Quest Baits Blog

Following on from Shaun’s earlier blog about favourite tackle items I had to think long and hard about what I really valued in my kit. There are some items that are more obvious – I love my rods and reels for example – but I wanted to come up with something a little different. Sitting with too much time on a session I realised there were two bits of kit that stood out.

Firstly my tiny Primus stove. I love kit that’s compact, well designed and does the job. This little beauty screws into propane / butane canisters, has a self ignition switch and fits into the palm of my hand when folded. No matter how little kit I carry I can always have a hot cup of tea or hot food.

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The second items is these amazing braid cutters from PB products. I promise you once you have tried these you will never use anything else. You can dangle the thinnest braid in the air and it will still cut them with no tension, it’s like magic! Great design – in my opinion the best there is out there.

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Oh and I have had two trips since the last blog. Managed 4 doubles the first time out and a double and a scraper 20 the second trip. Not bad on a water where one or two bites a session is good going.

Tight lines, Elie G

Following on from Pat’s favourite item of tackle blog and Shaun’s bit on the Spomb, I wanted to draw your attention to a little item that I recently picked up which is as cheap as chips (£3.99) and could be a massive edge for you this year. It’s a simple magnifying glass and it’s produced by JAG.

Checking your hook point before every cast is essential and it’s a big advantage to offer a hook as sharp as it can be. That’s where this little beauty comes in. Of course the product itself is self explanatory, however I’d add that it is well made, small and neat and ideal to keep in your tackle box. It gives 20x magnification making checking those hook points a doddle.

Jag also offer a range of sharpening tools to go with the Ultra eye, although personally I prefer to simply change my hooks. Check them out.

Simple, cheap and my recommended purchase.

Spencer Humble.

After reading Shaun’s piece about the Spomb I thought I would mention 3 new items (for me) of tackle that I used last year;

Quick Release Adaptors

When  I first saw this product come onto the market I thought they were just another gimmick that would only really be bought by the ‘tackle tarts’ amongst us. Anyway I saw some on special offer last year (3 for £5) and being the curious soul that I am I bought some. They are a very useful little piece of kit. I especially like them attached to my brolly and storm poles in the winter. No more struggling to hold onto the brolly in strong winds whilst trying to undo the threads of the storm poles. These simply ‘unclip’.  I have used them for a variety of things such as attaching alarms and threaded landing nets etc. They just 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

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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