Dave Lane explains how you can make sure bait doesn’t fall out when you are spodding.

ONE aspect of spodding that tends to be overlooked a lot is the elimination of ‘spod spill’. This is where, just after you cast your loaded spod out, a shower of bait from the top of the spod rains down on the water just in front of your swim!

It seems that some people accept the loss of one third of the spod’s payload every cast as a fact of life. They are happy to go to all that effort just to deliver a few ounces of bait on to the target. But I hate it!

Spod spill is a result of the spod turning over in flight from the original casting position of ‘open-end first’ (where the spod is hanging behind your rod prior to casting) to the flight position of ‘nose-cone first’.

This happens just as the spod passes through a position about five yards from the rod tip – and the inertia of the cast usually carries the bait about 10 yards out.

The bait will not fall from the spod in flight, as the air pressure that closes around the rear of the spod will actually hold the remaining contents safely in place.

There is no reason to put up with this spillage. You’ll just end up losing expensive bait. In fact, the problem of spod spill can be easily remedied with a little, lightly-mixed groundbait, which you place in the entrance of the spod prior to each cast.

How To Avoid Spod Spill

STEP One To avoid bait spilling out of his spod on the cast (spod spill), Dave makes up a light groundbait mix in a small bait bowl.	STEP Two Using any groundbait you like, add a little water (just a dash) to it when you’re ready to start spodding.	STEP Three You don’t want to make the groundbait too sticky – just soft enough so the groundbait falls out as the spod hits the water.
STEP Four With the groundbait ready, now make up the bait mix you want to spod out. Dave favours hemp and pellets.	STEP Five Mix the hemp and the pellets thoroughly, using different sizes of pellet so that breakdown times are varied.	STEP Six Now add the mix to the spod. Believe it or not, there is a right and wrong way of doing this!
STEP Seven It’s essential not to overfill the spod or it will wobble during flight, as too much weight will be at the rear of the spod.	STEP Eight Fill the spod two-thirds full, then place a small groundbait plug into the end of the spod to prevent spod spill.	STEP Nine Press the groundbait plug into the spod gently. Get it right and no bait will fly out of the spod when you cast it out.