Choosing a Winter Bait - Quest Baits

I|II|IIII|IIIMAXBait Quest Shaun Harrison0gms20S H A U N H A R R I S O NBAIT QUESTCheck out the snaggy areas inthe winter, I bet there are oneor two carp holed up in here.I know full well there will be at leastanother five fish huddled together aroundit, seemingly taking comfort from the closepresence of the others. Conditions arequite mild at the moment and the fish arerelatively active, as the water is a dirty teacolour. If we have a proper cold snap thewater clarity will return as the fish stopdigging away and disturbing the silt. This iswhen I can finally observe the fish in theirproper winter ways, and every time they arehuddled in a tight bunch. It would appear Ihave three main shoals and each have theirown favourite lying-up areas.My carp love boilies and this is their stapleadded diet – this gives them an alternativechoice from the abundance of natural foodpresent. I take pride in the fact that in thelast seven years (since I first stocked my carp)I have not suffered a single fatality. I guess I70gmshave their food requirements sorted. As is thecase in most gardens, I have more fish thanI really should, so I do need to supplementtheir natural diet. The problem is, theyspawn each year and I just cannot bringmyself to part with some of the fish – theyare gorgeous-looking fully-scaled mirrors andlinears. Not only that, but it is a brave manthese days who lets them out in an establishedlake, for fear of disease. If my fish arecarrying anything I could never forgivemyself for passing it on to wild fish. It isso frustrating. I rent my own lake, whichis full of old warriors all around my age.I would love to see some of my homestock grow on – but I daren’t do it. Thoseold carp deserve to live their lives to the fullwithout risk of disease. My fish are probablyokay – but who can be sure?“Sometimes the bait will”|IIII|IIbe there for two days,just inches away fromtheir mouths, but theyare happy for the baitsto remain there untilthey need to feedI’m digressing a little here. What I wasleading on to say (after pointing out that mycarp eat as many boilies as any other naturalwater carp) is that if I put a few subtleflavoured boilies close to them during thenon-active, non-feeding periods, they simplyignore them until the time comes when theywant/need to feed. Sometimes the bait willbe there for two days, just inches away fromtheir mouths, but they are happy for thebaits to remain there until they need to feed.If, however, I put even a single, dosed-upbait amongst the carp, they come aroundfrom their semi-torpid state and move awayfrom the bait; they get agitated and simplymove away. Certainly I have never seen aIt’s November 1984, andwhat a super winter mid-20.fish from any of the other shoals becomeattracted and drift over to the bait. This, Ipresume, is what anglers are hoping for whenthey add extra flavours and glugs to theirbaits. Certainly I see the reverse happening,a distinctly uncomfortable feeling onceheavily-flavoured bait is introduced, andyou must bear in mind that my garden fishhave never been fished for, so they haveno fear of bright baits or dark baits, or anyparticular sort of flavour. The fact that thepool is quite large and has all the naturalfood present that I find in the lakes I fish(so the carp always have a choice), shows methat these fish are a fair indication of whathappens in the murky depths where we can’tquite see what is going on.During the cold winter months, thefamiliar twitches and plucks of the linereceived shortly after casting is just as likelyto be fish catching the line by moving out ofthe way as it is to be fish quickly investigatingthe bait. So, for me at least, heavily-flavouredwinter baits are something I no longer useand I can certainly hold my head high and sayI do catch quite a lot of proper winter carp– not carp still behaving in their summer/autumn ways, but carp in January andFebruary after they have been subjected tolots of frosts and possible ice-overs.Let’s now get down to the nitty-gritty ofwhat I use and what I avoid when makingmy winter bases. I still keep a little milkprotein content, which hasn’t venturedfar from my earliest experiments of onethirdprotein to two-thirds bulk. Some ofthe breakfast cereals can be brilliant bulkingredients, as can many of the commonlyknown mixed birdfood ingredients. I likethe coarse-textured ones, such as Ce Deand Nectarblend from Haith’s. There aremany other similar alternatives from othersuppliers but here I have mentioned two ofthe most commonly used ones.A visit to your local pet store to huntout some of the other alternatives couldbe well worth your while. This type ofmix, being quite loose-textured, helpsthe attractors to escape without the needto pile a lot of flavour in the bait in thefirst place. Wheatgerm, oatmeal, crushedbiscuits, micronised cereals, bran, the listgoes on as far as you want it to go. Thesefew items should give you an idea as to thetype of ingredients I use, and mix, as bulkingredients.msI|III1016_Bait_Quest.indd 6 16/1/07 18:32:08