Quest Baits Blog

Question:

Hi Shaun,

I fish a small river in Berkshire which holds some very big Chub and Barbel.

Earlier this year I brought several kgs of rahja spice 10mm to feed and some 14mm as hookbaits, I also purchased a few pots of you paste and dip.

The question is Shaun, what is the best way to approach barbel with this type of bait?

I have per-baited a couple of kilos in three swims, should i be using pellet as well?

One thing I have noticed is the paste is a bit dry, how can i make it a bit more tacky, I think the chub love and just pulling it off how ever i mount it.

Cheers

Steve

Answer:

I prefer to mix the sizes of feed

Hi Steve,

Good timing this one really as it is something I have been doing and got terribly wrong at the start of the season which shows we should never take fish or our methods for granted. I had found some Chub and Barbel I could watch during a dog walk in the close season and they became a little bit of a fascination for me. I started feeding them Rahja Spice and Ghurkka Spice boilies in mixed sizes 10′s, 15′s and 20mm. They got stuck into the 20mm’s as much as they did the other sizes and it made it easier for me to see how much they were eating. The 10mm’s were more difficult to spot on the bottom in the wavering current. continue reading…

Nige fishing the delightful Bristol Avon

Well finally I made the drive down to Bristol to meet up with Nige Cobham to celebrate the first week-end of the river season. The invite had originally come five years ago and one thing and another kept seeing it pushed aside but this year we were both determined to make the trip happen and what better time than the start of the season.

So after a surprisingly clear run down the motorway system I found myself greeted on the drive by Nige who quickly beckoned me into his house before thrusting a huge glass of red wine into my hand and we started picking up where we had left off five years previously at a British Carp Study Group fish-in where we had found ourselves in adjacent swims and had a thoroughly enjoyable week-end swapping the odd story or two. It always amazes me how many friends I have in common with people when on the bank.

Obviously we had a lot of catching up to do and I’m sure some of the wine must have evaporated but before long Nige’s wife Fiona had left us to it talking the usual angler talk and before we knew it it was 2am and we really should think about sleep.

continue reading…

The rather magical June 16th is finally here again. Very busy with work but I managed to get out for a few hours this morning before the office beckoned.

As usual when I am looking forward to something I was up, dressed and drinking coffee before my alarm clock sounded. Out into the silent world of the early morning I was soon walking across the fields in anticipation of what might be.

I have been feeding the barbel and chub every morning for some time now and the first hand full of bait has heralded an instant reaction from them just like ringing the dinner gong. Imagine my surprise when the first hand full of bait went in and no fish turned up? Usually the chub would hammer the boilies on the drop and I would need to feed those off to get the barbel in on the action. This morning nothing!

I can only presume they weren’t expecting me quite so early in the morning. I sat in the swim for 10 minutes but saw nothing so went ‘a wandering’. The three spots I have been baiting were all devoid of fish yet I have been seeing them every morning.

I started to wander back and spotted 2 chub and a barbel on a tiny gravel run between streamer weed in an area I don’t usually see any fish. Well, it was a start. I cast a free lined lump of Rahja Spice paste moulded around a 10mm boilie upstream of the fish and almost immediately one of the chub bolted for the bait and took it immediately. One cast and a couple of seconds and my first fish of the season was being gently un-hooked and lowered back into the river.

I struggled to find many fish until we got towards the time I had been feeding them and sure enough they turned up in their usual spots. This time I anchored a bait with a lead on a gravel strip slope dropping into the main pool I had been feeding. I watched the paste wrapped boilie flutter into place in the deeper water with my lead and main line out of the way up the slope then sat back well out of the way. Five minutes later the line plucked at my finger and I immediately struck.

Chub number 2 was soon on the bank and this heralded the time to leave as the morning dog walkers were starting to appear and not wanting to be seen fishing the stretch I have been feeding I faded away.

Well, not the hoped for opening morning barbel but thoroughly enjoyable all the same and with another 9 months of the season in front of me there is no rush at all.

Hope you all have a great season.

Best fishes

Shaun

Nature having repaired itself

In just 10 days time we can once again wet a line on the vast river system of this country. I for one am thankful we still retain a 3 month close season on our rivers to give both the fish a break and chance to spawn in peace as well as for the river banks to get on with repairing them selves and re-growing foliage.

