Catch Reports
Birthday success in Belgium!
Posted in Catch Reports on 19th July 2008Essential bait boss Mike Willmott decided to spend his 47th birthday on his favourite stretch of river in Belgium with son Lee and partner Rosie together with daughter Kelly and partner Dean. During the 7-night stay the team managed to bank a total of 43 carp totalling an incredible 1,000lb+.
The ageing bait boss would have had the biggest fish of the trip if he didn’t ask son Lee to look after his rods whilst he popped up the shops, however, it was Lee who took top honours by landing a stunning 42lb 4oz river mirror on Mike’s rod!!! However, Mike managed to make up for it just before they packed up by banking an awesome woodcarving like river common of 36lb 9oz. All the fish fell to a prototype version of the new Shellfish B5 shelf life boilies due to be released early next year.
The highlight of the trip for Mike however was being presented with a huge birthday cake that family and friends had made up as a surprise and somehow managed to hide away in the van without him knowing for 2 days!! The cake included an edible picture of Mike and his family holding the incredible Black Mirror. This was definitely the icing on the cake for an incredible trip!
Boilie Paste
Mark Stubbles with yet another fine cold water carp. Mark is an extremely succesful and consistent angler and instinctively knows the rewards little edges can bring.
Many anglers tend to overlook the advantages that paste’s can give. Throughout the colder months I nearly always wrap a thin layer of paste around my hook bait. This not only gives the bait a better ‘leak off’ in terms of attraction as the paste slowly dissipates, but also gives the hook bait a completely different texture.
Paste is also an essential requirement if you prefer to make your own cork ball pop-ups or balanced baits. A 10mm cork ball with approx 3mm of paste wrapped around it will give you a nice balanced 16mm hook bait. To make pop-ups however, you will need to wrap a thinner layer of paste around the cork. I find that a 12mm cork ball with approx 1.5mm of paste wrapped around the outside creates pop-ups buoyant enough for most presentations.
Top Tip
We make the paste soft enough for most applications, but if you find the paste starting to dry out a little, just dampen it down with a ‘Bait Glug’ or a ‘Liquid Food’ and re-mould together. (Rinse hands in warm water first)
If you need to leave the paste standing for any length of time, make sure you wrap it up in cling film otherwise it can quickly dry up. It will be fine to wrap up in cling film and leave in the fridge for 24 hours if needed.
