Quest Baits Blog

37.08

Hi all,

just a quick report after coming back from France where I fished for a week. It was a really tough week with really cold temperatures and hardly any sun! I had to resort to wearing four layers most days as the North Easterly wind that’s been around for ages was really nasty.

I was fishing into thick tall weed in 12′ of water and it was impossible to find the clear spots without full sun, making life really hard. The sun came out briefly Monday afternoon, I found a gorgeous tiny gravely spot and had this lovely 37+ common from it.

I then spent two days trying to find that spot again with a prodding stick. I had two takes off it and had this 32 common – fought like a demon – just look at the paddle on it. Lost the other one and managed a 28 from open water. There were some really big fish caught that week on the lake but I wasn’t lucky to get in amongst them.

Home made rhaja spice pop ups did the job. With a lot of time on my hands I was playing around with a rig I’ve been developing for a while now. I tied a few up on the bank for use on a weedy water when I got back. I really liked the look of what I’d come up with and was itching to try it when I got back. Next time I’ll let you know how I got on, suffice to say my season just got better and better.

Tight Lines,  Elie Godsi

Silk weed – love it!

I must admit it does make me smile when I see anglers trying to find clear areas to present their baits when confronted with a swim full of silk weed.

Silkweed harbours a lot of natural food particularly shrimps which the carp love which in turn means they will regularly be visiting these food rich areas as a matter of course. The natural world is baiting up for you constantly if you take time to find the natural food harbours.

Rather than try and find clear areas to present your baits you would do yourself a far bigger favour to find the ‘hotspot’ areas of weed containing the most food.

Simply cast out with a heavy bottom bait on leave it a few seconds to settle then wind in. The bait will help get the hook down a little further into the weed so it becomes a mini grapple hook for gathering samples. Examine what you have wound in and see what sort of creepy crawlies there are. If there is nothing then try another area until you encounter life. continue reading…

When you open a bag of Chilli Chocolate the first thing that hits you is the powerful chocolate aroma… but the clever thing about it is the subtle chilli & pepper taste. It surprises many people to learn that carp adore a spicy flavor.  It’s true that the fruity sweet flavours do well too… who can doubt the effectiveness of Fruity trifle… but baits like Rahja spice prove without doubt that they have a like for the spices too!

My first sessions proved conclusively the effectiveness of the Chilli Chocolate.  I also received the combination hooker to me bait set.  It comprises  pots of 15 & 10mm glugged hook baits & pop-ups.  Extremely practical!

See you soon at the waters edge!

Romu

Bryan asks;

Hi Shaun,  Having looked at the video vault on the Quest Baits website and the section on self take photography, I have had no luck in sourcing the bracket and the adaptor that fits to the upright.

Can you please give me a clue as to where I can buy such an item to allow me to also use self take photography without using a self timer?

Many thanks in anticipation, Bryan Clark.

Shaun Harrison answers;

Hi Bryan,  Since we filmed that clip I have now found an even better bracket. It works the same way as the one I was using but has more adjustment and simply locks up more secure. I used to have the original one slip off the shutter release at times especially when taking several pictures. This now seems to be a problem of the past.

The type I now use (and have done so for over 12 months so a fair trial period) is from SRB-Griturn based in Dunstable Bedfordshire. 01582 661 878 www.srb-griturn.com

Best fishes, Shaun

Well, as I sit and write this at home we are going through a very hot spell with high pressure and ‘Non carpy’ conditions, but do you know what? I love it!

For whatever reason, in these conditions I always seem to manage to pull off a result of some sort and whilst a 22lb common is far from my biggest carp, the circumstances surrounding it make it a good capture to me personally and that is what it’s all about!

I’d started the season well, landing the second biggest common in the lake at 35 lb 15 oz on the first day of the season followed by an upper double common the following day. The following week was a blank, however this week the Carp Gods were on my side again and the Chilli Chocolate produced a result. continue reading…

The biggest of a cracking morning – 14lb 2oz

With the start of the ‘traditional’ coarse fishing season almost upon us I thought I would mention something I picked up whilst fishing a big pit some years ago.

The venue I was fishing was the best part of 200 acres and had a very low fish population (both bream and carp). Because of the low stocking levels the bream were all large fish (nearly all over 10lb) and the fishing was obviously difficult. But this sort of venue suits me down to the ground, as they get very little angling pressure with most anglers giving up quite quickly, which leads to some very quiet unspoilt fishing.

For the first couple of months I took the traditional route (for bream) of baiting up fairly consistently/heavily with ground bait / corn/ maggots etc. I did catch a couple of big bream this way (including what was then a lake record of 12lb 2oz), but I wasn’t really happy with my results.

Because of the relatively low stocking levels the bream didn’t go around in big shoals (has they do when there are lots of smaller bream in a lake), so I had a feeling that by feeding the ‘stodgy’ type cereal / crumb ground baits, I could be filling the fish up too quickly and therefore not getting the best results whilst fishing. continue reading…