Piecing it all together - Part one - Essential Baits
Piecing it all together - Part one - Essential Baits
Piecing it all together - Part one - Essential Baits
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PART<br />
ONE<br />
PIECING<br />
IT<br />
ALL<br />
WORDS: MIKE WILLMOTT<br />
[ ]<br />
TOGETHER<br />
PHOTOGRAPHY: Mike Willmott and friends<br />
He wrote the best seller Carp Life.<br />
He then took a back seat from the<br />
media. But then CARPology<br />
managed to convince him to<br />
start tapping the<br />
keyboard again. Welcome<br />
back, Mike Willmott<br />
Lee Willmott ‘playing out’ a<br />
big fish in a rich weedy water.<br />
042 OCTOBER 2008
I’ve always looked at my carp<br />
fishing as <strong>one</strong> great big jigsaw<br />
puzzle, and the more pieces I can put<br />
<strong>together</strong>, the clearer the over<strong>all</strong> picture<br />
becomes. Every single piece of that<br />
puzzle provides a v<strong>it</strong>al piece of<br />
information, but in short, the harder you<br />
study and the more time you spend<br />
looking at the pieces, the quicker <strong>it</strong> <strong>all</strong><br />
f<strong>all</strong>s into place. Carp fishing is very much<br />
like that, only not qu<strong>it</strong>e as simple! We <strong>all</strong><br />
know the basic picture we are trying to<br />
create and where most of the pieces f<strong>it</strong> in,<br />
but finding those last few pieces to<br />
complete the puzzle can often be a<br />
frustrating experience.<br />
That said, there is no greater feeling of<br />
satisfaction than when you’ve fin<strong>all</strong>y<br />
achieved what you’ve set out to do, but<br />
unlike a jigsaw puzzle, the picture is<br />
always changing. There is no final piece<br />
to the puzzle, only the feel good factor of<br />
achieving your goal before muddling up<br />
<strong>all</strong> the pieces and starting <strong>all</strong> over again!<br />
For example, I was recently speaking<br />
to an angler on the bank who’d been<br />
fishing the venue on a consistent basis<br />
since the spring. He explained that<br />
although he struggled at first, eventu<strong>all</strong>y,<br />
after a fair amount of hard work and<br />
endeavour, he slowly started to get<br />
amongst the fish. He thought he had <strong>it</strong> <strong>all</strong><br />
sussed, but then, for no apparent reason<br />
at <strong>all</strong>, the action just dried up! The fish<br />
were still there, still showing over his<br />
ba<strong>it</strong>ed spots, still active in their<br />
behaviour, but he was now pulling his<br />
hair out because he couldn’t buy a b<strong>it</strong>e!<br />
He was a re<strong>all</strong>y nice bloke as <strong>it</strong><br />
happens and as we sat there chatting a<br />
drinking tea we tried to solve the dilemma<br />
and piece <strong>it</strong> <strong>all</strong> <strong>together</strong>. After asking him<br />
a few further questions <strong>it</strong> soon became<br />
clear that a defin<strong>it</strong>e pattern had emerged.<br />
During the times he was catching the<br />
Martin Finan w<strong>it</strong>h<br />
<strong>one</strong> of his many big carp.<br />
All the successful anglers I<br />
know have <strong>one</strong> thing in common:<br />
the abil<strong>it</strong>y to find carp on<br />
a regular basis.<br />
Another piece of<br />
the jigsaw f<strong>all</strong>s<br />
firmly into place!<br />
fish, <strong>it</strong> appeared that most other anglers<br />
on the lake were also receiving a fair<br />
amount of action, yet only a couple of<br />
anglers were now catching w<strong>it</strong>h any<br />
degree of consistency, this desp<strong>it</strong>e the<br />
active nature of the fish as they bubbled<br />
and leaped on a regular basis. He had<br />
swapped and changed rigs w<strong>it</strong>h the usual<br />
modifications of shortening and<br />
lengthening hooklinks through to bottom<br />
ba<strong>it</strong> presentations, balanced ba<strong>it</strong>s and<br />
eventu<strong>all</strong>y pop-ups, but <strong>all</strong> to no avail.<br />
It appeared to me that the fish were<br />
