Quest Baits Blog

I’ve spent a lot of time chasing barbel and, although I like all species, they are just possibly my favourite. Most anglers think of meat or fish baits as the main attractors, but I’ve always felt that spices were the better bet. To that end I spent a great deal of time experimenting, and reading up on all the world wide curry mixes, and it makes fascinating reading. You may learn that a mere two of the items in a curry are ginger and clove, but how much of each? Equal amounts? 90% versus 10%? Or vice versa?

Yes, it is complicated, but get it right and it’s brilliant. Your favourite chips taste ok on their own, are much better with a pinch of salt, but become uneatable if covered in salt. That’s what I had to sort out, and I finally go it right in 1997. Since that time I haven’t changed a thing, as Mega Spicy worked right from the off and is still doing the same. Dusted on to meat, added to maggots, cooked into hemp, mixed into paste – it won’t let you down. On the odd days when the barbel just won’t play then if there are chub, bream, or carp around you’ll have to settle for them. It works all year round but it seems the colder the water the better your results may become.

Archie Braddocks

This is everyone’s favourite fish, judging by the numbers of carp waters around the country, and every bait company produces a “must have or you can’t catch” mix.  The trouble is, these ‘must haves’ vary so much… sweet, savoury, fruity, meaty, fishy… could all of them be right?

Well, yes, because carps tastes vary from season to season, and even from water to water, and are also affected greatly by temperature.  So I decided to try and blend them all together, taking only the best attractors from each mix.

Mega Carp was one of my later releases, so I already had a great deal of experience in blending various items before I even started on this additive.  It worked from the off, so if you are targeting match carp, or big fish, it should feature somewhere in your approach.  Stirred into sweetcorn, mixed into paste, added to groundbait, maggots, or even as part of a boilie base mix, it does its job of attracting.

For the roach lovers among you this is worth a serious go.  Gary Barclay, senior manager at Drennan International, was one of my early field testers, and as a pleasure angler and matchman he tried it on the Thames, canals around Oxford, and various still waters.  Other than carp, he was impressed by the numbers of quality roach that were attracted, but kept it quiet for a long time as he was regularly picking up coin in the matches and wanted to keep this particular edge to himself.

Now Quest have re-released it & it’s available to you!

Archie Braddocks

Hi. I recently attended the Fish Fest at Chapmans in Hull and was talking to a member to Archie Braddock’s on the Quest stand.  He was telling me about his powder additives that are been reintroduced. Unfortunately at the time i was unable to make any purchases but will be doing so soon.

What I would like to know is which and how he used to make the paste with hemp in, he did tell me but there was a lot to take in that day that Ii forgot!  Also with the sweetcorn, which additive was used?

I remember him saying he prepares and freezes etc but I am very intersested in trying the 3 formulas he had made on display (sweetcorn with additive, meat coated in additive and the paste with hemp).

Once Ii know i will then be heading of to Chapmans to purchase the Quests ingredients you suggest. I have subscribed to your blog and look foward to endless help and info.

Thank you, DEAN

Hi Dean.  The three items you requested info on;

Sweetcorn with Mega Carp. I tipped a tin  of Jolly Green, juice and all, into a maggot box and stirred in two heaped teaspoonsful of Mega Carp.  Best done the night before.

Luncheon Meat with Xotic Spice. Chop up a 300grm tin and drop it into a small freezer bag. Sprinkle over the meat 2 heaped teaspoons of Xotic Spice, then shake the bag until all the meat is coated. Freeze until needed.

Hemp and Mega Spicy. Liquidise the hemp in a blender until it is a sticky grey slop. Stiffen it up with groundbait dosed with Mega Spicy at the higher winter level, instructions for same on the Mega Spicy carton.  I use it for groundbait end plugs in an open ended feeder, on its own in a cage feeder, or stiffened up further, as a method mix.

I hope this helps.

Archie.

In my book Fantastic Feeder Fishing I described how using spices and groundbait improved my catches, particularly with perch, and this led me to go deeper into the use of spices in food; how they worked, and why. I also wanted to find out what went into a curry, and that’s when I got a shock. There are over 600 different curry recipes being used by different countries around the world, with many using items that others leave out. I ended up more confused than I started!

So my next step was to purchase several books on oriental cooking with spices, to find out what each individual item was used for. With this info, plus my own observations, I was able to come up with a blend that definitely attracted perch – after much field testing.

As usual a good additive will always attract other species, with carp always the first on the scene. Other species strongly attracted were roach, bream, and barbel. Xotic is very good added to maggots along with maize flour, dusted on to luncheon meat, and excellent mixed into groundbait. It’s an essential ingredient in my feeder or bait dropper mix when chopped worm fishing.

Archie with a superb Bream

There are many good groundbait mixes on the market, but to buy a bag each time you go fishing really bumps up your costs. This easily variable mix is one I’ve used for 20 years, its very inexpensive, and easy to prepare.

There are four basic ingredients;

• white crumb
• brown crumb
• maize flour
• bran

I buy a sack of each and store it in plastic bins; it lasts forever if kept dry. If two or three of you share the cost you will each get a couple of years worth or more at a very low price. These ingredients all have a job to do, as follows.

WHITE CRUMB…
This is a binder, the more you put in the stiffer the mix will become. continue reading…

Archie & a 3lb 8oz Perch from a previous session

The Braddock’s spice range we have recently re-introduced are proving to be a great success and nothing nicer for me than to receive a report from Archie himself on an incredible catch of big perch on the Xotic Spice.

It all started after picking up a fish of 2lb 10oz while stick floating on a local stretch of river. He returned a couple of days later to tackle it properly, but still using the same 20′ rod, an 18 hook, and half of a small dendrobaena worm.

First he mixed up his favourite Choppy Mix, consisting of dead maggots, casters, and chopped worm. This was bound together with a groundbait heavily flavoured with Xotic Spice, and introduced to a metre deep near-bank swim via a bait dropper. The water temperature of just 36 degrees F, (2.3 degrees C) meant four hours of biteless trotting, but near sunset he took perch of 2lb 9oz, 3lb 2oz, 3lb 10oz, and 4lbs, in successive runs through.

A great day with a sting in the tail, as he lost the biggest perch of the session after a long battle due to that small hook pulling out of the fish. He’s going back to the swim with beefier tackle, so watch this space.