Acorns for Bait, Huh?

I got out today and fished with one of our experienced members named Tom.  We were sitting under an oak tree talking carp and hoping for a fish.  Not much was happening on our lines that were baited with sweet corn.  We started talking about acorns for bait, and I told Tom about one of our former members, John Joseph, who actually used to use shelled acorns and who actually caught fish on them.

So, Tom decided to shell a couple of small acorns and hair rigged them ahead of a method ball.  It took about three minutes for his alarm to scream and he was onto a mid sized common.  Yes, this fish hit an ACORN!  I decided to try one and within a short period of time, I was onto a fish and soon landed another common on an ACORN (see fish at left).  It was an eye opener.
If you are into trying this, try to fish a "greenish" acorn, crack it open and you will see a seed-like middle to it.  The baiting needle passes through this easily and you are ready to hair rig this bait (see photo at right).  Tom claims he is going to try flavoring some and try using some in a natural state. I believe him because as I left he was crawling along the ground gathering acorns like a busy squirrel.