Quest Baits Blog

This one came over clean smelling silt. Most of the swim was pretty foul smelling.

Matt Asks: I just wanted to ask a question about feeling the lead down after a cast. Do you always feel for the bump even if fishing on soft silty type bottom where it will be hard to feel any bumps and should I always recast if I don’t feel anything. Thanks Matt

Shaun Answered: Hi Matt, Yes I always feel the lead down it serves a dual purpose of not only giving a good idea what you are fishing over but also helps prevent tangles as the lead is sinking. Some places are so silty you can never feel the bump. These waters I simply smell the lead after winding in. If it smells of clean soil then I am happy to fish the area. If it smells unpleasant then I try other areas.
If you can usually feel the bump down and on the odd cast don’t then I always re-cast.

Hope this helps

Best fishes

Shaun

Cristofa Michael asks:

I have a dilemma, my marker rod set up is Korda set up braid strait through, everytime I cast it tangles and doesn’t give me the correct reading of the depth, I’ve tried feathering the cast but it still doesnt seem to work for me. Can you suggest anything I may have to add to the set up to eliminate tangles? I would be ever so grateful!

Shaun Harrison Answers:

Hi Christofa,

This is a common problem when using braid all the way through as the float will regularly wrap around the soft main line during the cast and then be unable to rise to the surface – really frustrating when you have found aninteresting spot but the float won’t lift to give you a casting mark.

Because of this I always use a fluoro Carbon leader on the end of the braid. This totally prevents the tangle problem and if you leave your marker in your swim whilst baiting up etc it is less visible to the fish.
Don’t worry about adding stretch so lessening the ‘feel’ as 20ft will make no noticeable difference on ‘feel’.
Depending upon casting ability (how much power is generated) most anglers will get away with a 20lb leader.

The photo’s show my preferred set-up. Korda Marker, plastic bead, Free Spirit Marker Ring with a sea lead clip attached to collect samples off the bottom – this clip can be removed or covered in silicone tube if I don’t want it to collect bits.

Hope this helps

Best fishes

Shaun

Spencer wrote : Hi, I’m fishing at lake Molyneux in France on the 19th to th 26th
March and was just wondering what the best bait would be & maybe best tactics?

I was looking into taking Chilli Chocolate – any help would be great.

many thanks

Spencer.

Hi Spencer,

I have fished Molyneux a couple of times. These were in March 2007 and June 2010. The lake is around 13 acres, and is very peaceful and picturesque with a lot of overhanging willows and depths ranging from 2ft to around 6ft.

One end of the lake is dominated by a large island, which is where most anglers tend to fish. Seventy five per cent of the island is within 100 yds of the bank so casting and baiting up  isn’t really a problem. If you fish at the back of the island (pegs 12 and 13 if my memory is correct) then you are looking at 130 yds plus. Therefore to make things easier you may need a bait boat.

When we went in March 2007 we took the Quest Baits Rahja Spice and caught very well considering the conditions (very cold most of the week with frosts and some snow). continue reading…

Question from Mark Lee Holbrook:

What amount of bait on average would one need if going France for first time for a week?

Answer from Shaun Harrison:

Hi Mark, it depends so much on the weather conditions at the time and the amount the fish have seen in the past – how clued up/educated they are. I find I use far less bait these days when I go to France than I ever have in the past. That perhaps surprises you as I should be telling you to purchase loads and make me rich!
Seriously though I tend to fish in the same way as I do in the U.K. I always carry more bait than I need – just in case, with the view to bringing it home again if not used.

I tend to fish just one widespread baited area rather than 3 separate ones and keep the bait trickling in the one area rather than dumping a load in at once. I don’t think I have got through more than 15kg of boilies during the trip on my last couple of trips but have had plenty available should they suddenly start to get through it – this happened a couple of years ago at Margot where I ended up using most of what I took.
Generally speaking I like to start with a ‘taste’ for them – just a couple of kilo in differing sizes then watch how things progress.

Mark replied:

Hi shaun. Thank you for your views. That what I thought I would do trickle the bait .I heard so many different views of anglers taken 60/80kilo’s of bait been looking Angling Lines as well a few others. These marketing dvds/ web site don’t help matter showing all good fishing lol.

Shaun again:

This may help a little – pretty much sums up how I set about my fishing. http://www.questbaits.com/docs/videovault/approaching/index.html

Mark replied:

Cheers mate wished every one was like you. Helping other Anglers in stead of all secrets all time

Shaun again:

We are a dying breed LOL!

and so on. This one came to my personal facebook page but is obviously very relevant here.

Question:

Hi Shaun

This is a question I have asked quite a few times on Facebook and on my site but no one seems to know the answer.

We know that humans can survive without oxygen for a certain period of time before damage can occur to the brain etc.

Is there an equivelent time for carp?

Also you see alot of anglers pouring water over the carp while they are keeping it out of the water. What is the point of this as it surely doesnt help them breath? Is it just to keep them lubricated so we dont scrub off the protective slime too much?

Most people answer this question with “be as quick as you can” or “just put them straight back in” but there must be a scientific answer out there somewhere?

Regards

Norton

Answer:

Hi Norton,

Starting off with the first part of your question there isn’t a set time scale for how long a carp can survive out of the water before damage to the brain could occur. Like us some carp are much stronger than other carp so would survive a greater length of time. So long as the fish is kept damp and doesn’t dry out there are instances of carp living for a unacceptable time out of actual water (running into hours) but this doesn’t mean it is okay for them to do this.

The common answers you have received elsewhere have been quite right in being as quick as you can with them on the bank. I go a stage further and actually give my fish a bit of time in the landing net before removing them from the water – particularly after a hard fight. This gives them the chance to regain their composure a little before putting them through the minor ordeal of a visit on the bank.

You can see the bowl I use for keeping them damp.

I always have a fold up bowl in the un-hooking mat though which I fill with water to both wet my hands before touching the fish and for rinsing the fish down making sure they are wet at all times. This does protect their protective coating of mucus/slime and stops them transferring it to your mat and sling etc – they grow it because they need it – your mat doesn’t.

So, although carp have been known to live long periods out of water it is still best avoided. They live in the water for a reason, if they didn’t mind being out of it they would have evolved as amphibians.

Best fishes

Shaun Harrison

Yellow Birdy Base with Red Dye

Dear Shaun,

I’ve read your article “Choosing winter bait” and I want to ask you have you used other ingredients like salt, sugar, betaine, monosodium glutamate with the Yellow Birdy Base Mix and The Sting oil mix at Patshull Church Pool in the ‘80s?

Also, haw many drops per egg mix do you recommend? On The Sting label is written 6-12 drops per 4 egg mix.

Another question is about the size of the hook? In one of your answers to a question about the hook size you said:

“One thing I do though is to counterbalance the weight of a big hook with slightly more buoyant hook bait to my free offerings”. What is the relation between the free offerings and the size of the hook?

All the summer and autumn I used Smart Point SP310 size 4 and it worked great for me with 10mm boilies and a small pop-up, usually a yellow plastic maize. But when the water temperature dropped below 6 degrees I realized that I have lost many more fishes. Yesterday I received my order of the Smart point SP310 size 6 and I will try this weekend to see if something will improve.

Thank you,

Adrian,

Romania.

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