Quest Baits Blog

Ever wondered just how far you need to cast past your marker float to ensure your lead lands on the marked spot?

Maybe you haven’t considered it before, but if you let your lead go down through the water on a tight line it actually swings in an arc… so potentially ends up closer in than you think.

So how much allowance do you need to make?

We asked Jim Kelly & he came up with the excellent spreadsheet tool below. Here’s Jim’s comments;

For most situations swing is negligible, it is only a factor in very deep water close in. The assumption is that the lead falls on a tight line. In real life there is also a catapult effect backwards due to line stretch. Energy is stored in the line and when released the line shoots backwards. This can be easily observed if boating baits out, put the line under tension and release. I have no way of calculating this as it depends on:

• Type of line
• Velocity of lead on impact
• Mass of lead

Feathering the line or dropping the rod tip on impact with the water will reduce catapult effect. Catapult effect can be an advantage on very silty/weedy waters as it slows the lead down and hence it doesn’t go as deep into the silt/weed.

Interested to find out?

Click here to open the casting swing calculator as a XL Spreadsheet file.

By Jim Kelly

In March and April the weather can be very variable. Carp are cold blooded and at this time of the year will usually end up in the part of the lake that has the most comfortable conditions for them… and this usually means the warmest area.
On calm sunny days I look for shallow areas that are hit by the sun for the majority of the day. Water less than 3 foot deep can be very productive especially if there are snags close by.

My tactic is to cast into the shallow water with just hookbaits or with a small PVA bag with a mixture of Maximum Action Pellets and broken boilies. I don’t want to scare the fish and there is no need to attract them as they are there anyway… all I want is a feeding response.  This tactic has worked for me on numerous occasions. continue reading…

Dear Jim 

I have just read your article on Grosley with much interest as I am taking my son and nephew in April, and I was a bit surprised to see the weather was so cold. We have booked pegs 17a 17b and 18, have you got any other advice for me and should I take my own bait or save some space and buy on site. One more thing is the tackle shop ok or should I stock up on rigs weights before I go. Sorry to ask such boring questions but these bit of info are not on the web site 

Hi Chris, no problem with your questions. Last year was very unusual weather wise, but it is always good to be prepared. I have been to this area in April, it has been 25 degrees in the day and minus 5 at night it can be that variable. 

When we were there the tackle shop was not up and running. I would always take my own terminal tackle anyway as I am extremely choosy about hooks etc.

Bait wise I would check with the venue that they have the bait you want. If not Quest will send bait to the venue if you wish.

The obvious area to fish, if you are in pegs 17 a and b, is the island you may need a bait boat as it is at least 110 yd chuck. Peg 18, I would suggest fishing the margins of the peninsula. Cast to it (it is a fairly long chuck) and walk round and bait up.

When we were there we  used hemp very sparingly (10 spods full per baited area) and avoided pellets as they only attracted bream. There are no chats. 

If you want to know anything else just ask and good look.

Jim

With these dark nights and awful weather I thought it was time to have a smile. Any clean(ish) funny stories or happenings would be welcome. Below is my first contribution.

As some of you may be aware I am a mathematics teacher. Years ago I was fishing a water that had both a syndicate and day ticket anglers. As it happened one of the pupils I taught and I were syndicate members.

Now this lad was a really good kid, but not overly academic. Just to paint the picture he came round one morning really excited that he had caught a green carp. Wow I thought, is this a carp from Mars? Or a new species? Or had he been on something? On going round to photograph it.. you guessed it… it was a tench!

Now one night the lads thought they would play a joke on him and placed a blow up against the back of his bivvy. Next morning, when the day ticket anglers arrived the comments were wonderful: continue reading…

White Out on the Mangrove

by Jim Kelly

Winter carping can be one of the most sole destroying pastimes imaginable. What with the long cold nights, freezing days and with little chance of a fish anyone would be mad to fish through the winter months – wrong winter carping can be one of the most rewarding and exciting parts of carp fishing, if you get it right!

 The fish are normally at their best weight and in excellent condition. The million dollar question how do you get it right in winter?

Firstly my definition of a winter carp is one caught between 1st November and 1st March just to make it clear. Now that has been cleared up what makes the difference between success and failure?

I have winter fished for carp for well over 20 years, with some spectacular successes and some dismal failures. The problem with winter carping is that there are few rules.

continue reading…

Richard asked;

How many 18mm or 20mm boilies do you get to the kg ?

It is very difficult to give the number of 20mm or 18mm baits per kg as different base mixes have different densities. For example you may get more fruity trifle per kg than you would special crab. However, if you have 100, 20mm boilies it is equivalent to 137 18mm boilies. continue reading…