatoes for hook bait and some regular potatoes for groundbait. You can flavor the potatoes with syrup, honey, vanilla sugar, or white or brown caster sugar. Carp love sweetness!

Preparing Potatoes as Hook Bait

There are several ways to prepare baby potatoes. You can soak them with standard soaks (like those from www.bfmbaits.nl), or sweeten them with other sweeteners.

Bring the water to a boil, add your chosen sweetener, and dissolve by stirring. Turn off the heat and add the baby potatoes to the liquid, letting them sit briefly underwater as they’re already pre-cooked. Don’t leave them too long or they’ll become too soft to hair rig.

Then use the cooking liquid to cook some regular potatoes for groundbait. Cook these normally for about 20 minutes. Drain and let them cool.

Potato Feed Balls as Bottom Bait

Mash the potatoes and add some white bread flakes. You can also add corn pellets or other pellets – soak these in a bit of milk first to soften them. Combine all ingredients and knead by hand into a firm dough ball. You can add more soak or sweetener if desired. If it’s too wet, add more bread to make it easier to form into dough balls.

Now make nice small feed balls for groundbait. You can prepare all this before going angling. You can also freeze the feed balls in portions, taking the desired amount from the freezer.

Baby Potato on the Hair Rig

Threading the baby potato on your hair rig can be done like a boilie, but this isn’t ideal for casting. It will cut through the boilie stopper during the cast and fly off. You can prevent this by using a cotton swab. The cotton is on a hollow plastic tube – you need this tube. Cut the desired piece from the cotton swab and push it through the baby potato. Put your boilie needle through the tube and slide it with the potato over your hair. Finally, place a large boilie stopper on it and it’s ready for casting.

A soaked baby potato on the hair – irresistible to carp!

Placing the Bait on the Spot

You can choose to cast or use a bait boat to bring your bait to your spot. It’s not easy to get the feed balls to your spot by casting. You can use a catapult, but you’ll never reach as far as with a boilie. For long distances, I always choose to use the bait boat to ensure everything arrives at your spot properly. Try experimenting with it – you’ll see that potatoes still bring fish to the mat.

Good luck, Marcel

Marcel Dolderman

I have been fishing all my life, but the carp bug started around when I was sixteen, in the western part of the country where I was born. I was less active in fishing for a few years, but the passion runs where it cannot be suppressed. Fishing truly brings me peace, being out in nature, and feeling the adrenaline rush when the bite alarm goes off. Besides carp fishing, I enjoy experimenting with everything related to carp fishing.