Quest Baits Blog

By Pat Gillett;
Towards the end of April I had a week on one of the Angling Lines venues called Long Lake. I have written an article on the weeks fishing on the Angling Lines’ website. Now although I didn’t catch any massive fish I did catch a few. But the main thing that the week brought home to me was how little things can make all the difference in fishing.

On Long Lake you book a swim for the week. Each swim has its’ own ‘end of swim marker’s’ which show the angler the exact area of water he has in front of him and should stop anglers encroaching on each other’s water.

I had got swim number 4 which was pretty much in the centre of the lake but also by far the narrowest part of the lake.I set up the marker float and plumbed the depths etc. About 10 to 15 feet back from the ‘end of swim marker’ I had an area that sloped from (left to right ) 12 feet deep to 14 feet deep. Now with the weather predictions I would have thought this was perfect so I marked up 3 rods plus the spod rod to fish this area.

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by Pat Gillett;

In today’s modern day fishing (especially carp and barbel fishing) there seems to be an ever-growing acceptance that ‘biggest is best’.

By this I mean that everything seems to be measured purely by how heavy a fish weighs and the heavier a fish weighs the more meritorious the capture is deemed to be.

It is human nature that we all want to catch the biggest fish we can but I believe that you should try and put all your fishing into context and not necessarily believe that ‘the biggest is the best’. By doing this you will continue to get more from your fishing and not get blinded by ‘numbers on a scale’.

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By Jamie Simpson;

I recently went on a week long trip to Lac De Grosley in France. A well run 25acre venue in Normandy, and only a 2 1/2 hour drive from Calais. I arrived at a very muddy and sodden venue on the Saturday morning not knowing what lay instore for the forth coming week.

Seven days of hot weather and glorious sunshine followed.

This then sent the Carp into spawning mode, which made the fishing difficult to say the least. Had I been at a venue close to home I would have packed up and left them to get on with it, however when you are on your weeks holiday from work it’s not that simple.

I have been carp fishing for 19 years now and have seen fish spawning many times in the past, however this was the first time I had seen it in France where I could watch it happen over several consecutive days.

Even better was the fact that there is a back channel similar in width to a canal that the Carp can escape to without any worry of line pressure. This was absolutely perfect for standing and watching their activities. I was fortunate enough to watch a group of five mid twenties following each other around and a couple of mid to upper thirties were in the area too. The Carp would regularly thrash against the bank and in particular a tree that stretched into the water, often almost pushing each other onto the bank. continue reading…

by Shaun Harrison

Forgotten Carp

I enjoyed Russell Hall’s ‘Goldendale – The Forgotten Lake’. Those carp look like true old warriors and it goes to show there are still a fair few lakes out there which are temporarily forgotten. I think the longer you spend in this game the more it becomes apparent just how quickly some carp can appear to grow, but upon reflection they are often just slow ‘plodders’. Many lakes that I wrote off several years ago as not being worth the effort for the size of fish they held, have now produced some very big fish. You can easily forget how long it is since originally writing them off. Even with a relatively slow growth rate it is amazing how much the fish grow over a period of a few years. There are some real gems swimming around in waters overlooked for a long while. continue reading…

by Shaun Harrison

Snag Fishing

Now then, back to the previous edition of Carpworld. I enjoy interview type pieces and like to see what makes certain anglers tick. Some come over a little bit cold, in my opinion, and some at the opposite end of the scale seem to absolutely ooze eagerness. I like to think that by the time I have finished reading an interview I have a rough idea what the angler is like, personality-wise. The ‘Big Interview’ with Jim Carpenter showed just how much he has sacrificed in the pursuit of carp over the years, but the one thing which really makes me take my hat off to him was quite early on in his piece where he said:
“I learnt then that I would never be a snag angler, and to this day I very rarely do it. I think that many fish get damaged in those hook-and-hold scenarios and I prefer to keep the fish looking good.”

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by Shaun Harrison

Stalking Fun
This trip down memory lane ( see previous post) also triggered further thoughts. Due to my present circumstances (single with a dog and nowhere to fish where I can take her), I have spent most of this summer fishing very short stalking sessions. My beloved Free Spirit ‘S’ Range 10-footers have never had so much use, and some great fun has been had with proper eyeball-to-eyeball situations. Most of the carp I have caught this summer have fallen to hookbaits just a few feet out. In most of the cases I have actually watched the carp take the hookbait, which is all good heart pumping stuff, and I have really enjoyed doing this. From what started out as desperate measures in order to be able to actually wet a line, it has resulted in one of the most enjoyable summer’s fishing I have had for many years. I am positive the tackle I have used has heightened this pleasure. I love using short, soft rods and I get a big kick out of catching carp on centrepin reels.

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