Quest Baits Blog

I’ve been using an assortment of Quest shelf life and frozen baits since the company began. Despite the success I’ve had with the shelf life baits I still favour frozen baits over all.

However, as we all know one of the main problems with frozen baits is its deterioration during session fishing.  When travelling to France you may expect there to be sufficient freezer space made available… but more often than not the freezer space soon fills, leaving bait unfrozen and unpreserved.

Well, I have found the answer…. vacuum packing!

For this I use an Andrew James Vacuum Sealer & it couldn’t be simpler to use.

Put the boilies in a vacuum bag & follow the instructions of the vacuum sealer unit, and voila, you have fully preserved boilies.

These can either then be frozen for an indefinite period or left unfrozen for at least a month plus.  Because all the air has been extracted from the bag, the baits remain fully preserved.

I’ve also used the vacuum packing on tiger nuts, hemp, maize, and seed particle mix. The secret to vacuum packing particles is to rinse them thoroughly, drain as much water off as possible then vacuum pack. Any of these particles can be frozen for unlimited time and left unfrozen for at least a week.

Why not give it a try?

Regards, Paul Cooper

Just got back from a day session on a local water of mine and have managed to surprise myself by the amount of thought that was given to my baiting tactics.

I was only there for what could only be described as a few hours but I probably spent an equal amount of time deciding on and preparing the bait.

Just thought I’d mention two approaches I used, which I’m positive is nothing new to anyone but sometimes overlooked in favour of new and improved methods.

Paste is a brilliant but underused bait and when used the results can be devastating. There are loads of self pastes on the shop shelves you can buy these days but it still can be a minefield choosing the right one.

The one I go for is Quest Baits Fruity Trifle, a bait I can use all year round that doesn’t let me down even in these colder months of the year. I like to wrap 15mm boilies with paste on my hooklink alongside small paste balls mixed with the pellet in a PVA bag.

Another method I tend to find myself using whatever the season is hempseed, the old favourite for many people.

Out of personal preference I prepare my own at home before a session and like to hot things up a little by adding a few little goodies like salt and chilli. Fairly often after cooking and cooling the seeds I like to liquidise the mixture into a puree.

This produces a mixture quite irresistible for even the most cautious of carp and is quite easily spodded out to a marker, thrown out with a baiting spoon or placed accurately within the margins.

I’m sure everyone has their personal all time favourite methods both old and new.

All the Best

Samantha Collins-Ratcliffe

Stephen Vaughan wrote:

Are particles worth fishing during winter? If so would garlic be a sensible winter choice for flavour? 

Hi Stephen,

I strongly recommend using particles during the Winter as I find it a good method for lengthy sessions. During the winter months I tend to use a method that is made up using partiblend and powdered banana milkshake. I have recently tried using a mix with garlic but didn’t get the results I had hoped for.

I soak 1kg of partiblend in water for 24 hours before cooking and then add 500g of powdered banana milkshake, to the water, bringing it to the boil and then simmering for 40 mins until the water turns a thick yellow colour. I find putting this mixture straight into a bait bucket with a lid on increases the flavour intensity.

When setting up your rig using this mixture thread a selection of particles onto the hair. Then take a handful of particles and mix with any kind of base mix, I prefer to use pineapple crush boiles that have been reduced to powder. This can then be placed in a PVA bag ready for you to cast out.

 Good luck with this method.

Samantha Collins – Ratcliffe