Quest Baits Blog

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…

by Ron Key

American Signal Crayfish are here and they are spreading virtually unchecked. I first encountered them a few years ago in the Colne Valley where there were actually stocked in some waters to cultivate as food. They eventually escaped and have now spread over the whole of mainland UK. They are much larger than our native crayfish, and carry a fungus that is deadly to them. From an angling perspective they are so frustrating.

The crayfish are relentless they will try to eat everything; this includes your hooklink and boilie stop. I gave up using mono hooklinks very quickly as the crayfish nipped the line seriously weakening it. I use soft braids or coated braids now; they tend to fold when nipped rather than deforming but they do need examining regularly for damage. I also hide the hair stop when possible as this is usually the first thing to be eaten, leaving your boilie free for the crayfish to rob you. At best the only indication you will get is a single beep of your buzzer and you are no longer fishing.

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By Elie Godsi

Whenever I cast out any rig I want to be confident it doesn’t tangle and that when it settles on the bottom the hook isn’t masked by any weed or bottom debris. I almost always mask the hook with either PVA tape or PVA foam or both. Trapping the hair at the same time definitely also prevents tangles. In the photo you can see two set ups that I use for 90% of my fishing..

I use the Extra Wide 20mm PVA tape from Kryston and PVA foam nuggets from Solar Tackle. I would be totally lost without these products, both of which melt completely and never leave any residue at all.

In the first picture the rig above is a simple single bottom bait. In this case the hook is masked with a few turns of extra wide PVA tape which has been licked a bit to make it neat and compact – as you can see the hair is trapped at the same time. This is also a good set up for distance fishing.

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by Roy Van Goor

Since  I am fishing for carp I never seem to use a lot of pop-ups. Its just not my way of presenting a bait. …Well, Up to now!!.. Things started when I was discussing using pop-ups on a local meeting with another angler. He told me he was catching plenty on pop-ups on a local venue…where I had never used them

I fished that lake a lot and it got me thinking about it. I wanted to use the pop-ups in a different way, I remembered  a article I had seen in some book.  It was an article about presenting pop-ups on the bottom, making the presentation even better and more detectable for feeding fish.

I searched the sheds for the book and after I found it I had a look again at that article. It would be perfect for my style of fishing and maybe could boosted up my catch rates.. Its suits every possible rig, and very easy to make.. You don’t have to tie new rigs and can change from bottom to pop-up presentation in a second. continue reading…

Ian Hillier;

Let me give you some background. All of my winter captures have come on plastic sweetcorn (no slur on your bait Shaun ha ha) and I read a back article from your site about plastic baits and how they take on flavour.  Are these the type of boilie that enterprise tackle sell the ones you sell on your site? If so will they take on the flavours of glug you sell? Any tips you can give.I want to fish the top 18 inches of the water during the afternoons before I start surface fishing in the evenings.

Many thanks,  Ian

Hi Ian,

The plastic boilies we sell are the same ones as the Enterprise Tackle ones. I have used these on and off since they were very first released and have now caught many fish on them. When we started quest Baits I wanted to offer everything I use myself – not just small selected items – thus the artificial baits being included in the range.

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A nifty idea from the Quest Baits boys. A clear plastic tube containing four separate bait pots which can be used for carrying glugs, dips or an assortment of different hook baits.

The problem with most of the glug pots I’ve used in the past is that they are prone to leaking. This is usually caused by getting a drop of liquid in the threads of the screw cap – it then manages to work its way around the thread channels and out of the lid. By placing the tubs in an outer tube you stop all of that irritating spillage contaminating everything else in your kit.

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