ASK THE EXPERTS
Dear Panel
For how long can you keep using one bait on a water? I have been on the Activ-8 for a number of years now and am wondering how long it will be before it blows and I have to use something new.
Bradley Jordan
Norwood,London.
Bradley
I think you have almost answered your own question! Like you say, you have been on the Activ-8 for a number of years now and I’m sure you have been catching well. The fact that you are still using it after a number of years tells me that you are, because if it wasn’t working you would have changed it – simple. I have been using Mainline baits for about 14 years now and have used the same baits season after season; I used The Grange for three or four years, the Activ-8 for about five, and then The Fusion for the last four. I have absolute faith in the Mainline food baits and would continue to use them without hesitation for as long as I needed to, or until I fancied a change! To be honest, the main reason I have changed baits over the years has never been because they have stopped working, it has just been because I wanted to try something different.
The Mainline baits will work season after season, and continue to get better the more that goes in.
Back in the ’90s when I fished Redesmere there were a few seasons when everyone on the lake was using the Activ. It fished incredibly well during those few seasons because everyone was, in essence, baiting up for each other. All the big fish were caught a number of times on the same bait and it showed no signs of slowing whatsoever. I have no doubt they would have continued to get caught on it but eventually a new influx of anglers and the development of the Assassin-8 led to a number of different baits being used in the following seasons. Subsequently it didn’t fish anywhere near as well and I am sure it was due to the changes in bait application. I can think of another few instances where the same carp have been caught year after year on the same bait; The Grange, from where the bait got its name, was a prime example – the bait completely dominated the water for a number of years with completely unprecedented catches on what was normally a difficult water, the big ’uns getting caught over and over again.
The Fusion, I have used it for years now and have total faith in it. Baits of this quality do not ‘blow’.
I think the idea of a bait blowing is a bit of a fallacy these days. Years ago it was apparent that a bait could noticeably slow down – I’m talking about the ’80s here – because before the advent of fishmeals and HNVs, boilies didn’t have the significantly good food value that baits do today, the carp would recognise this and the attractor label, or colour would have to be changed to get the results again. In general, boilies are such good quality these days that as long as the bait continues to be introduced in reasonable quantities so that the carp get plenty of free meals, they will happily continue to eat it. Carp are essentially simple creatures and recognise a good food source, the attraction and food value of the bait obviously far outweighs the negative experience of being caught on it because the same fish fall to the same baits year after year. My advice would be to keep sticking it in there and fish it with total confidence, and until you’ve caught them all two, three, four, or five times (which you obviously don’t want to do), I really wouldn’t worry about changing it!
A big fish from a difficult southern park lake, the more Fusion I put in, the more I caught.
Gaz.