heavily pre-occupied on naturals and<br />
were now ignoring his ba<strong>it</strong>s. This made<br />
even more sense when he explained that<br />
the ba<strong>it</strong> he was using was not of a<br />
particularly high qual<strong>it</strong>y food source, but<br />
nevertheless <strong>it</strong> su<strong>it</strong>ed his needs because<br />
he was only paying a fiver a kilo for <strong>it</strong>!<br />
Sure, <strong>it</strong> was working well enough in<strong>it</strong>i<strong>all</strong>y<br />
when the carp seemed to be<br />
eating most ba<strong>it</strong>s put in<br />
front of them, but as soon<br />
as their natural food<br />
larder began to<br />
develop during the<br />
late spring/early summer<br />
months, <strong>it</strong> was blatantly<br />
clear to me that<br />
his chosen<br />
ba<strong>it</strong> just<br />
wasn’t a good<br />
enough food<br />
source to compete<br />
SEASONED CARPER<br />
Rods at the ready,<br />
but is your ba<strong>it</strong><br />
good enough to<br />
compete w<strong>it</strong>h their<br />
natural food<br />
alongside their natural food and the<br />
action slowly dried up.<br />
The final piece of the jigsaw puzzle<br />
suddenly <strong>all</strong> fell into place as soon as he<br />
told me the names of the two lads who<br />
were still catching fish on a consistent<br />
basis. I knew for a fact that they were on<br />
an extremely high qual<strong>it</strong>y fishmeal ba<strong>it</strong>,<br />
and the reason I knew was because <strong>it</strong> was<br />
me who supplied <strong>it</strong> to them! I was aware<br />
that the lads in question were reaping the<br />
rewards of a successful ba<strong>it</strong>ing campaign<br />
but when sending me the pictures they<br />
somehow conveniently forgot to tell me<br />
where they were fishing! Oh how I laughed<br />
when they next ph<strong>one</strong>d!<br />
The moral of the above story however,<br />
is more based on the fact that most ba<strong>it</strong>s<br />
will catch some of the fish some of the<br />
time, but catching fish consistently<br />
throughout the course of the year is often<br />
a far more difficult prospect. In my<br />
experience correct ba<strong>it</strong> choice is the key<br />
and you need to give them a food source<br />
that they will continue to eat, perhaps not<br />
in preference to their natural food<br />
because we can’t compete w<strong>it</strong>h that, but<br />
certainly alongside <strong>it</strong>. I have got<br />
absolutely 110% confidence that the ba<strong>it</strong><br />
I use will continue to catch fish on a<br />
regular basis throughout the year,<br />
MIKE WILLMOTT<br />
OCTOBER 2008<br />
043
Willmott’s<br />
Finest Ba<strong>it</strong> Edges<br />
Five indispensable ways to<br />
catch more fish<br />
1 Keep ‘em fresh<br />
If you require your frozen boilies to last for 48hrs or<br />
more, make sure you remove them from the<br />
polythene bags once thawed and place them<br />
where air can circulate. Alternatively, place them in<br />
a bucket and mix in some pellets. Keep away from<br />
direct sunlight and as cool as possible.<br />
2 Cost saving<br />
Consider making your own boilies if you want to<br />
save m<strong>one</strong>y. By purchasing <strong>one</strong> of the many<br />
proprietary brands and rolling them yourself you<br />
will avoid paying for a labour intensive ba<strong>it</strong> rolling<br />
charge and should make a saving of at least 30%.<br />
You can also make your own shapes, sizes and<br />
exclusive attractor package!<br />
3 Mix and Match<br />
To increase attraction and pull more fish into the<br />
area use pellets in conjunction w<strong>it</strong>h boilies but<br />
better still, make sure you match them up because<br />
as the pellets breakdown they will send out exactly<br />
the same food signals as the boilies. Most anglers<br />
will be surprised at how many more b<strong>it</strong>es you get<br />
by doing this!<br />
4 Vary your application<br />
When introducing ba<strong>it</strong> consider weather cond<strong>it</strong>ions<br />
and angling pressure. High pressure and lots of<br />
