Quest Baits Blog

37.08

Hi all,

just a quick report after coming back from France where I fished for a week. It was a really tough week with really cold temperatures and hardly any sun! I had to resort to wearing four layers most days as the North Easterly wind that’s been around for ages was really nasty.

I was fishing into thick tall weed in 12′ of water and it was impossible to find the clear spots without full sun, making life really hard. The sun came out briefly Monday afternoon, I found a gorgeous tiny gravely spot and had this lovely 37+ common from it.

I then spent two days trying to find that spot again with a prodding stick. I had two takes off it and had this 32 common – fought like a demon – just look at the paddle on it. Lost the other one and managed a 28 from open water. There were some really big fish caught that week on the lake but I wasn’t lucky to get in amongst them.

Home made rhaja spice pop ups did the job. With a lot of time on my hands I was playing around with a rig I’ve been developing for a while now. I tied a few up on the bank for use on a weedy water when I got back. I really liked the look of what I’d come up with and was itching to try it when I got back. Next time I’ll let you know how I got on, suffice to say my season just got better and better.

Tight Lines,  Elie Godsi

Silk weed – love it!

I must admit it does make me smile when I see anglers trying to find clear areas to present their baits when confronted with a swim full of silk weed.

Silkweed harbours a lot of natural food particularly shrimps which the carp love which in turn means they will regularly be visiting these food rich areas as a matter of course. The natural world is baiting up for you constantly if you take time to find the natural food harbours.

Rather than try and find clear areas to present your baits you would do yourself a far bigger favour to find the ‘hotspot’ areas of weed containing the most food.

Simply cast out with a heavy bottom bait on leave it a few seconds to settle then wind in. The bait will help get the hook down a little further into the weed so it becomes a mini grapple hook for gathering samples. Examine what you have wound in and see what sort of creepy crawlies there are. If there is nothing then try another area until you encounter life. continue reading…

There is a story to every picture and often something different to every capture. I thought it worth mentioning the story to the 33lb common I caught this week which appears in a catch report Blog below.

I had turned up at the venue around lunch time and had introduced a bed of Chilli Chocolate boilies where I had seen some fish previously.

A couple of hours passed by and I received a few liners but there were also fish showing to my left the other side of the next angler. This venue has carp of all sizes with doubles and 20’s being the norm’.  One of the carp that had rolled looked to be a much better fish.

I was in a dilemma, I had introduced a carpet of bait and was receiving liners but a good fish had shown 2 swims away to my left. I was sure I would receive a pick up over the baited area but would it be one of the better fish? continue reading…

So, it’s the first full day of the enforced close season on my syndicate venue where my quest for a certain 40+ UK common continues. I’ve got  a month until the start, when many new keenie members will all be hunting the very same carp. Of course I have the advantage of  a seasons knowledge of the water, however as I said recently, the plan is to bait a couple of swims, one banker ‘hot’ swim and one ‘probably be empty and unpopular’ swim, in the hope of having a ‘fall back on’ option. Bait is to be my edge.

So the car is loaded, my initial baiting is to be approx 20 kilos of bait spread over the two swims, being a mixture of Quest shelf life baits in 15mm and 10mm, plus a mixture of Quest maximum action pellet, and an obligatory tub of hemp! I’m using an initial blend of baits as initially I want the ‘spot’ to be cleared and also recognised. Although 20 kilos is a fair investment, after this initial baiting I’ll reduce the amount and be putting the Chilli Chocolate shelf lifes in exclusively, with a view to building up the fishes confidence in it as a food and keeping the spots clean. I won’t be able to afford to put in stacks and stacks of bait, probably a couple of kilos a week, however over the course of the season the fishing will get better and better.

The big common came out twice last season, the dates and swims it was caught from are in my diary, along with my holiday form from work!

Time to get the baiting spoon out!

All the best, Spencer H

I constantly keep an eye on air pressure and moon phases and indeed during the colder winter months the water temperature on my Quest to put a few bonus carp on the bank. There can’t be many days pass by when I am not visiting the various weather sites on the internet trying to work out the best chance of a take in the limited hours I often have to fish.

As I have documented so many times before my free time is very limited so out of necessity I have to try and squeeze some relatively short sessions in between work etc.

I see little point in getting into routine by picking a particular evening each week such as a Thursday to fish if the conditions are indicating Tuesday could be better.

I have had various barometers scattered around the house for years now and even have one in the toilet which ensures I always have a few moments a day when I can sit down gather my thoughts and look at what is happening with the air pressure.

Thanks to the tip off from fellow British Carp Study Group member Saul Gardner I have just purchased a tiny hand held weather station which will certainly become an essential part of my kit in a bid to understand the effects of air pressure that little bit more being able to monitor the changing condition whilst actually out on the bank rather than checking before and after a session. continue reading…

Well, at last the Winter is finally over, although as I sit here writing this at the end of March it feels chilly once again. My carp fishing quest has continued, fishing a handful of overnighters and a final four night session before the end of ‘our’ close season. As much as I’d love to report whackers galore, the truth is that I was unable to set a hook in a carp. The good news was that the carp were very much on the move and at last I was angling as opposed to camping, as most of us have done this year! Finally one of the syndicate did manage a carp, a stunning mid 30, however it took him more than 70 nights of angling to hook one. This place is far from easy!

Baiting my spots is priority this April

I utilised my time by continuing to learn the lake and more importantly by introducing the Chilli Chocolate at every opportunity. No session is a waste, even driving 50 miles, setting up in the wind and rain after a 13 hour working day and blanking for 48 hours is an opportunity in itself, albeit a challenging one! The things we do for fun eh?

So now we have an April of work parties, and again an opportunity to get the baiting spoon out and feed those carp. I’m planning on baiting a few spots at least twice a week( more bait needed Shaun!) and by the time the 31st of April comes around the carp in my syndicate should be Chilly Chocoholics for certain. I’m putting it in print that I’m targeting 15 carp from my syndicate this year, that’s more than 50 % than I managed last year and I’m banking on a little more knowledge of the lake and a fantastic range of Quest baits to make the difference.

Spencer Humble