Quest Baits Blog

I’m not a great fan of snag fishing and certainly would not consider sleeping while the rods are close to them. You can imagine how I felt, when on a recent trip to Alder Lake in France I located most of the lakes population in the heavy snags alongside the point forming a large shallow bay in the lake.

I had to get them out!

I loose fed a line of Surf n Turf boilies into the snags running towards the end of the point, and then laid a line of boilies into the centre of the bay. The plan was to lure the carp into an area where I was happy to hook them.

One rod went onto the end of the point then the other into the open water in the centre of the bay.

I had a few liners in the night and then early next morning the point rod flew off quickly followed by the bay rod. This pattern was repeated for the next three mornings.

All the fish hooked were landed and any damage that the snags could have caused avoided.

Surf n Turf certainly has some pulling power!

Cheers Ron

I relearned and old lesson last weekend, you may think you have the lake sorted out but no one tells the carp the rules.

When I joined Shaun on our syndicate water Grenville Lake he had already fished for 24 hours. He was fishing a swim in a bay that he knows well and has fished successfully over the last year.

I chose a swim at the other side of the point on his right.

Conditions for us both looked good. Within an hour I was getting liners over the Surf n’Turf and after three hours I had a run that I did not connect with.

I sat confidently for another 24 hours; while the new wind that should have pushed the fish towards swung slowly around 360 degrees and the temperature cooled considerably.

Was I worried… was I hell?

The fish in this lake always fish off the back of a cold wind. Don’t they? The wind picked up and I sat it out. continue reading…

Quest Baits consultant Ron Key talks about the new Surf ‘n’ Turf  boilie.

Next year is just around the corner, and it got me thinking New Year… new bait!  

I started my pre-baiting last month introducing small amounts of bait in the areas I will be fishing. When baiting I will usually put a couple of handfuls of bait per swim, twice a week until it’s time to fish. 

When choosing a new bait I always look for the ones that are of good quality and provide the fish with a good food source. This is essential when wanting to ensure carp get the right nutrients and continue to grow for many years angling to come. A poor food content in boiles could in turn have detrimental effects on both the carps health and angling quality of a lake in years to come. Carp are like humans in that they need an adequate supply of good nutrition, they require a whole host of nutrients. If your bait is nothing more than a 50/50 base mix then don’t expect to catch many carp on it.  

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My mirror fell to the new bait on test, Surf ‘n’ Turf which was attached to an unusual take on the chod which I have been playing around with.

Rather than using beads to hold the hook link in place, I have been experiencing a lot of success by using two air-dried 10mm hookbaits threaded on to a TF leader and a 3 oz distance lead.

Alongside this I presented a small PVA bags containing a dozen whole and broken freebies. I was the only one to catch during the trip and to do so during the snow make the experience even more special.

Samantha Collins-Ratcliffe

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