anglers probably means the fish won’t be<br />
consuming large amounts of food whereas low<br />
pressure systems and quieter banks will see them<br />
feeding more. Vary your ba<strong>it</strong> application<br />
accordingly.<br />
5 Keep ‘em glugged<br />
Always keep a batch of hookba<strong>it</strong>s at close hand<br />
that have been permanently soaked in an attractive<br />
liquid food or ba<strong>it</strong> soak. This will significantly<br />
increase attraction ‘leak-off’ and is ideal for the<br />
single hookba<strong>it</strong> approach to showing fish or in the<br />
winter when you are looking to increase ‘pulling<br />
power’ to your ba<strong>it</strong>ed rig.<br />
providing I put <strong>it</strong> in the right place of course!<br />
Now let’s not get this out of perspective, I<br />
know location is v<strong>it</strong><strong>all</strong>y important and <strong>all</strong> the<br />
most successful anglers I know have<br />
perfected the art of finding the fish, but if<br />
you couple this w<strong>it</strong>h giving them a ba<strong>it</strong> that<br />
they will continue to eat time and time again,<br />
you will reap the rewards of catching fish on<br />
a very regular basis.<br />
Caution to the wind<br />
I’ve heard references that the fish will eat<br />
anything once you put <strong>it</strong> in front of them, you<br />
just have to find them. I’m sorry but that’s<br />
total rubbish! Yes, there are times when they<br />
throw complete caution to the wind and<br />
seem very gullible. It could be a combination<br />
of f<strong>all</strong>ing air pressure coupled w<strong>it</strong>h a re<strong>all</strong>y<br />
good moon phase and a lack of angling<br />
pressure. I’m sure most of us have fished<br />
lakes when no matter what method or ba<strong>it</strong><br />
you choose <strong>it</strong> seems to produce fish. You<br />
look around you and anglers are fishing ultra<br />
tight lines cutting through the water like<br />
cheese wire, they’re bombarding the lake<br />
w<strong>it</strong>h ba<strong>it</strong> and making loads of noise in the<br />
process, yet for some strange reason, they<br />
still continue to catch fish.<br />
During these ‘active periods’ I’m sure<br />
any<strong>one</strong> who has half a clue could catch a<br />
fish, but lets be h<strong>one</strong>st, these s<strong>it</strong>uations are<br />
“A VERY GOOD QUALITY<br />
FISHMEAL-BASED BOILIE<br />
CONTAINING OPTIMUM<br />
LEVELS OF FISHMEALS<br />
AND PRE-DIGESTED FISH<br />
PROTEINS WILL CATCH<br />
VIRTUALLY EVERYWHERE<br />
AND GIVE YOU A VERY BIG<br />
EDGE IF THE FISH ARE<br />
SELECTIVELY FEEDING.”<br />
very rare. In fact, I wouldn’t mind betting that<br />
<strong>it</strong>’s much less than 5% of the year on most<br />
venues and if you base your approach to<br />
fishing and choice of ba<strong>it</strong> on this theory you<br />
will undoubtedly experience some very long<br />
periods of inactiv<strong>it</strong>y during your campaign.<br />
So let’s break these statistics down and<br />
just say that for 5% of the year they are<br />
feeding w<strong>it</strong>h complete caution to the wind<br />
and will happily pick up most food <strong>it</strong>ems in<br />
front of them. Get your location right and<br />
you are likely to catch, easy fishing if you<br />
like. Okay, so that leaves us w<strong>it</strong>h a very<br />
large percentage of time when they will be<br />
feeding w<strong>it</strong>h more caution, I c<strong>all</strong> this<br />
‘selective feeding’.<br />
Now this selective feeding will vary in <strong>it</strong>s<br />
intens<strong>it</strong>y. Qu<strong>it</strong>e often they will still accept<br />
and consume a wide variety of food <strong>it</strong>ems,<br />
however, there are periods of time when the<br />
going gets re<strong>all</strong>y tough and <strong>it</strong>s during these<br />
times that some anglers will reap the<br />
rewards of using a good qual<strong>it</strong>y ba<strong>it</strong>, whilst<br />
others will s<strong>it</strong> there scratching their heads!<br />
Qual<strong>it</strong>y ba<strong>it</strong> and<br />
