Quest Baits Blog

I managed my first overnight trip of the year last week and I must say it felt great to be back out again. I don’t know about you but I love the whole camping out thing, sleeping in the fresh air and waking up by a water all set up and watching for carp. The weather was really cold with ground frosts at night. Not many fish showing even when the sun was out in the day but one or two are beginning to come out. I suffered a very frustrating session with two hook pulls – not a great start to the season – but on the positive side I managed two takes on what can be a very difficult water. It’s a publicity ban water so I can’t say that much but I did photograph a very large fish for a mate of mine – a new PB for him and he was understandably over the moon.

So I thought I’d write something about remembering that it’s not all about catching personally. I know I had a big hand in my mate catching and landing that fish and I will always be part of that special memory and capture. I may not have caught anything but so much else was going on I came away a happy and contented man. Tawny owls hooting, cock pheasants cronking their territory calls and buzzards gliding and ‘mewing’ overhead. I also saw something for the first time which is amazing really after all these years – a pair of swans actually mating. I’ve seen them courting and their love dance is really beautiful – but never actually mating. Isn’t nature great? When they finished they made it clear what they thought of my fishing – the picture says it all!

Elie G

There is a story to every picture and often something different to every capture. I thought it worth mentioning the story to the 33lb common I caught this week which appears in a catch report Blog below.

I had turned up at the venue around lunch time and had introduced a bed of Chilli Chocolate boilies where I had seen some fish previously.

A couple of hours passed by and I received a few liners but there were also fish showing to my left the other side of the next angler. This venue has carp of all sizes with doubles and 20’s being the norm’.  One of the carp that had rolled looked to be a much better fish.

I was in a dilemma, I had introduced a carpet of bait and was receiving liners but a good fish had shown 2 swims away to my left. I was sure I would receive a pick up over the baited area but would it be one of the better fish? continue reading…

This is everyone’s favourite fish, judging by the numbers of carp waters around the country, and every bait company produces a “must have or you can’t catch” mix.  The trouble is, these ‘must haves’ vary so much… sweet, savoury, fruity, meaty, fishy… could all of them be right?

Well, yes, because carps tastes vary from season to season, and even from water to water, and are also affected greatly by temperature.  So I decided to try and blend them all together, taking only the best attractors from each mix.

Mega Carp was one of my later releases, so I already had a great deal of experience in blending various items before I even started on this additive.  It worked from the off, so if you are targeting match carp, or big fish, it should feature somewhere in your approach.  Stirred into sweetcorn, mixed into paste, added to groundbait, maggots, or even as part of a boilie base mix, it does its job of attracting.

For the roach lovers among you this is worth a serious go.  Gary Barclay, senior manager at Drennan International, was one of my early field testers, and as a pleasure angler and matchman he tried it on the Thames, canals around Oxford, and various still waters.  Other than carp, he was impressed by the numbers of quality roach that were attracted, but kept it quiet for a long time as he was regularly picking up coin in the matches and wanted to keep this particular edge to himself.

Now Quest have re-released it & it’s available to you!

Archie Braddocks

This year in France we have had a really very hard winter.  For several months the temperatures were below zero with northerly winds.  We were paralyzed and most of the lakes were frozen.

What a relief it was to get out on the bank again and it was a beautiful sunny day with no wind that my first fish of the year were caught.  It was a short day session and I’d done no pre-baiting.  I used a mixture of hemp, sweetcorn and Quest Fruity Trifle boilies.  Whenever I open a packet of Fruity Trifle that sublime fruity smell reminds me of my early days in carp fishing… back to basics!

It took less than an hour for the first take coming from the boat bay exposed to the sun. The run was slow & deliberate but the fight was anything but!  What fun… the first fish of 2010 taken under a radiant sun.  He just couldn’t resist the Fruity Trifle!
See you soon,  Romu.

When should we use fluorocarbon as hooklinks and when not to?

Over the years on many different pressured waters in the UK I have tried and tested many different hooklink materials to suit my style of fishing.  Waters that I target are gin clear, especially in the colder months, and this makes the carp are very tricky to catch due to the the fact that every little item of end tackle can stand out on the lake bed, making it very easy for Mr carp to suspect danger and move away.  I made a massive step forward when I started using Fluorocarbon in 10lb and 12lb.

At all times we are trying to improve our chances of getting that all important pick up and due to the fact that fluorocarbon is transparent to the lake bed, regardless of whether your hooklink is laid upon silt, weed, gravel, or clay, it gives you a massive edge.  I believe using this material correctly you can put 30% more fish on the bank.

Your lead arrangement can also play a vital role; should we choose inline, lead clip system, helicopter or running rig?  All have there place… but at all times make sure that in any case of cracking-off or snagging-up your end tackle is safe and the lead will be dropped every time.

Hooklink lengths using the fluorocarbon can vary from 2” to 12” depending on the situation i.e. what you’re fishing over and the bait you’re placing on the hair.  Does the hair have to be fluorocarbon? continue reading…

So, it’s the first full day of the enforced close season on my syndicate venue where my quest for a certain 40+ UK common continues. I’ve got  a month until the start, when many new keenie members will all be hunting the very same carp. Of course I have the advantage of  a seasons knowledge of the water, however as I said recently, the plan is to bait a couple of swims, one banker ‘hot’ swim and one ‘probably be empty and unpopular’ swim, in the hope of having a ‘fall back on’ option. Bait is to be my edge.

So the car is loaded, my initial baiting is to be approx 20 kilos of bait spread over the two swims, being a mixture of Quest shelf life baits in 15mm and 10mm, plus a mixture of Quest maximum action pellet, and an obligatory tub of hemp! I’m using an initial blend of baits as initially I want the ‘spot’ to be cleared and also recognised. Although 20 kilos is a fair investment, after this initial baiting I’ll reduce the amount and be putting the Chilli Chocolate shelf lifes in exclusively, with a view to building up the fishes confidence in it as a food and keeping the spots clean. I won’t be able to afford to put in stacks and stacks of bait, probably a couple of kilos a week, however over the course of the season the fishing will get better and better.

The big common came out twice last season, the dates and swims it was caught from are in my diary, along with my holiday form from work!

Time to get the baiting spoon out!

All the best, Spencer H