Since time immemorial, fishing has been a way of surviving. As civilizations arose near bodies of water, the fisherman is one of the oldest professions there are. Fishing is about self-reliance: learning to feed yourself without the help of anyone with just your tool and your wit. 

“As no man is born an artist, so no man is born an angler.” - Izaak Walton. 

Experience plays a big part, but to get good at fishing you have to think about what you’re doing and how you’re doing it. One of the many errors is to simply think that, if you don’t catch anything, the fault lies with the fish. Or the current. Or the day of the month. 

Well, in truth, there are a number of reasons why things can go wrong. Bait is one of them, and the one we will be talking about today. 

The Coffee-loving Fisherman

A cup of veteran-made coffee while you cast a line? That’s gotta be one of the best things there are. The quiet, subtle rocking of the boat helps you empty your mind and find peace that you can never find in the city. 

But when you brew your coffee, what do you do with the grounds? If you’re a fisherman, then you might want to think twice before throwing away the grounds. There are two main reasons why:

First, the scent of coffee is attractive to certain fish. This certainly doesn’t work on all fish, but coffee grounds have a certain aroma that some fish seem to love. This was actually discovered by some university students, who threw the grounds into the water to dispose of them. They immediately found that fish started popping up left and right.

This has been known for some time as it’s why you can find coffee-scented bait. However, it is not clear if coffee-scented plastic does the trick as well as simply coffee grounds themselves- we suggest you try the organic version first before spending your money on dubious artificially scented products.

Second, instead of disposing of the grounds, keep a compost bin. Have some dirt in it, and feed it mostly coffee grounds. With time, worms will appear there and you will have the best combination possible.

This only works if you take the time to do it. Mixing grounds and worms to use immediately does not work.

The smell of soil and coffee has to mix together, marinate as it were, for it to really work. There is something that happens over time that changes the aroma of coffee and turns it into something more attractive to fish.

As a bonus, you will get free worms. Then, throw the coffee grounds with the worms in them into the water. The aroma of coffee and the movement of the worms is enough to lure even the shyest of fish out to the surface! 

Conclusion

Fishing is the ultimate self-reliance hobby. Become even more self-reliant by developing your own ultimate bait, without having to spend a dime on artificial products that you don’t even know if they work.  

Simply enjoy your coffee, and then make great natural bait out of it. 

We hope you’ll try out some of the brand new coffee launched by Proper Patriot, and let us know what you think!

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Photo credit: Getty/Marek Trawczynski