good application<br />
can equal some<br />
outstanding results!<br />
Shellfish B5:<br />
probably the<br />
ultimate food<br />
source in<br />
terms of boilie<br />
production.<br />
044 OCTOBER 2008
My long standing friend, Jon<br />
Mac, w<strong>it</strong>h <strong>one</strong> of his many<br />
big fish from his remarkable<br />
2007 campaign. Jon used the<br />
Shellfish B5 throughout the<br />
year and caught consistently<br />
wherever he went to<br />
deservedly land the Carp<br />
Angler Of The Year award.<br />
Jason Woods nailed the famous<br />
Big Dink from CEMEX’s The<br />
Road Lake when the carp were<br />
undoubtedly going through a<br />
selective feeding routine. The<br />
better ba<strong>it</strong>s will always come to<br />
the fore during such spells.<br />
Dave Moore was<br />
instrumental in the<br />
development of<br />
Nutraba<strong>it</strong>s Big Fish<br />
Mix. Another high<br />
qual<strong>it</strong>y fishmeal<br />
that has stood the<br />
test of time.<br />
Rick Golder prepares for another<br />
ba<strong>it</strong>ing campaign. He realises the<br />
importance of using a good food<br />
source and will increase or decrease<br />
amounts of ba<strong>it</strong> based on weather<br />
cond<strong>it</strong>ions and angling pressure.<br />
SEASONED CARPER<br />
Good ba<strong>it</strong>s<br />
But what is a good ba<strong>it</strong> and what makes<br />
certain ba<strong>it</strong>s seem to catch more than<br />
others Well, first of <strong>all</strong> let’s make <strong>it</strong> clear<br />
that there are so many different ba<strong>it</strong>s<br />
available to the carp angler <strong>it</strong> would be<br />
difficult to define just <strong>one</strong>, especi<strong>all</strong>y if<br />
you start to bring in the vast amount of<br />
naturals and particle ba<strong>it</strong>s that are readily<br />
available. Hemp, corn, tigers and<br />
maggots are <strong>all</strong> proven fish catchers and<br />
I’ve lost count of the number of carp I’ve<br />
caught on these ba<strong>it</strong>s over the years, but<br />
even these can be improved if you start<br />
thinking outside of the box. For example,<br />
chopping up the tigers and adding a<br />
Thaumatin-based Liquid Attractor, or<br />
subst<strong>it</strong>uting them for hazelnuts or<br />
chopped brazils. Mixing dried groats in<br />
w<strong>it</strong>h the hemp to suck up the juice and<br />
<strong>all</strong>ow a slower diffusion of attraction over<br />
a longer period of time. Combining red<br />
maggots w<strong>it</strong>h casters will often prove<br />
more appealing to selective feeding carp<br />
and so on.<br />
So as you can see from the above,<br />
there are so many variables, but I think<br />
the question on most anglers’ lips would<br />
be what boilies seem to be better than<br />
others. Boilies are undoubtedly a very<br />
good ‘convenient ba<strong>it</strong>’. They are easy to<br />
use, nuisance fish proof in the main and<br />
can be presented at great distances if the<br />
need occurs. They have proved incredibly<br />
successful for well over three decades<br />
and will continue to catch the vast<br />
major<strong>it</strong>y of carp on virtu<strong>all</strong>y every venue.<br />
Top boilies<br />
Fishmeal-based boilies are undoubtedly<br />
my number <strong>one</strong> choice throughout the<br />
year. Other ba<strong>it</strong>s will catch of course, but<br />
in my opinion, when <strong>it</strong> comes to <strong>all</strong> year<br />
round consistency, fishmeal-based ba<strong>it</strong>s<br />
still rule the roost by a considerable<br />
margin and I can’t see this changing in<br />
the foreseeable future. A very good<br />
qual<strong>it</strong>y fishmeal-based boilie containing<br />
optimum levels of fishmeals and predigested<br />
fish proteins will catch virtu<strong>all</strong>y<br />
everywhere and give you a very big edge<br />
if the fish are selectively feeding. One of<br />
the big problems we face in the future<br />
however, is the fact that global supplies<br />
of fishmeal are now running out and the<br />
