Quest Baits Blog

Question:

Hi Shaun,
I have been using your bait for a couple of years now, I’m going to Margot on 20th April next year, was wondering if you could give me any idea what worked well out there for you, if it was just boilies or pellets introduced worked its magic too, there doesn’t seem to be many blogs which help!
Many thanks
Roy

Shaun Harrison Answers:

Hi Roy,

One of the beautiful Margot commons I had that week.

It is a few years now since I visited Margot but the winning method for me was a wide scattering of 10mm boilies of mixed flavours (I actually mixed every flavour and colour we do) and bulked that out with Garlic Feast too. I fished 3 rods on the same baited area with different set-ups to start with – pop up, bottom bait and snow man.

A big Margot Grass Carp going back.

Most of the takes that week fell to a snowman set up with different flavour combinations but the Special Crab did appear to shine through that week.
I was baiting with around 2kg of 10mm’s and 5kg of Garlic Feast each afternoon and sprinkling the odd catapult pouch of boilies over the top at intervals too. This was around August time from memory so the weather and water temperature will possibly be a little cooler when you are there but not significantly different.
Certainly the mixed bed of different colour and different food signals is something that has worked well for me on a lot of waters.
I would have thought that Angling Lines would have some up to date news if you check their website and blog. They usually keep them up-dated. Like I say it is a while since I went but the above methods produced around 70 fish for me that week.
Hope this helps.
Best wishes

Shaun

My first swim - possibly the muddiest on the Wye!

Words by Ron Key:
I’ve just returned from my annual trip to the River Wye in Herefordshire.  Every year for the last eight or nine years I’ve stayed at the Red Lion at Bredwardine and took advantage of the four miles of fabulous river they run.  A few days away certainly seemed like an ideal opportunity to continue my Quest for this seasons barbel bait. continue reading…

Now is definitely the time to get on the Micro Feed.

I originally developed this product whilst fishing a difficult pit where the carp would follow the bream shoals around after spawning simply gorging themselves on spawn.

It became very difficult to get a take whilst the fish appeared to be preoccupied on spawn so I set about trying to mimic it but at the same time make it stand out much more than the natural spawn already there. After all you could wait a long while to get a take from a cow on a blade of grass couldn’t you?

The result of my experimentations is the Micro Feed.

Even after balling up it will still revert to looking like spawn.

It has multiple uses, I use it in stick mixes all of the time combined with broken boilie and our Maximum Action Pellets it helps achieve a 3 stage lengthy leak off of attraction as well as giving different visuals.

I use it in PVA mesh on its own this time of the year.

Micro Feed on its own in PVA mesh is how I fish it at this time of the year when I suspect the carp are preoccupied on Spawn. I want to give a small pocket of spawn and nothing else. to keep it more natural looking. Hook bait I keep very small and light. The Pimple Pops are great for this and I simply aim at a critically balanced bait for this lightly lightly approach.

By wetting your hands you will find you can mould the Micro Feed into a ball which can then be catapulted easily or in turn moulded around a method feeder. Although it will look like a ball of paste after you have done this it soon breaks back down into it’s spawn like appearance again once it enters the water giving a good spread as it bursts apart. Even after 24 hours if the fish haven’t come across your baited spots Micro Feed will still resemble spawn. It doesn’t break down to dust the same as most other feeds.

This really is a favourite product of mine and is an important part of my armoury at all times of the season but for now it really does give you a massive edge when the carp are physically looking for those pockets of spawn.

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…

Saturday 23^rd April 2011 (Easter week-end)

Grenville ‘3’

I was later getting here than I had anticipated but at 8.15am after driving with two feet on the accelerator for the previous hour and a half I arrived at the gates all wound up and white knuckled from the drive, but passing through the gates the pressure was off, totally off. I was finally where I really wanted to be.

The sight that greeted me was a very rare one indeed a flat calm Grenville and already it was scorching hot. Phil Calloway was packing away in ‘3’ after losing a fish and it looked a good bet for idling a couple of days away – I must admit the big tree over it offering shade was a particularly inviting prospect with Brook my ever faithful carp dog being with me. continue reading…

I thought it an idea to start a Blog Diary in here and starting off with last month run through how I have approached my fishing through the different venues I have visited and how I adapt to differing weather conditions through the season.

It has only just occurred to me how many different tactics I have used this past month alone to keep those bobbins moving. So, hopefully there will be points of interest in here and possible little tips you may pick up on to start getting those bobbins moving on a regular basis. So, with no further ado let us start off with my first trip in April…

Best fishes

Shaun Harrison.

A tiny bay at 'The Country Retreat'.

Saturday 2^nd April 2011 – Country Retreat  – East Bay. Water temperature 55f/12.8c

A lovely mild week with no frosts after Tuesday and finally I have been able to leave the patio doors open at home – I do like to be able to join the house to the outdoors if that makes sense?

Thursday was windy and overcast but still shirt sleeve weather whilst walking the dog.

This morning I was up at 5.45am and had a nice relaxed drive here taking the scenic route through Melton Mowbray, Oakham, past the mighty Rutland water and on through several other places I am unable to name as the Country Retreat has a location publicity ban in place.

I fished until lunch time without introducing any free bait – other than a handful of 10mm’s and some halved 15mm and 20mm Ghurkka Spice boilies over a bait swung out in the left hand margin. I very much wanted to avoid spooking any fish if they were already in the swim so as well as holding back on any baiting I also kept the lead sizes smallish at 1 ½ ounce.

10am -  I missed a chance which to be fair may have been a liner at 70m towards the willows. The hook bait had been a 10mm Ghurkka Spice snowman.

Lunch time feeling confident in the fact that the carp would turn up but weren’t there at that time I baited with 3kg of Ghurkka Spice boilies being an equal mix of 10mm, 15mm and 20mm. continue reading…