Catch Reports

Mahooooosive Mirror!!

Posted in Catch Reports on 13th October 2010

We recently had a call from Tim Smith saying he was going to Luke Moffatt’s lake ‘Graviers’ in France and wanted to take a bait that stood him a good chance of catching a big fish or two! For obvious reasons we recommended the B5 and delivered a batch of ESL (extended Shelf life) B5 boilies to him just days before his trip.

The next thing we know, the following week he’s on the phone (whilst still on the bank at Luke’s lake) enquiring what is the biggest carp ever caught on the B5!! It was obvious he’d banked something very special. Indeed he had, it was the ‘Brown Fish’ at a massive 82lbs! And if that wasn’t enough, he’d backed it up with fish of 48lb, 49lb and 52lb! That’s four carp for a total of 231lb – amazing stuff and top B5 bombing Tim. Congratulations from all at Team Essential HQ.


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.