Will Carp Eat Dog Food? – Two Methods

Carp angling can be seen as quite a complete sport for beginners with a lot of things to learn to put your fish in the net consistently.

To become a successful carp angler you must learn how to read the water to locate the fish, how to use the tackle available to you effectively, what rigs to use and how to tie them and also the long list of baits available to you and how to use them.

Over the years, experienced anglers have pushed the boundaries of what baits can be used to watch carp but boilies and pellets still reign supreme as the most common baits.

There are, however some more obscure baits that you can use to catch carp, one of these being dog food which I’m going to discuss in this post.

So, will carp eat dog food?

Will Carp Eat Dog Food?

Carp are omnivorous and will eat a wide range of foods and basically anything that they come across in the water that provides any nutritional value.

So, it’s not surprising that carp will eat dog food if they come across it in the water.

There are generally two ways that carp anglers may try and target these fish with dog food: these are fishing on the surface with floating dog biscuits or using wet, canned dog food.

Let’s take a look at these two types of dog food and how they may be used to catch carp.

Floating Dog Biscuits

Floating dog biscuits are far more commonly used than wet dog food and are often used for fishing for carp on the surface when conditions are right.

Sometimes, you may turn up to a venue to find the carp of the venue swimming in the top few feet of water enjoying the warmth under the sun that heats the surface of the water quicker that the depths.

In these circumstances it can be extremely challenging to catch any fish on the bottom or down in the water as generally they are just not there looking for food.

This is an excellent example of when floating dog biscuits can be great bait as they will float on the surface of the water above the fish which should hopefully be interested in feeding on them.

This style of fishing is also sometimes done using bread, but dog biscuits are a good substitute.

Fishing with dog biscuits is a simple method for catching carp, and you’re only going to need a light rod and reel and a straight line with a small hook tied on the end.

You’re then going to want to attach your dog biscuit to your hook (usually with a bait band) and cast it out over the fish swimming on the surface.

Due to the rig not having any weight behind it, you’re not going to be fishing distances far out into the water and you’ll need to stalk the margins looking for fish close to the banks.

Wet Dog Food

Wet and tinned dog food is far less commonly used but that’s not to say it can’t and won’t catch carp there’s nothing to suggest that it will be any better than conventional carp baits.

That being said, though, if you’re fishing significantly overfished waters it may just be the change of bait that the carp need to start feeding comfortably.

There are also plenty of other baits that could do this job, including prawns and mussels which I’ve already written posts about.

Dog food has a strong scent and amino acid content which can help take advantage of carp’s strong olfactory systems and bring them in from the surrounding area.

One type of dog food that is thought could be particularly effective is tins with fish content. A lot of carp baits are made using fish meal, so this makes sense.

One issue with using tinned dog food is the fact that it has an extremely soft texture that’s not going to stay on hooks or hair rigs for any length of time.

This basically writes it off as a hook bait, but that’s not to say it can’t be used in baiting mixtures for attracting carp into your swim to feed.

That’s All

So, yes carp will eat dog food, and fusing floating dog biscuits is a fairly common method of fishing for carp on the surface when bread is not used.

Carp will happily feed on dog biscuits, and there hard structure means they can be easily attached to hooks using bait bands.

Wet dog food on the other hand is not commonly used in carp angling but that doesn’t mean the fish won’t eat it.

Carp will happily feed on wet dog food if they come across it and the strong scent, oils and fats that will leak into the water may be great for attracting fish into your swim.

Although, fishing wet dog food as a hook bait will be extremely difficult due to its soft texture which will easily split and fall from your hook.