All Activity

Afternoon all, so my fishing has taken a back seat for the moment with the birth of my youngest son 2wks ago, so to stave off the carpy withdrawal symptoms, I have started to play about with a few things to keep me busy… for a while, I’ve been thinking about bait, specifically something for the winter when realistically, I’ll be able to get my rods out again (my choice, a new baby is hard work!) my usual bait, consisting of premier supermarinos basemix, with cream palatant, belachan flavour at 2ml per six eggs, shellfish sense appeals at 2ml, a dribble (0.5ml) of monster crab flavour, 20ml of salmon oil, added haiths robin red, and a dash of blood powder to help harden the baits (the resulting baits are a tad soft for hookbaits without the addition of blood powder or egg albumin to harden them up - I don’t want to boil the granny out of them!) has for years been all I’ve ever wanted from a bait, it catches carp wherever I take it, so what more do I need?? well in the depths of winter, I felt that the bait might not be for the best, so I wanted something different… but what? now “back in the day” my go to winter bait was good old Richworth banana ester readymades, an awesome banana aroma, bright yellow in colour and something a little different to the usual pineapple baits most were using. Going to the big one show in Feb sparked the memory of banana baits when I brought a limited edition pot of banana pop ups that took me back to my youth! so why not just buy a bag of banana readymades and be done with it? Because I freely admit to being a bit of a bait snob, and would rather roll my own baits than buy a bag… (yet I have a bag of krill bottom baits for quick sessions and theres no bait in the freezer! I am a contradiction in terms!) i wanted a bait that would be a nice high leakage banana flavoured, yellow bait like a readymade, but I didn’t want it too in your face and I wanted it to have a nutritional value, so I wanted a readymade that isn’t a readymade, that hit you with a banana aroma but didn’t… in short I didn’t quite know what I wanted!! turning to premier, I ordered my usual 10kg of supermarinos basemix and also ordered 10kg of premier milk protein/birdfood basemix which they recommended for winter use. Tony also threw in a free bottle of monster crab/shellfish sense appeal blended flavour free of charge as he knew I use it - legend! now, I knocked up a quick mix of the birdfood mix with 5ml of CC Moore banana flavour - which smells exactly as I remember the old richworth bait to smell like, perfect! I used 10ml of salmon oil, which didn’t sit right with me, it didn’t quite match if you know what I mean! initial thoughts? The basemix wasn’t quite as “predictable” as the fish meals I'm used to rolling, I found the mix dried out and shrank, making it harder to roll and squeeze out of the boilie gun, some baits also split on rolling, so some work was needs there getting the mixture right. The resulting baits turned out ok, the flavour profile felt right to the nose, but I felt I could improve on the mix. when I first started bait making, I used carp company fruit frenzy basemix with essential bait fruit factor 6, which had a lovely “zingy” flavour, I then in 1998 discovered premier Aminos basemix with green lipped mussel and richworth boiled ham flavour or rod Hutchinson mixed herbs flavour - that was a killer flavour! I’ve used premier base mixes ever since. I was straight onto essential baits for a tub of fruit factor 6, I also found a bulk oil, “fruit seed oil” a blend of vegetable oils and fruit esters, that felt more in keeping with the bait then the salmon oil, so that went into the basket too, finally a bottle of thaumatin red (a fruity intense sweetener) also ended up heading my way… bring on the bait making! so this time, I added 1/2tsp of fruit factor 6, 0.5ml of thaumatin red, 20ml of fruit seed oil and 5ml of banana flavour to six eggs then added the milk protein/birdfood basemix slowly until I got it to the point that the mix was still slightly sticky. Giving it 10min to rest left it in the perfect state to go through the gun and roll nicely without any splitting. the baits were given a 1min 20sec boil that gave them a nice skin with a slightly rubbery texture, and to the nose they have a lovely banana/fruity undertone. They are a nice pale honeycomb shade with birdfood flecks. so have I achieved the “readymade/not readymade” bait ready for winter? Who knows!! I’ll give it a go on a few waters during quick 3-4hr sessions whilst my daughter is in nursery to see how acceptable the concoction is to my local carp, if they like it, then I’ll start trickling it into the winter waters to get them used to it. (Do we even need to do this anymore? I still do anyway…) my next project?? I have 20 x 2m black 28mm rigid conduit pipes, a can of expanding foam and a baiting spoon to see if I can fashion a DIY baiting spoon for around £40-50… It’s amazing where your mind goes when you’re bottle feeding at 3am!

