QUESTION

“I am planning on fishing a silty reservoir this winter. It is choked with weed and stinky silt, I’m having a few problems with getting the bait right, have you got anything in your bait range that would combat the stench of this weed and silt? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated”

The old silt smell problem is always an awkward one to combat without including oils which then mess the effectiveness of most winter baits as the oil congeals in the bait and seals a lot of the natural attraction of the bait, plus it makes it more difficult for them to digest.

Personally I would go on with either the Rahja Spice or the Liver B8. These will soak a bit of the silt smell in but not as much as many other baits.

I would also keep a rod with alternate hookbaits and would definitely try two of my winter favourites for years which are now called Irish Cream and Fruity Trifle. Both of these, particularly the Irish Cream will soak in silt but are still worth a stringer cast or a very light dusting of bait.

If you combine them with something like the Maximum Action Pellets you will effectively spread the flavour out to flavour the silt around the hookbait.

The secret to achieving the mini volcano you can see in the tank is to pack the PVA bag real tight. That little bit was filmed in February with tap water so was definitely cold water.

You must also remember that the carp smell that silt all day everyday, they live amongst it. Similar to someone working in a chip shop they will detect a faint smell of something different where we would only smell the chip shop smell. Your system seems to end up a little immune to the surroundings.

Also everything they eat naturally will be tasting of this silt so they will certainly detect the inner flavours when eating bait.

It’s all a confidence thing.

A final trick worth trying is pre-soaking your baits so they have swollen before you get to the venue. This means they are going to take on less of the silt smell as well.

Hope this helps in some way – Best fishes, Shaun Harrison

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