Quest Baits Blog

4 hours on a February afternoon.

I’m sure when Shaun was designing the new ‘Absolute’ range he didn’t have barbel in mind, but as soon as I saw and smelled Absolute Seafood I had to try it.

I had no intention of fishing today, but the weather was mild and I knew the river was fining down. A quick check of the river level on the EA website and I knew exactly where I wanted to be. Sorry but I can’t tell you where!

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/riverlevels/default.aspx

It took minutes to load the gear in the car, a couple more to pick up the sandwiches from the garage and within an hour I was there.  Then disaster, there were four rods, a bivvy and a team of car door slammers in my banker swim.  I walked downstream around the bend to get as far away as possible and found another slack area, no back eddy here but a steady flow that was manageable and a clearly define crease running along its edge. continue reading…

I have not done a lot of barbel fishing in the last couple of years, but if the river conditions allow I hope to redress that situation this season.  A rushed first session last week was not a success to put it mildly.  My bait for the session was a few bits I could find in the freezer.   I knew the levels were going to be high on the Trent, but I love flood water fishing, so no problem there.  What I wasn’t prepared for was the amount of weed flowing down. After three of four biteless hours of struggling with the conditions and losing 5 expensive heavy feeders I gave in and went home.

I was better prepared for this trip; I knew the river conditions were good, still extra water flowing through but manageable and no weed.  I picked a stretch of the river with a sharp bend. The main flow could clearly be seen as the streams of bubbles on the surface shot to the far bank on the surface of flat steadily flowing water.  Inside that was a strip of water with the surface boils indicating the turbulence below. Finally closest to me a large back eddy with the water running slowly and steadily against the flow.

The week before I had scanned the Quest Baits web pages for clues on which bait I would use. I also needed to decide on the bait for a forthcoming trip to the River Wye.  After some thought I decided on 10 and 15mm boilies in Special Crab, Squid Berry and Rahja Spice and also ordered matching pastes and bait glugs.  For the first session I choose the Special Crab and glugged some baits in advance of the trip.

I arrived early for me; between two and three in the afternoon and had a chat with a couple of anglers fishing further downstream in the stronger flow. One barbel and one bream was all they had to show for their days efforts, not promising but they had caught a barbel.  Upstream I set up and prepared my groundbait; a favourite concoction of marine halibut and crushed hemp with the mixing water now laced liberally with Special Crab Bait Glug. Smelly as I can make it is how I like it in floodwater. Heavy open ended feeders were cast in one in the slack back eddy and the other upstream way out in the main flow beyond the boils. The feeders were first plugged with the groundbait then three or four 10mm boilies then another groundbait plug. Hookbaits were hair rigged and apple cored Special Crab boilies wrapped in paste.  The upstream rod was fished with a large bow in the line to help hold bottom and the rods were pointed skyward in what is now normal Trent style.  All that was left now was to wait.

It was hot and humid very hot, quite a shock to the system after this summers weather. As I was spreading on some sun block for the first time this year the upstream rod tip sprang back and the line went loose.  Chub I thought, and grabbed the rod quickly winding in the slack line. Finally making contact the fish made its intentions known and the rod tip dipped and ten yards or so of line were stripped off the spool.  It was a hard fight in the deep fast water but eventually a chubby early season barbel lay in the net.  At 8lb 4 oz I was more than pleased with my first fish of the season and my first on Special Crab.

After recasting; the brollie went up very quickly and we were treated to what must have been the heaviest rain I ever experienced.  The wind changed direction during the storm and as I sat hanging onto the brollie of course the upstream rod sprang back again and then started nodding.  A bream of course around four pounds and I’m drenched.  I slipped it back and recast and then typically the rain stopped.  I’m now sitting here soaking with two 12 foot carbon poles at my feet and forked lightening overhead.  To think today started so well………………….

The rod in the back eddy had remained stationary all this time so I moved this rod out into the flow too.  Bang, and the rod tip sprang back and a seven pound barbel soon slipped over the rim of the net. This was followed by another barbel that when almost in the margins made a final lunge and managed to lodge my feeder in the rocks.  The barbel sat there calmly while I went through the usual pantomime of trying to release the feeder.  Eventually Mr Barbel got sick of waiting for me and lunged again and sliced off the hooklink on the rocks. Strange how when you find the snags; you keep finding them.  No more barbel for a while but I did manage to cast into the snags and loose two more feeders.

My last fish of the session came from my original upstream rod again.  It fought like a demon; with me desperately hanging on trying to make sure this one didn’t reach the rocks.  When it finally hit the net, I could see a long dark bronze shape which I was sure was my first double of the season.  When the scales spun around and stopped at 8lb 10oz I was surprised but not disappointed it was a beauty.

Well my first experiment with Special Crab I think can be counted as a success. Squid Berry next time I think, I’ll let you know how I get on.

