About Us
A solid family based business with customer care second to none!!
Due to being in the bait industry for well over thirty years, my family has built up many solid friendships with customers and will always try to help out and give advice wherever possible. We pride ourselves on customer care and if you are looking for an efficient, enthusiastic and friendly group of people to work with, you've certainly come to the right place.
Unlike so many other companies nowadays, we have absolutely 100% total control over the quality of our products. This due to the fact that we store all of our own raw materials on site and our recipes and formulations are manufactured using a vast array of these ingredients to formulate the end product. In other words, we DO NOT purchase our baits from elsewhere and sell them under a different guise! Ring any bells?
The engine room of the business is operated by myself (when not fishing!) and my wife Debbie, who operates the phone lines and who many of you will know from regular 'phone chats'. Our son, Lee, is the bait production manager and apart from being a keen angler himself for well over twenty years, his enthusiasm and meticulous attention to detail when it comes to making boilies is legendary! I can personally guarantee that EVERY single batch of bait is identical to the last and he would never have it any other way!
Our daughter Kelly is also an important and integral part of the Essential team and ensures that all your goods are carefully measured, wrapped and dispatched in a professional and efficient manor. Debbie's sister, Kim, is another important figure within the business and apart from assisting Lee in the manufacturing department, she is also in charge of deliveries, accounts and phone duties.
We are all here, as we have been for well over 30 years, to try and make your purchases as seamless as possible and to provide you with the best quality products available. We look forward to speaking with you in due course.
Mike Willmott
Mike with the iconic Black Mirror.
Lee catches plenty when not making bait!
Debbie, Kelly and Kim - girl power!
Why Choose Essential?
This is one of the key questions we get asked time and time again, but to be honest, there isn't one simple answer. It would be a combination of different facets ranging from a huge amount of experience right the way through to the quality and longevity of our products coupled with the customer care that you would expect from a long standing family-based business. Respect is an often over used word these days, but you don't last 33-years in this trade without it.
Essential Baits have stood the test of time when so many bait companies have come and gone. Over the years we have worked tirelessly to produce what we believe to be the most effective range of baits available and we will never stop striving to achieve a level of excellence that our customers deserve. The brand name is synonymous with quality and we will never compromise this for quantity. We are Essential, we are innovators not imitators, we are passionate and we will always do our best for you, that's our promise...
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.