I feel for you , Kev . I've lost my last 4 Carp in the lillies , and although probably only low to mid doubles it still anoys me , and I think " what could I have done different ? " . One of the loses was when I rushed sideways to hustle the Carp away from the lillies only to kick the water bucket ( that I'd forgot was there ) ; so I look down to see why my sock was wet , and that 1 second delay in playing the Carp was all it needed to shed the hook . So next time out you'll just have to catch an absolute monster to help the painfull memory of your loss to fade away . 😃

U fortunately It’s in the Briney. lol

Baiting poles are a real faff I must agree, I've barely used mine due to the reasons you say, but for the swim I was going to be targeting, just perfect. I do have a bait boat with good sonar and yes it has caught me some extra fish where I couldn't have casted - or would have spoiled it casting too much to find the very best area. But like the baiting pole I don't usually use it or even take it with me most of the time. New venues I will take it coz you don't know what you'll be faced with. You're wasting your time on Yonny - he will NEVER own such a thing and doesn't need any help catching, I know I've fished with him. I buy things because I'm bored and want some retail therapy not because I NEED them, as you'll have seen in the new purchases thread 🤣

Baiting poles seems such a faff to me. OK if you are fishing very short but any sort of distance and you're like a plumber on a big job! Add a slight breeze and the thing is snaking around like a good 'un and the chances of getting close to your spot are pretty low. I know you hate boats Yonny but the stealth, accuracy and tight baiting they provide can't be beaten in my opinion. When they first came out I was apprehensive but I've embraced the positives they offer and I don't think it's a co-incidence that my catch rates have improved dramatically in the last few years. Cheating? Maybe but are you still using par boiled potatoes and silver foil for indicators? If the technology exists and other people are using it, you are putting yourself at a disadvantage if you don't use it Just my opinion, of course..

He's right though, noddy move, this one will stay with me for a long time. I had a feeling I was on for a big-un and the power of the take suggests it was just that!!! Fishing is cruel at times, the losses haunt me! I remember the worst losses more than the successful ones

Well Jack doesn't need to say anything for you to see he is not impressed with your decision to be in your bivvy at bite time ! .

If it's for a freshwater boat I'd just do it in 304..... half the price and more than up to the job.

Well that’s torn it lost the threaded part of a shackle for the boat last week lol now need to make a new part 316 stainless is expensive lol

Looks awesome; know how you feel..

Moody one from the weekend..

I was on it for a couple of years but struggled to find anyone with stock earlier this year so went with the HD instead, seems it's back in stock now. 👍 What about the splash mat, would you carry that around the big pit? 🤣🤦‍♂️ Might end up being as pointless as the ridgemonkey bivvy I bought during lockdown - deffo my worst buy ever!!! Cant give it away!

The best line out there imo.

Bought 2 spools of Hydro Tuff and found one was enough to do the 3 reels - so got a spare for next spring. Wasn't going to try the 3rd reel as I didn't want to have to strip it all off once it became apparent it wasn't going to fill the last reel but went for it anyway and it did it with a little to spare. On that basis I've deffo got enough HD left to do 3 reels on the 2 spools I bought earlier in the year as I did 2 reels off one spool and one off the other spool. Ordered another 75 leads from Riverside Leads - not heard anything back on those yet so jury is out. ESP stalker boilie pouch to help with baiting up Fortis - large brimmed hat Cotswold reel splash mat, this will prob never get used - but needed to spend more for free delivery so it kind of made sense lol Is this an illness?

I spotted something odd in the edge at Bluebell and pulled out a Fox Bivvy and later spotted a landing net and handle in the reeds - gave both to my mate which he still uses now. This was months after a big storm where people obviously lost tackle 😀

WHAT?!?! now that's dedication right there 🙌

I have one! Thing is it's miles round this lake so taking everything isn't really an option. In fact I'm taking as little as I can get away with! I'm even leaving the brew kit at home 😧

I used my baiting pole to get them out nice and quiet this trip, might have worked in your situation, I know you don't like tech but it's only a stick with a cup on the end lol I was pretty amazed to find I was fishing an easy underarm, turned out to be 24 metres, looked more like 10 max

It is mate. I actually found the carp this time too... chilling out not 30y out in a weed bed. Unfortunately I only had 4oz leads on me and the carp weren't to fond of them crashing onto their heads. Schoolboy error. Got straight on the phone to order a bunch of 2 and 2.5oz for next time. I was convinced they'd be back the next day but they didn't show up. To rub it in I found them all in the shallows on my trek back to the car to go home.

Place looks mega!

Saturday morning at the big pit. Big blank to go with it.

An overnighter sat/sun felt that I was on for a big-un, 9pm a big fish rolled on the right tree line which got me going. 7am a take and I cant get out the bivvy quick enough coz of a dead arm and it manages to take line off a very tight clutch and makes the trees resulting in a cut off - absolutely gutted tbh, should have been up sat by the rod as I knew 7am was bite time! Oh well next time I guess.

I use the ESP bait screw and haven't noticed damage, but that makes good sense, will keep an eye on that. Also got the Korda ones which are plastic screws moulded onto a metal swivel - these are buoyant so no affect on the po-up itself 👍

Thanks , Nick

I almost always do this nowadays, albeit with a micro ring swivel. Even for chods. Dead easy.