aquaculture industry are desperately<br />
searching for a viable alternative, so far to<br />
no avail, but that’s another topic for<br />
another time.<br />
It is of course no secret that the best<br />
ba<strong>it</strong> I have ever used is <strong>Essential</strong>s<br />
Shellfish B5. I suppose many would say I<br />
have to say that but that’s certainly not<br />
the case. As biased as <strong>it</strong> might sound, the<br />
whole reason why I developed <strong>it</strong> was to<br />
give me a big edge over other ba<strong>it</strong>s being<br />
MIKE WILLMOTT<br />
OCTOBER 2008<br />
045
Confidence in your ba<strong>it</strong><br />
can only be built up by<br />
catching fish consistently.<br />
Rollin Ba<strong>it</strong>s hard at work. I’m very<br />
meticulous about who rolls my<br />
ba<strong>it</strong> and trust me, I wouldn’t let<br />
any<strong>one</strong> near <strong>it</strong> who I don’t trust!<br />
used and I’m still very confident that there<br />
isn’t another ba<strong>it</strong> out there that comes even<br />
close to matching up w<strong>it</strong>h the B5, especi<strong>all</strong>y<br />
when <strong>it</strong> comes to nailing the big ’uns. Take<br />
Jon McAllister for example, now I know Jon<br />
has taken another direction w<strong>it</strong>hin the<br />
industry and we wish him every success, but<br />
during 2007 he couldn’t put a foot wrong<br />
wherever he went using the B5 and<br />
deservedly went on to claim the Carp Angler<br />
Of The Year award. He used to c<strong>all</strong> me up at<br />
silly o’clock times during the early hours<br />
exc<strong>it</strong>edly telling me about his latest ‘B5<br />
victim’! In fact, come to think about <strong>it</strong>, I’m<br />
actu<strong>all</strong>y looking forward to getting a b<strong>it</strong> more<br />
sleep over the next few years!<br />
In terms of the tools (ingredients) we have<br />
available to create ‘the perfect boilie’, the<br />
B5 is the ultimate food source when <strong>it</strong><br />
comes to meeting the carp’s dietary<br />
requirements and has an extremely effective<br />
attractor profile which not only makes <strong>it</strong><br />
very instant, but also a very effective longterm<br />
food package as well.<br />
I’ve spent ten years trying to put <strong>together</strong> a<br />
ba<strong>it</strong> that compares favourably to the B5 and<br />
<strong>it</strong> has been very difficult because <strong>it</strong> just<br />
seems to out catch everything else and still<br />
rules the roost on so many venues. That said,<br />
we have recently been putting some very<br />
interesting variations through their paces and<br />
are looking for another blockbuster release<br />
over the next year or two.<br />
The re<strong>all</strong>y good ba<strong>it</strong>s will always stand the<br />
test of time, look at Nutraba<strong>it</strong>s Big Fish Mix<br />
as another example, I doubt there are many<br />
of the modern-day ba<strong>it</strong>s out there that are<br />
anywhere near as good as that <strong>one</strong>. Carp<br />
don’t suddenly change their food<br />
preferences overnight. Once a good food<br />
source always a good food source and <strong>it</strong>’s<br />
often a big mistake to get sucked in to<br />
believing the latest ‘wonder ba<strong>it</strong>’ is the way<br />
forward, when in truth <strong>it</strong>’s just the latest<br />
marketing ploy. After <strong>all</strong>, you can’t keep reinventing<br />
the wheel year after year!<br />
Alternative proteins to that of fishmealconstructed<br />
ba<strong>it</strong>s will undoubtedly catch<br />
fish, but will they catch fish consistently<br />
throughout the year at times when the going<br />
gets tough Not in my experience.<br />
Birdfoods, nut mixes and milk proteins are<br />
good examples. A good alternative from time<br />
to time, but they don’t offer the same <strong>all</strong>year-round<br />
consistency as fishmeals (yes,<br />
even during the colder months). The industry<br />
is looking at potato, rice and maize proteins<br />
as viable alternatives and I believe some of<br />
