Catch Reports
Croptail Linear falls for Finan!
Posted in Catch Reports on 13th October 2010Consistent catcher of big carp and Essential Bait consultant Martin Finan has been targeting a group of big fish this season and recently managed to bank one of the known ‘A-team’ in the shape of this stunning 37lb 8oz linear known as ‘Croptail’.
Martin has been making the long journey back and forth to the pressured venue on very limited time availability but is still managing to get amongst the fish and you can be sure that his main target fish of ‘upper-forty’ proportions is only a matter of time away. Once again, Martin’s ever faithful Shellfish B5 frozen ready mades are doing the bizz as usual. Martin will be providing a few ‘angling blogs’ on his consultancy page as soon as our new website goes live in November – watch this space.
Hard Hook Baits (Mike's view)
There are often times throughout the season when I find myself having to use hard hook baits. There’s nothing worse than reeling in after you’ve seen a frenzied amount of fishing activity over your baited area, only to find that your hook baits have been nibbled away by nuisance fish! Some venues are obviously more prone to nuisance fish activity than others, but it’s not just nuisance fish that can be a problem. Diving birds or even pick ups from swans will often result in ‘missing hook baits’!
Hard hook baits will alleviate this problem, in fact, I actually think it’s advantageous when a diving bird picks up my hard hook bait. It gives me confidence that my presentation is good, and as the bird drops the rig, I actually believe it straightens everything out and gives me a better presentation that I can achieve via casting. I can remember fishing at Frampton some years ago, when the only time I could seemingly get a bite, was after a coot had picked up and dropped my hard hook bait!
Top Tip
After you’ve made a batch of hard hookers, leave them out on a towel to air dry for at least ten days, preferably in a warm dry place. Once they have sufficiently dried out, put them in a polythene bag and add a small amount of ‘Boilie Glug’ or ‘Liquid Food’ and shake well. For extra convenience transfer them to an empty pop-up jar or similar before placing them in the fridge or the freezer until needed. If keeping in the fridge, make sure you give them a good shake every few days and top up the liquid if and as required.
