Quest Baits Blog

What incredible weather we have been having. As always I keep a close watch on water temperatures through the winter months and despite catching a few carp on New Years day I couldn’t ignore how warm the rivers were getting and the barbel were calling me.

I managed to get out for a couple of hours on a small river and was rewarded with a couple of nice chub. Really nice fishing wandering around with one rod and lowering apple cored Rahja Spice boilies with a Rahja Spice paste wrap into various likely looking holes. Really rewarding and ‘proper angling’ with me feeling really content after getting out there and finding the fish rather than sitting and waiting for them to find me.

Later in the day after getting a few jobs out of the way the rivers were still calling so I decided to spend a couple of hours trying for the barbel on the River Trent. The Trent is still quite high so I was going to have to anchor my baits in place and build a swim with big cage feeders. continue reading…

Ron with a 12lb 7oz winter barbel

Words and picture from Ron Key:

I’ve  just checked out the 14 day forecast on Myweather2.com and its looking very promising. After this weekend, atmospheric pressure will start to drop and air temperature will slowly start to climb for a few days at least.  From past experience this is an ideal time to grab a bag of boilies and head for the river. So if you as suffering serious withdrawal symptoms from an ice induced lack of carp fishing; head down to your local river for a spot of barbel fishing or have a go at the ever obliging chub.

My preference is for open ended feeders crammed with Quest Baits Maximum Action Pellets, Micro Feed, and crumbed boilie.   The Quest Glugs are an ideal additive to increase the pungency of the swimfeeder contents and create a flavour trail in the current.

This is all held in place with plugs of fish meal or marine halibut groundbait.  Fished this in conjunction with an apple cored boilie on the hair wrapped in paste and you ready to go.

My favourites Quest flavours for chub and barbel are Rahja Spice, Special Crab and Chilli Chocolate, there are Maximum Action Pellets to match them all and I really like the Spicy Micro Feed too.

So what are you waiting for get down to the river, it’s got to be better than the telly

Cheers Ron

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