the so c<strong>all</strong>ed ‘modern-day ba<strong>it</strong>s’ are based<br />
on these ingredients. They are cheaper and<br />
share some similar values but are they as<br />
effective You can bet your life they’re not,<br />
ask the earlier menti<strong>one</strong>d angler!<br />
Talking to thousands of carpers each year,<br />
the <strong>one</strong> common denominator I’ve found is<br />
that most are always looking for something<br />
different or something new. Perhaps <strong>it</strong>’s just<br />
our inquis<strong>it</strong>ive nature as human beings, but<br />
most of the time what we are looking for is<br />
staring us straight in the face. One of the<br />
most common c<strong>all</strong>s I receive goes<br />
something along the lines of: “I’ve been<br />
using the B5 for the past two years, during<br />
which time I’ve broken my personal best four<br />
times, including the lake record twice and<br />
have been top rod two years running, but I’m<br />
just looking for something a l<strong>it</strong>tle different<br />
this year.” I kid you not!<br />
There is undoubtedly a great deal of<br />
advertising hype surrounding the ba<strong>it</strong> industry<br />
and w<strong>it</strong>h so many ba<strong>it</strong> companies around, <strong>it</strong><br />
must be a very difficult choice for most<br />
anglers. If you can sort out the wheat from<br />
the chaff there are a few very good ba<strong>it</strong>s out<br />
there, unfortunately however, there are plenty<br />
of poor <strong>one</strong>s as well! My advice would be to<br />
stick w<strong>it</strong>h a company that has a renowned<br />
experience and knowledge of producing ba<strong>it</strong>.<br />
It’s easy enough to produce a ba<strong>it</strong> that rolls<br />
well and looks good, but believe me, the ba<strong>it</strong>s<br />
that will give you an edge are the <strong>one</strong>s that<br />
have had a lot of thought g<strong>one</strong> into them,<br />
both from a nutr<strong>it</strong>ional angle and from an<br />
attractor profile viewpoint.<br />
Ba<strong>it</strong> confidence<br />
Stick to what you are confident using but<br />
don’t forget, confidence can only be built<br />
up by catching fish consistently. Like I said<br />
earlier, you need to be confident that the<br />
ba<strong>it</strong> you choose will catch carp<br />
consistently, even when the fish are in a<br />
“THE REALLY GOOD BAITS WILL ALWAYS STAND<br />
THE TEST OF TIME, LOOK AT NUTRABAITS BIG FISH<br />
MIX AS ANOTHER EXAMPLE, I DOUBT THERE ARE<br />
MANY OF THE MODERN-DAY BAITS OUT THERE THAT<br />
ARE ANYWHERE NEAR AS GOOD AS THAT ONE.”<br />
selective feeding mode. When <strong>all</strong> around<br />
you are catching <strong>it</strong> doesn’t tell you much<br />
other than the fact that will eat your ba<strong>it</strong> as<br />
well as others, but when <strong>all</strong> around you are<br />
struggling and you are catching fish on a<br />
regular basis, <strong>it</strong> tells you that the fish have<br />
accepted your ba<strong>it</strong> and if your location is<br />
good and your rigs are effective, you will<br />
continue to catch fish on a very regular<br />
basis. It’s a lovely feeling I can tell you, but<br />
there are very few ba<strong>it</strong>s that can do this<br />
year after year.<br />
Whilst on the subject of ba<strong>it</strong> confidence,<br />
although there are a number of anglers that<br />
prefer to make their own ba<strong>it</strong>, I think <strong>it</strong>’s fair<br />
to say that the major<strong>it</strong>y of anglers these<br />
days purchase their ba<strong>it</strong>s ‘ready rolled’ for<br />
convenience. Some from shops, others<br />
from ba<strong>it</strong> rolling companies and others<br />
direct from the ba<strong>it</strong> manufacturers. My<br />
advice is to make sure you are 100%<br />
confident that whoever makes your ba<strong>it</strong><br />
does so w<strong>it</strong>h the consistency you are happy<br />
w<strong>it</strong>h and can rely on, otherwise a very good<br />
ba<strong>it</strong> could be ruined! I’m extremely<br />
meticulous about who rolls my ba<strong>it</strong> and as<br />
