Quest Baits Blog

We sell far more 15mm boilies than we do 20mm boilies which does surprise me.  I like small baits in my own fishing but tend to do so from 20mm baits. Let me explain.

To me there is nothing worse than not being able to quite reach the fish with free baits. This is why I tend to carry 20mm’s around with me and leave them intact until I know the fishing situation I will be in.

Look at the food in these chopped Chilli Chocolate baits

I often end up cutting them into halves, thirds and quarters. This releases a lot more of the attractors much quicker and also gives the advantage of them looking totally different. I find I catch more with these on pressured venues than I do on conventional round baits. Obviously no good for baiting at range though (apart from with a Spomb). I would definitely rather have a bed of broken 20mm boilies out in my swim than a bed of uniformly sized and shaped baits and when I really need to I can introduce them whole at much greater ranges than I can with smaller baits.

For fishing catapult range the chopped baits hit the surface from a catapult much more quietly – thus less scaring. continue reading…

In my book Fantastic Feeder Fishing I described how using spices and groundbait improved my catches, particularly with perch, and this led me to go deeper into the use of spices in food; how they worked, and why. I also wanted to find out what went into a curry, and that’s when I got a shock. There are over 600 different curry recipes being used by different countries around the world, with many using items that others leave out. I ended up more confused than I started!

So my next step was to purchase several books on oriental cooking with spices, to find out what each individual item was used for. With this info, plus my own observations, I was able to come up with a blend that definitely attracted perch – after much field testing.

As usual a good additive will always attract other species, with carp always the first on the scene. Other species strongly attracted were roach, bream, and barbel. Xotic is very good added to maggots along with maize flour, dusted on to luncheon meat, and excellent mixed into groundbait. It’s an essential ingredient in my feeder or bait dropper mix when chopped worm fishing.

I’ve been using an assortment of Quest shelf life and frozen baits since the company began. Despite the success I’ve had with the shelf life baits I still favour frozen baits over all.

However, as we all know one of the main problems with frozen baits is its deterioration during session fishing.  When travelling to France you may expect there to be sufficient freezer space made available… but more often than not the freezer space soon fills, leaving bait unfrozen and unpreserved.

Well, I have found the answer…. vacuum packing!

For this I use an Andrew James Vacuum Sealer & it couldn’t be simpler to use.

Put the boilies in a vacuum bag & follow the instructions of the vacuum sealer unit, and voila, you have fully preserved boilies.

These can either then be frozen for an indefinite period or left unfrozen for at least a month plus.  Because all the air has been extracted from the bag, the baits remain fully preserved.

I’ve also used the vacuum packing on tiger nuts, hemp, maize, and seed particle mix. The secret to vacuum packing particles is to rinse them thoroughly, drain as much water off as possible then vacuum pack. Any of these particles can be frozen for unlimited time and left unfrozen for at least a week.

Why not give it a try?

Regards, Paul Cooper

1. Easily digested – the quicker it’s digested the sooner the carp need to eat again.

2. Low flavour level (that will surprise some!) – if I am presenting baits where I know the carp to be then I don’t need high flavour content.  I have watched fish move from an area away from heavily flavoured baits when they don’t want to feed.  They will tolerate low level flavoured baits being in the swim though and eat them when ready.

3. Soluble ingredients – to assist the leach of the natural subtle attractors.

4. Minimal fat/oil content – they struggle to digest fat in the cold weather which can make them ill and certainly makes it a longer period of time before they need to eat again.

5. Subtle colour if the bird life is troublesome – speaks for itself but I prefer subtle baits when everyone else is using ‘in your face baits’.

6. Food content instead of simple flavour carrier ingredients – if the bait has been out for a couple of days before the carp are inclined to feed, or indeed come across the bait, I want a food parcel awaiting them – not a washed out bit of pasta!

7. Essential oil(s) – retain taste in the bait if not picked up early in the session.

8. Easily obtained – no good getting a bait going that you can’t get hold of easily.

9. Matching add–ons – I like to be able to get matching pop-ups, pellets and the like.

Whilst we are waiting for the accompanying pellet for the newly launched Chilli Chocolate boilies, it ocurred to me that I need something to give a little ‘boost’ to my hook bait and I generally like to have something mirroring  my free offerings as closely as possible. With the aid of a Korda Krusha, about 30 15mm Chilli Chocolate shelf life baits and approx 20ml of the Chilli Chocolate glug, you can easily make a lovely little mix thats ideal for a small PVA parcel.

Chilli Chocolate Meltie

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A short video clip giving you hints & tips on keeping your bait in the best possible condition.