Quest Baits Blog

Thought I would pass this little tip on as everyone visiting my swim and sitting on my bucket comments about my bucket. I did a real simple conversion on it a few years back and have never had to re-do it.

I must admit I stole the idea after seeing Miles Gasgoigne’s bucket whilst we were shooting a Free Spirit DVD. He had simply cut an old camping roll mat up and taped a couple or three circles of mat on to the lid. This hardly adds any weight but doesn’t half raise the comfort levels in both sponginess and warmth. Definitely well worth doing as an emergency guest chair or for a out the bivvy carp spotting perch for yourself.

You could always go the whole hog and insulate a bucket by wrapping the sides too.

Quick simple job which will last you years so long as you use decent tape in the first place.

Over the years I have gone through many different types of swim feeder for my barbel fishing, from making them myself from film canisters and women’s hair rollers to the one that I use now which are the large Drennan oval feeders.I have used the Drennan ovals for about the last 10 years and I find their shape and adaptability to be second to none. The shape means that they hold well in the current without the rolling affect of a lot of round feeders. They are also very adaptable in the ways that they can be modified.

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Phil Parker put the following question about ‘proper’ size 2 man bivvies that will accommodate him and his fishing wife – plus all the gear we typically carry with us.

“On the subject of Bivvys, why do manufacturers make them so low. I’m not the tallest of people but I am finding it difficult to do any kind of adequate manoeuvring unless I’m sitting or laying down especially if the heavens open up. My two man bivvy is exactly not that, more of a one and a half, especially as I have to share with my fishing wife. The only one I have seen is more of a tent than a bivvy and that is the Rod Hutchinson geo 2.2 super tent. This seems to have masses of room, especially for storage. Can anyone recommend anything on the market which has a substantial height and capacity for storing the plethora of gear I carry including a carp fishing wife?”

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quest-combination-tube2.jpg”>A nifty idea from the Quest Baits boys. A clear plastic tube containing four separate bait pots which can be used for carrying glugs, dips or an assortment of different hook baits.

The problem with most of the glug pots I’ve used in the past is that they are prone to leaking. This is usually caused by getting a drop of liquid in the threads of the screw cap – it then manages to work its way around the thread channels and out of the lid. By placing the tubs in an outer tube you stop all of that irritating spillage contaminating everything else in your kit.

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Question from Roger Mills;

Hi, I propose to put some order into my carp fishing and use a marker system to identify underwater features.  I see there are various rods on the market. What test curve would give the best response when trying to find lake features?
Regards, Roger 

Hi Roger,

For all my marker float work I use a stiff (tippy action) 3lb test curve road.  

A through action rod is not much use as all the knocks and bumps from bottom features are absorbed by the through action of the rod. 

The action of the rod is much more important than the test curve.  Using braided line also helps to “feel” the contours of the bottom, but in my experience you will need a mono leader with it as the increased friction of the braid will stop the marker float popping up. 

Hope this helps and good luck.Jim Kelly