a point of interest everything we roll here at<br />
<strong>Essential</strong> Ba<strong>it</strong>s goes out fresh to our shops<br />
046 OCTOBER 2008
and mail order customers.<br />
Over the years I’ve had a fair b<strong>it</strong> of<br />
ba<strong>it</strong> sent back to me from anglers that<br />
have had our ba<strong>it</strong> rolled by so c<strong>all</strong>ed<br />
‘reputable’ ba<strong>it</strong> rolling companies, only<br />
to find out that the ba<strong>it</strong> is tot<strong>all</strong>y different<br />
to what <strong>it</strong> should be! In an attempt to<br />
eradicate this problem, I’m pleased to<br />
say that <strong>Essential</strong> Ba<strong>it</strong>s are the first ba<strong>it</strong><br />
company to make a stand on this issue<br />
and now offer a free service whereby<br />
customers can send a sm<strong>all</strong> sample of<br />
their ba<strong>it</strong>s back to <strong>Essential</strong> HQ for us to<br />
analyse. This latest move has been<br />
applauded by our list of approved rollers<br />
and customers alike. Incident<strong>all</strong>y, just for<br />
the record, our list of approved ba<strong>it</strong><br />
rolling companies are Kent <strong>Part</strong>icles,<br />
Rollin Ba<strong>it</strong>s and Three Counties Ba<strong>it</strong>s.<br />
The above listed ba<strong>it</strong> rolling<br />
companies go through tons of our ba<strong>it</strong><br />
each year and I’m very confident that<br />
the ba<strong>it</strong> is always spot on. Further to<br />
this, they have each agreed to the new<br />
ba<strong>it</strong> testing service outlined above,<br />
which gives us and our customers total<br />
reassurance and peace of mind. At the<br />
end of the day there’s nothing worse<br />
than s<strong>it</strong>ting behind the rods w<strong>it</strong>h any<br />
doubts in your mind, considering the<br />
amount of time and effort we <strong>all</strong> put in, I<br />
just don’t think <strong>it</strong>’s worth the risk.<br />
Prior<strong>it</strong>ies<br />
Having sorted out your ba<strong>it</strong> you now need<br />
to consider a number of other aspects<br />
that will help you put more fish on the<br />
bank. There’s no doubt that ba<strong>it</strong> choice is<br />
v<strong>it</strong><strong>all</strong>y important, but ask yourself this<br />
question, would you put <strong>it</strong> at the top of<br />
your list of prior<strong>it</strong>ies This is a question<br />
that I’m often asked but person<strong>all</strong>y<br />
speaking, I would have to put the subject<br />
of location at the top of the pile. I’ve<br />
stressed how v<strong>it</strong><strong>all</strong>y important <strong>it</strong> is to use<br />
a good ba<strong>it</strong>, but no matter how good your<br />
ba<strong>it</strong> is, you’re not going to catch much if<br />
the fish don’t see <strong>it</strong>! A good ba<strong>it</strong> will<br />
increase your catch rate no end, but only<br />
if you put <strong>it</strong> in the right place!<br />
This can be easy on some waters but<br />
more difficult on others, depending on<br />
stock levels and angling pressure. Each<br />
water will be different and in next<br />
month’s issue we will try to f<strong>it</strong> a few<br />
more pieces of the jigsaw puzzle<br />
<strong>together</strong> by taking a closer look at the<br />
subject of location including the effects<br />
of the wind and other influential factors.<br />
We’re also fast approaching that magical<br />
time of the year when the carp natural<br />
food larder begins to diminish as those<br />
autumnal low pressures ‘kick-in’. What<br />
better time to talk about ba<strong>it</strong> introduction<br />
and application.<br />
Mike Willmott<br />
SEASONED CARPER<br />
The autumnal low pressures will<br />
soon be kicking in and the carp’s<br />
natural food larder will be<br />
diminishing w<strong>it</strong>h each passing week.<br />
Tune in next month to find out more<br />
about location and ba<strong>it</strong> application<br />
during these v<strong>it</strong>al months ahead.<br />
MIKE WILLMOTT<br />
OCTOBER 2008 047