Quest Baits Blog

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.

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

Well, the Chilli Chocolate boilies and pop-ups are now being packaged ready for the March 1st release date.

I must say this new bait seems to have come through at an alarming rate without the usual need of adding a bit, taking a bit away, juggling ingredients used etc.

There I was working on ‘Gurkha Spice’ when I stumbled across a couple of really interesting ingredients which weren’t particularly suitable for what I was working on at the time but it so happens I had another project on the go talking to a flavour company about producing something utilising a couple of ‘special ingredients’ I had requested. continue reading…

Thinking about a bulk purchase of Quest Baits or possibly starting a baiting team?

We offer 25kg of any combination of two boilies in 15mm or 20mm for only £199.99

That works out at just £8.00 per kilo!

Enquire at your local Quest Baits stockist or contact us direct on 08448 000 345.

Nikos Verelis wrote:

Hi mates

I am from Greece and i want to disquss about a lake here in my country. Is a gravel pit with depth 10-45 meters and holds a lot of carps 30+ and barbels 10+.Some years before the fish were taking good our baits especially 10+birdfood boilies with fruit flavours but in our days there are rare catches of big carps.

We are sure the carps didnt disappeared from the lake , but we cannot quess what happened.
Maybe the fish learnt the danger when aprroaching ourboilies? Can you think something?

Some facts:

Lake bottom = mostly sand and stones.

Most used boilies: strawberry, tutti fruti, vanilla, banana

Base mixes:soya flour,semolina,crushed hemp.

Terminal tackle : Korda

Sinking lines and very rare using pop ups or fishmeal boilies.

Best regards Nikos