NASH E-ZINE WINTER 2016
GET A BITE BELTERS - GARY BAYES
GET A BITE BELTERS
GARY BAYES
Want to know the tricks of the trade to get those vital extra takes when the carp are playing hard to get? Nashbait boss Gary Bayes shares his best cold water bait edges…
SWEET TALKING
S
weet boilies tend to produce more consistently than savoury baits. It’s never a hard and fast rule because TG Active is a great winter bait and is completely the opposite but as a starting point, a sweet bait is generally much more reliable for winter action. Instant Action Tangerine Dream and Coconut Crème are outstanding cold water baits, sweet and bright, and also easily digestible. There are a lot of top class anglers who will use these Instant Action boilies straight out of the bag when it gets cold – and they catch some serious fish. Overlook them at your peril!
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NASH E-ZINE WINTER 2016
GET A BITE BELTERS - GARY BAYES
LIQUID SUPER SWEET
SOAK IT UP A long term soak in Ace Cards Tangleberry is brilliant for producing high power single hookbaits, no matter what the type of boilie, they just get better. It also works really well with tigers. Get a pot, leave baits to soak covered in the sweetener and just fish one out when you need one. I have found neat Tangleberry dipped baits are too strong for summer fishing, but in the winter it’s the sort of tactic that will get you that one bite when conditions are so bad you don’t think you’ll catch anything.
All dips and bait boosters can be improved for cold water by adding sweetener to them, and Tangleberry from the Ace Cards range is the best of them all. It’s highly water soluble, has a lovely rich taste, includes Talin and esters and enhances the flavour of whatever you put it in. As a rule work on a ratio of 3:1, so the Tangleberry is 25% of the finished liquid. It needs to be premixed together in a bottle. Try it in Coconut Crème or Tangerine Dream boosters at those levels - it’s a great way to get extra bites. Being PVA friendly you can then use them for boosting anything, from zigs to pellet bags to dipping entire end tackles.
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SPRAY IT AGAIN
GET A WRIGGLE ON
Citruz spray is superb in cold water, I put it on anything, including free offerings not just hookbaits. It was designed to allow you to decide how strong you wanted or needed the attraction to be. I like mine strong and keep spraying my pop ups every time I open the pot. They get soaked, left to absorb the liquid, soaked again and left again until they are saturated. Don’t just use it with Citruz pop ups, I use Citruz spray on Key pop ups and all sorts of other baits too.
Maggots can dominate sport on some waters through the winter, and although their effectiveness goes in cycles they are still close to the top of the list for winter carping. To give your maggots an edge blend a combination of Scopex No.1 and Old Skool sweetener, three parts Scopex to one part Old Skool and mix it up in a bottle. Put it on maggots at 5ml per pint and see the difference that it makes. You can literally go from catching nothing to catching loads. On really hard days you can try dosing up to 10ml per pint, it seems really strong but definitely works!
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NASH E-ZINE WINTER 2016
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Gary uses Ball Maker Method/Bag Mix with a sprinkle of 6mm Instant Action High Attract Pellet in it. His favourite is Coconut Crème.
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Make up golf ball size bags of the mix using the Webcast PVA which dissolves quicker than the finer Ultra Weave mesh.
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Gary is convinced smaller hookbaits get more bites in cold weather and a single 10mm bait far outscores the common choice of twin 10mm boilies on the hair.
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The mix is moistened with his winter dip blend of Coconut Crème booster and Tangleberry. If squeezed the mix should lightly bind together but then easily crumble.
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Nick the hook through the mesh away from the knots at each end. Gary thinks this gives better presentation than threading PVA on stick style.
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Start with small bags and switch to larger ones once you get action. The bigger the bag the more the residual attraction on the spot to help build feeding activity.
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