Quest Baits Blog

Mat asks;

When casting out after spodding with your hookbait etc what method do you use to cast in same place each time?  If I leave line clip on I can’t use the drag.  I’m confused!  I know about elastic but is it accurate enough?

Personally I favour pole elastic markers on my line and break the cast as soon as the knot rattles up the rod on the cast. I find by breaking the cast as the knot leaves the tip guide and sinking the rig on a tight line you generally recover the extra line which has left the spool whilst tightening down. I definitely prefer this method than clipping up into the spool clip. So long as you aren’t in too deep a water whereby you simply let more line go on the cast before breaking I find this method incredibly simple to use and very accurate.

If you aren’t confident enough to do this or when fishing tight to a island for example You can tuck a tag end of the elastic into the line clip of your spool. This is not only kinder on the line but will also break in the event of an immediate savage take.

The beauty of pole elastic (I usually use around it in size 4 or 6) is that it doesn’t hamper the cast too much. Some anglers used to use power gum markers but I never did like this as the line would stick on it and sometimes jam during the cast.

Hope this helps

Best fishes, Shaun

Great little tip here I picked up from my mate Phil Calloway at the week-end. So obvious and so simple but I hadn’t previously seen anyone else do it.

He was commenting on me Spombing and how quickly I was able to get a bed of boilies out with it and was amazed at the speed and ease of retrieve. I was saying that the big attraction to me in the first place was the fact that there was zero spod spill. I have always been paranoid about the carp spooking on the line whilst eating free bait. This is the reason I usually try and fish the near side of a baited area or to the side of it rather than smack bang in the middle which I often see others do.

I know Phil likes the long rocket style spods for putting boilies out with and I mentioned that the problem with them in my opinion is that they always drop 3 or 4 boilies out the back end in flight depending upon how many you load. This was when Phil’s little gem of wisdom came into place.

“ I don’t drop any boilies out the back of mine”. He said.

“Well I always have unless I bung the end with a PVA nugget or ground bait etc which I find to be a lot of messing around and takes me out of the rhythm of quick and accurate spodding”. I replied.

“Oh, don’t you use gravel? I always drop a few bits of gravel in after the boilies. This way you just have the odd gravel bit drop out rather than bait”.

Brilliant yet oh so simple. Why hadn’t I thought of that one all those years ago whilst putting up with spod spill?

I was sat on the bank last week watching the world go by as you do and taking note how the different anglers present were tackling the lake. I find I learn an awful lot by simply taking a mental note of what others are doing and at the times they are doing them. I find I learn more from those that don’t catch regularly than I do from those that do.

Spodding/Spombing is something which can make or break a swim. It does amuse me when anglers make the comment along the lines of ‘spodding doesn’t work here – it spooks the fish. The answer to this is something I don’t usually bother giving but usually start thinking about including a spod rod on my next trip.

Spodding/Spombing can indeed spook the fish on some lakes when carried out at the wrong time of the day. If you are fishing a water where the fish are under constant pressure then just as they are about to start cautious feeding isn’t the time to be crashing a spod/Spomb on top of them. Ideally you want to be introducing the spod/spomb several hours before the expected feeding spell or the expected arrival of fish in your swim if you know the water well. continue reading…

I thought it would be interesting to ask what item of tackle you have purchased recently that has really impressed you.

So I will start the ball rolling with ‘The Spomb’.

Every once in a while you stumble across an item of tackle that you know is going to become a regular part of your armoury and you are often left wondering how on earth you managed without it before!

Well, I have just stumbled across one such piece of kit – The Spomb.

First impression and I was picking fault without actually using it – aren’t we all a little guilty of this at times? First time I did use it I had nothing but praise for the thing.

So what is a Spomb?

Basically it is a spod, shaped like a bomb which spills absolutely no bait in flight.

I have been using it for baiting up with boilies and no matter how I cast the Spomb and how I let it hit the water I have had a 100% release rate. It doesn’t seem to matter if you crash the Spomb in nose down or gently tap it on the surface sideways (casting to a clip) the ingenious release mechanism releases every time.

The Spomb will comfortably deliver 45 x 15mm or 100 x 10mm boilies each cast. One thing which really surprised me once I started to use the Spomb is just how easy it is to retrieve.

For more information on this product visit www.spomb.com

Well, they have impressed me – what bits of gear have impressed you the most recently?

Shaun

On one of the lakes I fish you need to place your baits out a good old distance and in a good size amount. But not having to worry too much about placing them exactly on the same spot every time but being able to create numerous feeding beds.

So my initial approach was to opt for a simple throwing stick, and dot boiles around a marker, but soon came to realise that it was an option that had serious disadvantages. On one hand there is the limit to the bait that can be used and on the other hand there is the annoyance of seagulls.

Many of you reading this most likely at some point have experienced seagulls picking up your boilies in mid air or as they hit the water. Gulls have come to recognise the sound of the boilie as it leaves the throwing stick and quickly gather in large flocks ready to pick up the bait in flight; those baits that escape are soon picked off as soon as they hit the surface of the water.

Therefore I decided to give myself more of a fighting chance and get the trusty spod out.  On some lakes I have fished the sound of a spod crashing into the water can draw the carp’s attention to the baited area around your marker float.

continue reading…

By Elie Godsi

I hate spod spill! – all those bits of spod mix flying out of the top of the spod when you cast it out, leaving a trail of bait short of the marker float and right where your lines will be when you cast your rigs out. Watch the Korda Underwater videos and one thing comes across loud and clear – if carp feed over line (or leadcore / tubing) and pick this up with their lips when they feed they spook straight away, putting other fish on guard and drastically reducing your chance of a take. continue reading…