Quest Baits Blog

By Sam Ratcliffe;

I’ve recently made the decision to stop using frozen baits altogether and start using shelf life for all my fishing throughout the year. So far what may seem at first a drastic decision has paid off and I have had some great results to show for it. Quest dips and glugs are a great way to enhance your shelf life boilies, simply place your boiles into the plastic container, I usually put about 2kg of bait per container and add the same flavoured dip as my chosen boilies. Then put the lid on and give it a good shake, this will coat all the boilies which are instantly ready to use.

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Mike wrote:
Hi all, I’m planning to make my own boiles in the near future, after buying the base mix,then the additive,etc etc, I’m wondering could you give me a basic guidline on how much bait I would get from a 1kg basemix?

Hi Mike,
Most of the commercial base mixes come in 500 gram bags. Depending on the density of the base mix, will determine if a 4, 5 or even 6 egg mix is required. 5 medium sized eggs weigh around 350 to 400 grams, add some liquid additives to your mix and the total weight should be around 1 kilo, give or take 50 grams.

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Michael Chipolina Wrote;

I am fishing a lake that the carp tend to pick up baits that have been washed out after a couple of days.When I reel in my baits that have been out for two days, they have either gone or they just fall apart.  I want to leave them out a bit longer how do I make them last longer (two days plus)

Hi Michael,

Great question and one that Shaun would probably give the most in depth answer to.  As he is still hopefully catching a few Buffalo carp in America, I will give you my thoughts and I am sure Shaun can add to this on his return.

You say they are picking up washed out baits, I have found this before myself on a couple of pressured waters.  Have you tried to rehydrate your baits in say hemp juice or lake water?

Shaun has wrote extensively on the subject in the past and you can read all about this in the article section of the website.  Basically Air dry your boilies (freezer baits) until they are rock hard, then place them in a tub and cover with your chosen liquid.  They will soften up and their colour will fade, A large proportion of the strong aroma (flavour) will disperse.  This by itself will give you baits that have the appearance of having been cast out for a couple of days and you will immediately have bait that the wary Carp will feel confident in picking up. continue reading…

Readers question;

Went out yesterday to a day ticket water. Baited the spot on Saturday evening with about 4 kilo’s of maize.  Had 11 takes yesterday up to 22 pounds. Not big but great fun.

My problem is that I am trying homemade boilies too, basically air dried boilies as per your articles. Soaking them for 12 hours but yesterday when I went out time and time again the rig comes out with the boilie no where to be seen.  I was fishing with some of the first batches that I made and I know in the beginning I was scared to boil them for too long, basically just boiling them for a minute. The new batches I boil until they start rising 2 – 3 minutes.

 Could this be the problem?

Got hemp in them too, way too much I think as they tend to break up quit badly when I try to put them on the Hair – rig.

Another question I want to buy a carp sack as I get fish early in the morning with no one to take photo’s for me. How long is safe to sack a carp.

Greetings Gert Roestoff

South Africa.

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Neil wrote;

I’m going on my first France trip to Les Telliats at end of September. What
bait would you recomend I take and what size?

Well Neil, this question has been asked before and Shaun answered the question the last time. Having been to France many times before myself, I would say take the bait that you feel most confident in using in this country.

The fish on virtually every venue in France receive far more pressure than the majority of venues in England. With a large proportion of the commercial fisheries in France having full or atleast constant bookings for around 30 consecutive weeks a year, then it stands to reason that these fish are atleast as wary as the fish we try to catch back home. continue reading…

A question to Shaun;

I am doing some winter fishing this year and wonder what bait you would recommend and what size. I like the look of the Fruity Trifle.
Tom

Hi Tom,

Fruity Trifle is one of my favourite winter baits. The base mix I started using right back in the 80’s and have caught literally hundreds of carp on it. It is very easily digestible so the carp will feed again quite quickly – very important in the winter as many baits stay inside them for too long.

Size wise I always try and mix the sizes in my own fishing and if the distance being fished allows I always crumble baits up for loose feed as well as offering whole ones.

Ideally I would introduce a small amount of 10mm’s, 15mm’s and 20mm’s whole and broken… but if I were limiting myself to just one size of bait I would take the larger 20mm’s simply because there is plenty of scope for breaking them into smaller pieces and trimming them down etc.

Hope this helps
Best fishes, Shaun Harrison