Quest Baits Blog

By Jamie Simpson

I decided to write this piece about one of the hooklink presentations I have been using to good effect this season.  I would recommend the use of this rig on firm bottoms such as sand and gravel, light silt and sparse weed, but not fished in thick weed or heavy silt as I feel the hooklink may sit up off the bottom awkwardly.

Just recently I have started using a lot more combi-link rigs again, and for the life of me I can’t remember why I stopped using them in the first place, perhaps the introduction of the coated braids maybe played a part in this.

With a lot of anglers switching to combi-rigs made by simply stripping coating off the braid I think I may have been a little paranoid that the fish would suss it out and my results would suffer.

I used them almost all the time in the late nineties and I guess I must have either moved onto a venue that I found an alternative more productive, or as I said, become paranoid about their effectiveness with so many other anglers now using a similar type of presentation. Anyway I have been using them quite a lot again this year on a couple of venues and have tweaked them to suit my requirements really well. continue reading…

By Jamie Simpson

I would be interested to read some of the other consultants and customers stories of their favourite sessions. It is always nice to reminisce about past results and moments on the bank that make you smile when you think back to them.

Setting the picture

I remember a session back in 1990 I think it was and I had been struggling in my early quests to catch Carp and hadn’t managed to catch a single double figure fish from my local pond.

Armed with a bag of ready made Richworth boilies and my 2 daiwa sensor rods I was off for a weekend sleeping on the floor in the back of my mates bivvy.

At this time I was only an apprentice toolmaker on about £40 a week so every penny counted and a bed chair and bivvy were way out of my price range.

It was either the last week in September or the first week in October if my memory is correct and it rained all weekend.

continue reading…

Neil wrote;

I’m going on my first France trip to Les Telliats at end of September. What
bait would you recomend I take and what size?

Well Neil, this question has been asked before and Shaun answered the question the last time. Having been to France many times before myself, I would say take the bait that you feel most confident in using in this country.

The fish on virtually every venue in France receive far more pressure than the majority of venues in England. With a large proportion of the commercial fisheries in France having full or atleast constant bookings for around 30 consecutive weeks a year, then it stands to reason that these fish are atleast as wary as the fish we try to catch back home. continue reading…

By Jamie Simpson

How often should you change your line and what causes the deterioration in it’s stated breaking strain?

I changed my main line prior to my recent trip to France and have already stripped it back off to be replaced.

Replaced after just one week may seem excessive to some people but if you think about it thats 7 days solid angling, fishing near overhanging trees with some underwater debris. Not to mention a few Carp played on it and in hot sunny conditions.

I use Berkeley Big Game for most of my general fishing and at around £10 for 1700 odd meters, it’s not exactly expensive. A useful tip is to have backing line on your spool and only replace around 250 meters. The reason for 250 meters is that it is well past my maximum casting distance and if I have to strip back a few yards near the hooklink then I have a bit to play with. This also applies to if I have a crack off for some reason. continue reading…

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…

Steve Vaughan wrote;

Could you recommend what size hook to use with 18mm baits, I’ve been using size 8 but find i am missing lots of runs on this size

Hi Steve

That’s not quite as simple a question to answer as a lot of people might think, and it certainly isn’t straight forward.

Firstly it depends on the hook itself, as each manufacturer seems to make up their own sizes and they vary immensely. Unfortunately there isn’t a national standard hook size to work from. For example a size 6 Korda long shank is dimensionally a much bigger hook than say a Drennan super specialist of the same size. continue reading…