November 2006

What’s Occurring?

We have moved premises!
Where does all the time go? It doesn’t seem two minutes since we were operating from our original small unit panicking about what we were going to do with the next batch of stock due to arrive and stumbling over each other as we rushed to get parcels out.

Fortunately much larger premises became available close by and it is here that we have now moved the majority of our stock. We can now produce and despatch from the same premises which makes life so much less complicated.

The catch reports section on our website is now filling up quite nicely and the telephone calls we get make me feel so proud of Quest Baits and what we have achieved in such a relatively short space of time.

From very humble beginnings working almost single handed we now have a very proficient team stretching from the girls in the despatch department through to our bait rollers. I could hardly have hoped to have moved so far forward this early on but when I hear all the reports from anglers using our bait then I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at all.

I’m getting out fishing again!
I have found it so frustrating this past year hardly having two minutes to myself and no holidays – it’s been a real strain for someone who has spent almost 30 years of his life sleeping out on the bank a couple of nights a week.

Here I am penning a few words whilst sat in the High Swim on the in-famous Mangrove Swamp , deep in the British countryside, seemingly miles from anywhere. I look across the pool and know that the scene would be little changed if I stepped back in time several hundred years. This truly is a gorgeous unspoilt ancient mere.

The scene before me is a far from ideal (from a fish catching point of view) flat calm mirrored surface yet 70 yards out the carp are still fizzing well on my Garlic Feast carpet of bait.

I’ve not been awake long after having my rest disturbed three times during the night by hungry carp.

I can’t believe after all these years of being able to fish mid week sessions I suddenly find myself becoming a week-end angler.

I say I am managing to get out fishing again but here I am penning a few words for this ‘What’s Occurring’ newsletter which I intend to make a regular feature. At least I am able to clear my head a little away from the telephone.

The last few trips on the Mangrove have been particularly rewarding and I have been able to hold my head high with a good run of carp falling to my methods on each outing.

The productive bait for me has been Smokey Fish fresh frozen boilies with a Smokey Fish shelf-life hook bait (they are a little tougher than the frozen baits) pre-soaked in the Smokey Fish Bait Glug, fished over a new particle mix I have been playing around with for some time.

This particle mix has also been instant with the Barbel on the River Trent and river Derwent too.

New Particle Mix
So what is this new particle mix?

I haven’t discovered a new seed, bean, pea, nut or pulse. I have simply put a blend together which the fish seem to be really enjoying having a munch upon.

This blending of particles in my fishing goes right back to the days when I used to fish at Patshull Church Pool for those glorious commons. I found blends to be so much more effective than straight baits and hardly anyone ever used to mix them.

I remember winning the Anglers Mail fish of the month one month for a fish I caught over a bed of two different seeds, two different peas, two different beans and two different nuts – the paper made quite a thing of this at the time but I have seen so few other follow a similar route since. Apart that is from the usual pre-mixed mini particle mixes which most bait companies offer.

Obviously a lot of time has passed since then and an awful lot of experimenting to arrive at what I have now. I have given this blend a little extra boost with garlic. One sniff and you know the fish are going to get on it big time – and they have!

Would you like to try some?
At this moment in time I can only supply the particles pre-cooked with the added garlic aroma.

Or – if you prefer to experiment yourself I can supply the blend in its natural raw dry state for you to add your own attractors – although I must point out that it will work without any attractors/labels being added.

So what is in it?

It contains 10 different seeds and a mixture of peas and beans which have all worked for me on their own in the past. I have refrained from adding any sort of nut to the mix because of the amount of waters that no longer allow their use (I’m not allowed to use them where I fish).

Obviously I have a huge amount of different bait available to me – this new Garlic Feast is the basis of my baiting at the moment with a main course of Smokey Fish Boilies placed over the top.

The pre-cooked garlic particle mix is called ‘Garlic Feast’ and the raw unflavoured version is called ‘Particle Feast’.

Be one of the first to try it
If you would like to be the first angler where you fish to use this mix then give us a call.

63 lb Mirror!
Largest carp reported so far (unless you know different) this year on Quest baits is a 63lb fish from an Angling Lines venue to John Blackall who tempted the leviathan on a Special Crab boilie back in May.

Rob Murfin, 62lb
One of our bait rollers – Rob Murfin wasn’t far behind with a magnificent Mirror of 62lb on his favourite Rahja Spice. Same trip saw his brother Paul slip his net under another colossal carp of 55lb – not to mention countless back-up fish to both of them.

More new products
We have quite a few new and interesting things in the pipeline including a method mix which has really been doing the business with carp and tench and one of our team of testers has been using it on the river to good effect for barbel.

This new mix is crammed full of tiny food particles and has been designed to allow other things to be added. Would you believe it will still hold together with 40% pellet added!

Elie Godsi
Elie has been a personal friend of mine for many years now and has been able to use many of my bait developments over these years. Naturally Elie jumped on board as a bait consultant/field tester as soon as he heard what we were up to during the early creation of Quest Baits.

Suffice to say in the two years Elie has been using what has become known as Special Crab and Fruity Trifle he has amounted a very impressive catch list.

From seven different venues in 3 different countries he has caught 22 x 30’s, 6 x 40’s (more than one in England ) and a 55.04.

A favourite presentation of Elie’s is a Fruity Trifle pop-up fished snowman style on top of a Special Crab bottom bait. An un-likely combination but one which really drills home the important message of never being afraid to experiment.

Steve Barden’s
Did you see that scaly mirror Quest Baits field tester and consultant Steve Bardens submitted in June?

A gorgeous fish of 33 lb which was previously un-caught despite a number of anglers trying for it with all manner of baits. Steve finally tricked it into picking up a Special Crab boilie with a Fruity Trifle pop-up turning it into a red headed brown snowman! (or should that be snow person?). Top angling Steve. Well done again mate.

After that catch Steve changed venue and had an incredible opening night catch reported a couple of weeks later. This time on Tiger Nut pop-ups over Special Crab Boilies. Some of those fish were again truly stunning.

Prettiest carp of the year
Regardless of the size of fish caught we would like you to submit the prettiest carp you have caught on a Quest Baits boilie. We will be offering a prize at the end of the year for what we consider to be the Quest Baits capture.

It doesn’t matter if it is 10 lb or 70 lb send us the pretty ‘uns!

Filming
We’ve been out filming again!

There is so much I want to add to this website but so little time to be able to do it. However, we did drag our camera man, Gareth Watkins, over from France in September to film a few bits for us.

The carp were particularly obliging whilst the cameras were here. I started off on a local water to show the effectiveness of the Quest Floating Pellets. This is one of my favourite forms of fishing and after quite a frustrating afternoon trying to get the carp feeding where they could also be filmed I finally managed to hook and land a beautiful old 20lb black common for the camera.

The following day it was over to the famous Mangrove Swamp hidden away in the depths of the British countryside where I was rewarded with mirrors of 21lb 8 oz, 24lb 8 oz and the legendary ‘Conan’ at 31lb 10 oz whilst demonstrating the new ‘Garlic Feast’ particle mix.

Check out the new ‘Hints and Tips’ video section of our web site. We are intending to up-date and add to this throughout the year.

Already we have organised the next filming stint in the winter to show some of the dodges I employ to keep those bobbins moving in the coldest weather.

Your Comments please
We strive to offer the very best service we can and welcome any comment you may have. You can email Shaun direct at shaun@questbaits.com