I have been spending a lot of time this last week walking the rivers and have found some lovely surprises swimming around unmolested in their environment. The river systems of this country are some of the few places it is possible to find your own little bit of heaven. With so many anglers seemingly losing interest in flowing water in favour of what are in many cases heavily stocked still waters our rivers are starting to be neglected when it comes down to angling pressure. Yes, I know some stretches are flogged to death but for the angler prepared to do a little exploratory work then it doesn’t take too long to find decent angling possibilities away from the maddening crowd.

Whilst we have been so starved of rain I have been able to view swims and fish much easier than I have known before and have been feeding a few chub and barbel this last week. The information gained from being able to see into the swim will prove so highly valuable later in the season when the colour and floods return. I have found a few bits I had been unaware of before which absolutely scream out for a bait to be lowered

Baits and location established

in when the river is in flood.

With a little wet weather forecast this week and next, its possibly been my last chance of seeing the river in its water short skeletal state.

I now know both the Chub and the barbel are loving the Ghurkka Spice and Rahja Spice I have been feeding them so no worries about my bait or location when the season starts. All I need worry about now is not spooking them and presenting the hook bait in a manner they will accept.

My none fishing time has been put to great use and I have discovered more this last week about a new stretch I am going to fish than I would over a long period whilst actually fishing. If you haven’t checked out your usual spots whilst the river is low I urge you to go and look. You may just surprise yourself what a productive exercise it could be.

Best fishes

Shaun

13 chub from this one little swim in a short session!

As the river season has now drawn to a close I thought I’d give you something to think about for the back end of next season.

I find that in the last month or so of the season with the continuous cold nights and not particularly warm days there is a lot more chance of catching a few nice chub than there is of having much success with barbel.

Now don’t get me wrong, you can still catch the odd barbel (if you are prepared to put a lot of time in or if you fish areas of the Middle Severn or Wye where there can be lots of shoal fish in certain swims) but to me one of the best fun ways to almost guarantee some sport is with small stream chub.

My first taste of really small river chub fishing came in the last week of the season in 1997 (didn’t realise it was so long ago until I checked my old photo’s). I was fishing with a good mate of mine on the tiny River Mease near to Tamworth. The river here varies from as little as about 6ft wide up to maybe 2 rod lengths, with shallow fords of 6 inches deep to the odd 8 feet deep pool. Now on only my second trip to this beautiful little river we had a really cracking days fishing. continue reading…

Hi Shaun,

Just ordered some of these excellent baits after a remarkable experience yesterday.

I was fishing my local stretch of the Bristol Avon near Chippenham in Wiltshire and happily banging out roach of a pleasing stamp on maggot, corn and bread, rotating the baits as bites slowed. Oddly, not a chub in sight and I would have normally expected to pick up a couple. Another angler stopped for a chat, mentioned the Chubby Chops (swiftly avoiding a slap by mentioning that it was bait) and suggested I try a couple. I packed a small feeder with the same light groundbait mix I was using to keep the roach coming, hair-rigged a Chop and cast into the same spot I had been trotting over.

An hour and 6 chub to 3 1/2lb later and my two Chops were decimated. Fantastic!

I have to say I missed quite a few bites and think that my size 12 Drennan Super Specialist about 5mm behind the bait was probably not the optimum set-up but it was getting dark and I didn’t have time to experiment.

What would you have done – longer hair and bigger/smaller hook or larger hook and tight to the barrel?

Best regards,  Graham Parry.

PS, I ordered some Barbel Chops as well. What would you combine those with – I fish the Wye and Gloucester Severn in the Summer and Autumn and was thinking of grinding up some chops and mixing in a little of the Archie Braddock’s powder but choice of pellets to bulk the mix?

Hi Graham,

Excellent – our biggest problem is getting people to try these things. We are more than happy knowing the baits will then do the rest for us without the sales patter.

The water temperatures are still running very cold which affects the metabolism and feeding style of the fish. It is easy to draw sometimes the wrong conclusion when it’s as it is at the moment. Sometimes simply mounting the bait in a different manner (lengthways or sideways) can often make the difference. One thing I would most certainly have tried with the limited time which often stops us changing rigs would have been to cut one end off of the bait. continue reading…