Quest Baits Blog

Hi Shaun,

What sort of back lead do you use and recommend?

I use four different types of back lead in my own fishing so let’s look at the ones I use and the reasons I use them.

Captive back leads

Captive back leads – Apart from some homemade affairs the only captive back leads I have used for any period of time is the Fox version with the hinged gate system. I find these to be excellent to allow a free passage of line to maximise bite indication. This free passage is essential if you are going to be able to register drop back takes.

I find that captive back leads need to be quite heavy to allow quick bite registration. The first ones I purchased were 1oz (28 gram) from memory but these would lift up in the water on the take which would therefore lessen the indication on the alarm and bobbin.

Rather than purchase another set of back leads I simply cut off the weight, slid on a flat in line Korda lead then re-tied the original back lead on. The Korda lead gripped the swivel of the Fox Captive lead just as it would on a standard semi-fixed in-line rig. My captive leads were then just over 2oz and they certainly perform better and release easier than they ever did at 1oz. I also feel they actually sit better being less inclined to topple over with the added weight at the back. continue reading…

STARTING FROM SCRATCH….

I’m fortunate enough to visit a lot of Angling Lines waters, many of them very lightly or never fished before I get there.  Because of this the information usually available to the customer has yet to be compiled and I really am starting from scratch.  This blog piece is about how I tackle an untried/untested venue in France.

I try to research the venue at home and the first place I visit is Google to search for maps and photos of the lake.  I search for alternative names for the venue particularly on French angling and tourist websites. Most lakes have been fished at some time in their history and it’s amazing what you can find out with Google and a Babelfish translator.  My visits are a week at most but can be as little as three days so I like to be well informed

Next it’s Metcheck or my new favourite Accuweather for a long range weather forecast for the time my visit.  I pay particular attention to new winds, wind strength and atmospheric pressure.  Fish don’t always follow the wind, buts it’s always worth searching the windward side of the lake on a new wind. continue reading…

It’s so easy to turn up at a lake and go for the easy option of fishing the swim right next to the car park, especially when the weather is not in your favour.

Or if you’re feeling at little more adventurous you’ll head straight for the swim that people are talking about as being a so called hot spot.

As we all know there is more to landing a big carp than this but we sometimes choose to ignore the obvious.

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Having read Spencer’s post from last week it occurred to me just how many anglers probably have hung their rods up over this particularly difficult and frustrating winter of frozen lakes and snow blocked tracks.

Well, a word of warning here, nature is starting to wake up again along with the carp becoming more active. 6am this morning the birds were singing their hearts out as I sat drinking my wakening cup of coffee. I strolled outside, lean’t against the bridge of my garden pool and couldn’t help but smile. Nature was telling me that everything is starting to return from the winter slumber.

It really is time for you to be thinking about dusting the gear down if you want to tempt yourself one of those gorgeous late winter carp still sporting the beautiful reddy orange tinge they develop during the winter months.

Winter carp usually look as though they are in their full peak of health as well as usually being up in weight, which is total evidence that they still carry on rooting around and feeding all through the winter.

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Even in the depths of winter our mind turns to the first sunny days of Spring, when the temperature is going upwards and the lake shows more and more fish activity. The warmth of the sun is responsible for more carp movement and often you can catch them fairly easy on these mild days.

A few tips that can be effective considering the early time of the season;

1.    Fish often don’t respond to heavy baiting under these circumstances, try fishing PVA bags and single hook baits… remember bait that’s gone in, can’t be taken out! So be careful with free offerings.

2.    Always try to get your baits near the bank where the fist sunlight falls on. This side of the lake will warm up faster and on allot of occasions the majority of the fish will be hanging around in that part of the lake.

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By Roy van Goor

A few hints and tips for tackling summer carp;

When fishing the warmer periods in the summer its gets harder to catch carp on most venues.
Natural food sources, less oxygen, lots of weed, competition of other species are a few factors that are responsible for less action and more batteries life.

My personal approach for catching fish in the summer is active fishing. Not just sitting behind the rods and waiting for things to happen, or in a lot of cases don’t happen. Walking around on the hottest moment of the day and look for the fish.

Often you can see them hanging around in the upper layers above weedbeds or hanging around underneath bushes. When you found some fish in a particular area the next thing to do is check out the bottom profile around that spot.

The important question is ….is it fishable?

A lot of weedbeds normally hold fish for instance.. and are in a lot of cases above gravel patches or gravel area’s…perfect for presentation.

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