Cheers Ron Key

Rats and Coypu are the main causes of Weils disease.

Have I caught Weils Disease ?

Shaun  has recently raised the profile of Weils Disease on his Facebook pages.  He has highlighted the need to santise your hands and protect your food, cooking utensils, mugs and plates from rats.  There are now hand sanitisers available commercially to specifically target the bacteria that they spread.  These precautions are incredibly important as I don’t believe that many anglers are really aware of the real impact of the disease. Both Shaun and I know anglers who have had Weils Disease and its a serious business.  I’ve listed the symptoms below so that anyone who thinks they may have come in contact can quickly seek help

Cheers Ron

Have I caught Weils Disease : guide for the public information source: ‘ The Leptospirosis Information Centre’ www.leptospirosis.org

Human leptospirosis can be a difficult infection to describe, as the symptoms can vary dramatically between patients. Some symptoms are extremely common, but only a small number of patients will experience the severe life-threatening illness known as Weil’s disease. The severity of the infection depends on the age and general health of the patient, plus the serovar (strain) of bacteria involved and the number of bacteria that entered the patient’s body.

The infection is usually systemic (affecting the whole body) and causes a sudden fever. In mild cases it lasts a few days, following a pattern similar to flu but often in two phases – a period of illness lasting a few days, then a slight recovery, then a second period of illness. In mild cases the second phase lasts a short time and the patient recovers, but in severe types the illness develops and progresses rapidly, leading to organ failure and often death if not treated with intervention and support. continue reading…

Words by Ron Key:

The French anglers were really patient with our translation attempts.

I’ve just returned from France after attending the Montlucon Carp Show with Quest Baits boss Shaun Harrison.  Montlucon is the biggest show in Europe and possibly the world; with almost 18000 anglers passing through the four halls this weekend. I was there from Friday to Sunday and didn’t manage to visit all the halls.  There’s a massive array of bait and tackle on display with contributors from all over Europe including many from the UK.  Those of you who are used to the UK shows are in for a bit of a shock.  With a champagne reception before the show opened and brass bands and groups and a disco on the Saturday night it’s a refreshing change with a real French flavour.  Many anglers bivvy up and stay for the whole weekend.

Shaun during a rare quiet moment.

In partnership with Carpe Concept we introduced the French carpistes to the range of Quest Baits and for many of them to a uniquely British way of fishing.  Discrete fluorocarbon combi rigs with small hooks, cut down baits, tiny Pimple Pops and small pva mesh bags of crumbed boilie, Maximum Action Pellet and Micro Feed.  The tiny fluorescent Pimple Pops (6-8mm needle friendly pop-ups) created quite stir and flew off the shelves and were the first things we ran out of.

Shaun showing his Magnum White rig which has caught a lot of fish this winter.

Our lack of French was not a problem, a bit of homework translating the names of the baits and ingredients and some frantic arm waving and grunting and I’m sure we got through.   It was great to meet Seb’ and the Carpe Concept team and share some French hospitality, although 34 of us turning up at the Buffalo Grill did almost bring the place to a standstill.

We also introduced the new Quest Bait boilies; Magnum White and the soon to be released Squid Berry.  I’ll be returning to France on an Angling Lines field testing trip at the beginning of April and both of them will certainly be in my bait bag.

The next Montlucon Show is in two years time and it’s certainly worth considering for a completely different weekend break.  Maybe see you there next time

Cheers Ron

I come from the generation of carp anglers that started out making their own carp bait. Quest Baits with their extensive range of boilies pellets hookbaits and pop ups didn’t exist and in fact for a few years I was fishing boilies didn’t exist.  Early attempts at catching carp included a multitude of pastes, cat food and eventually my first boilie manufactured from pilchard flavoured Go Cat Munchies.  Eventually I heard about Fred Wilton and his experiments and started sourcing ingredients to copy his HNV boilies.  It wasn’t too long after that that base mixes, ingredients, sweeteners, attractors and flavours became available commercially and tackle shop started to resemble a chemists.  It seemed that every carp anglers kitchen or garden shed if you were using monster crab; had become a boilie factory.  Equipment wasn’t good and not very efficient and much of the old closed season was spent filling bait freezers for the next campaign.  I remember I destroyed three hob tops in one of my kitchens and demolished a mate’s kitchen leaving the house reeking of Monster Crab and Compound TF when eight of us descended on his house while his wife was away playing hockey in Holland for the weekend. continue reading…

Friday 13^th May 2011

I had a photo shoot with Steve Broad and Mick Rouse in the morning for Angling Times ‘U.K. Carp’ magazine where I was demonstrating my line marking method on my marker rod where I can tell exactly how far the marker is by the dots on the white braid that I use.

Fortunately we had arranged to do the photo shoot at a convenient venue for all of us to meet up at. Convenient for Steve and Mick as it was close to their headquarters and convenient for me as it was within 20 miles of Grenville! continue reading…