Quest Baits Blog

Question:

Hi Shaun,
I have been using your bait for a couple of years now, I’m going to Margot on 20th April next year, was wondering if you could give me any idea what worked well out there for you, if it was just boilies or pellets introduced worked its magic too, there doesn’t seem to be many blogs which help!
Many thanks
Roy

Shaun Harrison Answers:

Hi Roy,

One of the beautiful Margot commons I had that week.

It is a few years now since I visited Margot but the winning method for me was a wide scattering of 10mm boilies of mixed flavours (I actually mixed every flavour and colour we do) and bulked that out with Garlic Feast too. I fished 3 rods on the same baited area with different set-ups to start with – pop up, bottom bait and snow man.

A big Margot Grass Carp going back.

Most of the takes that week fell to a snowman set up with different flavour combinations but the Special Crab did appear to shine through that week.
I was baiting with around 2kg of 10mm’s and 5kg of Garlic Feast each afternoon and sprinkling the odd catapult pouch of boilies over the top at intervals too. This was around August time from memory so the weather and water temperature will possibly be a little cooler when you are there but not significantly different.
Certainly the mixed bed of different colour and different food signals is something that has worked well for me on a lot of waters.
I would have thought that Angling Lines would have some up to date news if you check their website and blog. They usually keep them up-dated. Like I say it is a while since I went but the above methods produced around 70 fish for me that week.
Hope this helps.
Best wishes

Shaun

Message:

Hi all,

I started making my own boilies, but a bit confused at to which flavours to use at which time of year,1 person told me fish flavours in winter and frutti in summer, then someone else told me the opposite. Any suggestions welcome

thanks all

Mike

Shaun Harrison answered:

Hi Mike,

The actual flavour has little bearing on the time of season to use it as most flavours are man made synthetics which don’t really alter the bait.

The important thing and the deciding factor is the base ingredients – the actual food content.

Basically you want to be avoiding anything that is oily during the colder months as these will congeal and trap in any attractive leakage they may have had and also make digestion of the said very difficult.

I designed all of the Quest Baits range to be effective and safe to use for 12 months of the year with the exception of Special Crab which does have quite a high oil content – this one really comes into its own during the warmest periods of the year.

The baits which have been truly outstanding during the colder months have been Fruity Trifle, Rahja Spice and Magnum White.

Hope this helps – the base ingredients are what make the difference – not the flavours they are labelled with – most artificial flavours smell of something but don’t taste of it.

Regards
Shaun Harrison

Question from Bev Anglerqueen

Hi,

We are off to Lords lake in May, and was hoping for some advice on what bait to use and the size you think best, ?

Also I am looking to re-line my reels, have you any recommendations on the best line to use, all help greatfully recieved.

many thanks,

Bev

i caught this one on Ghurkka Spice in Slovenia. I'd use it anywhere in the world.

Hi Bev,

It’s a refreshing change to receive a question from a female angler.

I’m afraid I haven’t fished Lords Lake but if I were visiting it in May I would take a couple of baits with me so that I could ring the changes. Almost certainly in May I would have a  fish based bait with me. Something like Special Crab or the new Squid Berry which will be released in March.

As an alternative bait the two most instant ones on waters where they are used for the first time seem to be Rahja Spice and Ghurkka Spice. Both are very different to each other. The Rahja utilises human grade spices and smells like an Indian Curry whilst the Ghurkka Spice is more coca nutty with a more gentle spice blend. I would be happy to use either of these spice baits anywhere in the world at any time of the year. Here is a link telling you a little more about the boilies. http://www.questbaits.com/results.php?category=1

I did a Google search for Lords Lake and see that Angling Lines have it on their books. I’m guessing you have seen this on their site http://www.anglinglines.com/Lords/ continue reading…

Trevor Reece asks:

Which bait and size do you think I need for my Laroussi trip in April?

Shaun Harrison answers:

Definitely take some Rahja Spice with you. It has been a firm favourite at Laroussi for many years, particularly in the smaller sizes too. The Laroussi fish like 10mm’s but it is worth mixing the bait size a little. The lake record has fallen to Rahja Spice on more than one occasion. If I were going this coming year I would also take an alternative with me to ring the changes and that would probably be the Ghurkka Spice. I know they both have ‘Spice’ in their names but are very different to each other hardly sharing any ingredients at all other than the obvious eggs and chilli.

Hope this helps
Shaun

From:

Marwan Abed

maali-saleh@hotmail.com

Message:

Hi all,

Being lost two years in the web sites I realized that there is a lot of talk around Fishing but there is a little about fishing process itself . As a river carp and barbel angler in the Euphrates ( Euphrates is a large river pass through Syria) I face a problem when legering with fairly heavy lead (let’s say 1 to 1 3/4 onz ) With soft bait ( as a paste or luncheon meet), the problem is that after one or two Tugs (short bite, thirty or forty CM ) the bait break apart and the hook becomes Bait less so there is no chance for long pull witch might enable me to strike and set The hook, , Can anybody tell me how to deal with this or where to find such tactic information.

I know that maybe a hair rigged boilies is a kind of solution but what if I still like To fish with paste and luncheon meat ,also I cannot resort to bolt rig because it require Heavier lead ( above 2 onz) .

Best regards

Question for Pat please….

Pat I moved to Grantham Lincs last season. I would like to fish for
some Trent barbel (upper Trent) with the chance of a fish or two. I’m
around 40mins from Shardlow and I see the Derby Railway club has some
water there.

Richard

Pat Replied:

Hi Richard,

A young looking Upper Trent double

There are plenty of barbel in the area you mention. I haven’t personally fished the Derby Railway stretches but I do know there are good fish on there. Because I haven’t fished it I can’t really comment on the issue of car parking on their stretches. I also think you have to pay extra for fishing at night.

I would however have no hesitation in recommending the Burton Mutual Angling Association who have in the region of 8 to 10 miles of the Upper Trent in the area you are looking at. I have fished a few of their stretches and the parking is fine and always has been. Burton Mutual also have around 6 to 8 miles of the River Dove, again with mainly secure parking.

Because of the vast amount of water available you can be sure of some quiet unspoilt sport if you are prepared to do a bit of pioneering and not just follow the crowds.

A typical River Dove double

It is always worth a try in the winter as long as you get the conditions right. In fact I would say that the Upper Trent is probably easier to fish in the winter than earlier in the year, has you don’t have the problem of weed debris coming downstream all the while. Also be prepared to fish 5 or 6 hours into dark as the Upper Trent barbel can be very nocturnal (Burton have no extra cost for fishing the rivers at night).

The Upper Trent barbel fight exceptionally hard and because of this I would recommend using a rod of at least 1 3/4lb test curve coupled with a minimum of 10lb line.

All the usual methods will catch these fish, at the moment I am doing well with the Rahja Spice Shelf Life’s and the mini mixed pellet mix. I like to use 2 rods and to ‘ring the changes’ on one of them to see if I can find something that outscores everything else.

I would suggest checking the websites for the 2 clubs mentioned (Burton also have a Forum you can look at), to see which you think suits you best.

Hope this helps, let us know how you get on.

Cheers,

Pat Gillett