Ant Baits, Match Pop Ups & Boilies

Hi Folks,

Sorry its been so long in reposting my field testing session, I'm half way through moving home so its sort of on the back burner. I did how ever manage a nice little 6 hour session at Wetlands and i thought it went very well.

First of all here a little bit about the bait i will be using, as above. Its from the firm 'Ant Bait' i my self coming from a specimen back ground have used this brand before and had mixed results, however i have only ever used the tiny 4mm boilie's. My first thoughts as i opened the batch at home were pretty good. Its a well made pop up with hard skin, which has good ingredients and it is very much focused towards the fish digestion system thus as i have previously done, if you put enough of it in over time, fish will actively seek out food and nutrients which are good for them.

So the day on the Bank...

I chose wetlands (Back Lake) for the session, mainly because i wanted to target the bigger carp 10lb - 20lb and i am very much used to this venue. Its a classic large sized carp lake - Shallow, maybe 60 islands? and the fish follow the wind. My first thoughts as i seen the lake was very grim....

As you can see it is very low. There must of only been 2-3ft of water in the deepest parts. I reckon the water level was a good 13ft from the peg. So a platform was important for this session. I opted for a peg that had this....

I have had very good results in the past just by casting in between the islands so i didn't think i should change my tactics for today, obviously just drop back a little.

My First trial was the pop ups...

For those of you who have venues which Boilies are banned. Its possible to avoid bans by using these 'Ball Pellets' A very good tactic but i would suggest asking the bailiff prior to fishing and/or showing him the tub labels. I fished with my Old method rod from years ago (Old Fox 1.5lb TC thing!) and just waiting for the tip to swing round. Brutal yes but very much needed.

I opted for a through feeder set up (One of my own adaptions, which i will show you at some point) which is basically an inline Drennan ground bait feeder (NOT A METHOD) tied to 10lb Maxima and 8lb Reflo Power Line. You really do need to gear up on this venue! For my hook i used a size 8 ESP Raptor hair rigged to a pop up with a D ring type set up just with enough counter balance of some rig putty to keep the pop up around 1 inch off of the deck, if you fish this with a 1.5inch hook link you bait will JUST appear above your G/bait. After around 10 mins i had carp going over my feed and after 15 mins i was into my first. Took me around 15 mins to get in but it was a nice 16lb Common! They really go in the shallow water. After 3 hours i had banked 8 carp to plus 100lb with the bonus Zander. I decided now was the time to try my second bait....

Hook Pellets. As soon as i seen this product i though it looked very good. I tried it on the exact same method but didn't have the same results. I had a fair amount of fish, but nothing of any size, i even had roach on these. I had 5 Bream and 1 Tench and a good few nice roach. Obviously no complaints, but as a match bait i am not really sure if its for me. Obviously it'll take more than one day to assess all these baits fully, so keep posted and i'll keep you informed. I will  be trying a couple of these baits @ Hallcroft Croft pool tomorrow, so i will let you know how they go on commies.

Evaluation Bait 1

Fish4Thought Rating - ****

Over all the bait is very good, it comes in a wide range of flavour's and sizes but i do feel the name will put a lot of people off. If you try it, You will do well. As i said above i am not to sure about the smaller carp. But certainly the bigger ones love it, i can see me having some good success in the winter league on a Single bomb and bait tactic for a fish at a time. It has 4 stars for me, the only thing i dont like about them and the only reason it doesnt have 5 is they do take a fair bit of weight to pin down, but nothing a size 6 shot and abit of putty wouldnt solve.

Evaluation Bait 2

Fish4Thought Rating - **

Over all the bait its self is very good, its well made and the flavours that run off it once in the water are very good. For wetlands however and other similar venues i feel a simple pellet approach could match or better its performance. The evidence above will suggest that the large boilie shapes bait exceeded this, but as i also say above. Its only one venue. All in all its well made and very good value for money.

Nathan
@ Fish4Thought