Quest Baits Blog

By Scott Ratcliffe;

During the colder months in particular, I find that when pasting up a 15mm hookbait with a similar high attract paste (Quest Fruity Trifle is my favourite in the winter) I achieve better results than when not doing so.

Paste can sometimes be an overlooked method but it really is worth considering. It gives high attraction in colder waters and the attention of little nuisance fish, who may nibble away at it, help draw in the carp in my opinion.

I don’t specifically choose my paste with regards to the weather, but I do tend to use ones that I am confident with and have, over previous years, had results with.

By roy van goor

All anglers are waiting for the first sunny days, when the temperatures are going upwards and the lake shows more and more fish activity. The warmth of the sun is responsible for more carp movement and often you can catch them fairly easily on these mild days. A few tips that can be effective considering the early time of the season;

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1) Fish often don’t respond to heavy baiting: Under these circumstances, try to fish bags and single hookbaits. Bait that has gone in, can’t be taking out. So be careful with free offerings.

2) Always try to get your rods on the bank where the first sunlight falls on: This side of the lake will warm up faster and on a lot of occasions the majority of the fish will be hanging around in that part of the lake.

3) Don’t ignore the margins: Most of my early season captures are hooked just a few feet of the bank, right in my own margin..

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By Mehdi Daho;

I like to mix dumbell shape boilies with normal round boilies in my baiting spot.  I think it confuses the carp, even the most spooky specimens. This is especially true when nobody else is using the dumbells on the water.

I fished a spot very close to the margin where I baited by hand a mixture of hot hemp and partiblend with 30% of dumbells Liver B8 and 70% of 15mm Liver B8 boilies. I placed my rig with a small dumbell Liver B8 followed by a plastic yellow corn on the baiting area.

Thirty minutes later I had a run !!! After a long fight under the rod tip, I landed a superb 37lb brown mirror.

I repeated the same situation for 3 days fishing only 1h in the evening, and I managed a run each night. I really believe the shape of the bait can increase runs.

Mehdi

Well France like the UK has been in the grips of a cold and icy Winter since virtually the turn of the year. Many stillwaters have been frozen on and off and even on the occasions when they are clear the air temperatures and general precipitation, added to the liberal sprinkling of snow over northern Europe, have meant that all but the very brave have stayed at home.

We received an e-mail from French field tester Bruno Medou, who has turned his attentions to the rivers.

This is in fact a great way to bag the odd bonus winter fish. The river carp unlike their lake bound brethren have little choice but to remain active and thus feed during the colder months.

By selecting backwaters, slacker stretches and perhaps even flooded zones you can often find feeding carp. If the fish are feeding they are catchable.

Most of his sessions have been simple over nighters, but the fish have been cooperative in conditions where you wouldn’t even be able to cast a line in a lake.

The advantage also of the colder dryer weather is that so far few of the northern French rivers have seen any significant flood water. Levels have risen and fallen fairly quickly.

So if your local lake is frozen over, don’t give up – try the river instead!

by Scott Ratcliffe;

How many of us take tins and rehydrated food out with us while fishing, even if its a short session or a weeks session? Here Im going to show how easy it is to cook fresh on the bank while you’re waiting for that special take.

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by Paul Cooper; 

One of the most productive methods for multiple captures of any species of fish, is by accurate presentation of both loose feed, boilies and the hookbait to a small area in open water.

The first task is to locate a possible feeding area that is within casting distance, to present a carpet of feed and your hookbait. The requirements for this are:

1) A marker rod

2) A spod rod

3) 2, 3 or 4 Fishing rods.

 The first rod that you should use is the marker rod which can find the depth of water, the contours of the lake bed and the texture of the make up of the lake bed.

Once a fishing spot is located, allow the float to rise to the surface and pick a point on the skyline that the float is lined up with. Either record this or memorise the location.

Wind the line back until you feel the marker hit the lead on the line, so that the marker is now on the lake bottom. Mark up the main line of the marker rod, at the butt ring of the rod with electrical tape or pole elastic.

Once you are happy that it is properly marked, reel in the line.

Our next step is to mark up the spod rod and the fishing rods for that that baited area.

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