Quest Baits Blog

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.

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If you carry a tub of paste around in your bag for a while you will find it starts to harden off and become dry and crumbly thus difficult to use. I do one of two things in these instances to bring the paste ‘back to life’.

First I carry a spoon around with me as I find it much easier to scoop the paste out this way than scraping it out with my fingers.

Once I have the bit I want to use I simply wet my hand in the water then re-mould the bait. If I need to do a larger quantity then I add oil to it at home. For most baits I use corn oil but sometimes use a fish oil on the fish flavoured baits. The addition of the oil keeps the bait workable for a much longer period of time. The supermarkets are full of different infused oils so there is plenty to experiment with. The nut oils can be well worth a look.

Best fishes, Shaun

By Scott Ratcliffe;

During the colder months in particular, I find that when pasting up a 15mm hookbait with a similar high attract paste (Quest Fruity Trifle is my favourite in the winter) I achieve better results than when not doing so.

Paste can sometimes be an overlooked method but it really is worth considering. It gives high attraction in colder waters and the attention of little nuisance fish, who may nibble away at it, help draw in the carp in my opinion.

I don’t specifically choose my paste with regards to the weather, but I do tend to use ones that I am confident with and have, over previous years, had results with.

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

Paste – A Winter’s Edge

By Jamie Simpson;

Catching carp in the winter certainly isn’t easy, but you can put things in your favour with a little thought.

Over the last couple of years I have used more and more paste during the winter months. The reason for this is quite simple really. With colder water temperatures I don’t want the attractors of my bait to be locked in. Even in the coldest of conditions the paste will breakdown, thus giving off a trail of attraction. As you generally won’t be putting free bait into the swim, the draw is entirely from the scent trail given off by the paste.

I generally fish a Rahja Spice hard hookbait with Rahja paste wrapped around it. To add to this I will often use a small bag of either 10mm (3 or 4) baits or crushed 15mm baits (2off). This gives the fish a mouth full of bait and one that they often find hard to resist.

On several occasions I have managed to put fish on the bank whilst everyone else seems to be finding it difficult. continue reading…