How to Avoid & Combat Poisson Chat

We’re resurrecting a few of our old question & answer posts as they’re still very applicable today! Here’s a great one on how to avoid & combat poisson chat. Poisson chat are very common in many French lakes, but with a few tips and tricks you can minimise any disturbance they have on your carp […]

Where to Buy Carp Fishing Bait in France Easily

So, now we have clarified that it is currently not possible to bring bait with you from the UK for your French carp fishing holiday (see more about that here) due to Brexit. We’d like to help offer some solutions on where to buy carp fishing bait in France.

Carp Fishing in France & Brexit

Can you take bait and boilies to France now? What food stuffs are you no longer able to take? And can you still take your dog? We gather some articles that should help you find the answers. Can I take bait – boilies, particle etc – to France after BREXIT? In short – you can […]

Tactics For Shy, Tricky Carp

Have you set your sights on a carp lake where the fish are shy, finicky or just down-right difficult to catch? Here’s some advice that might help… Trev wrote: Just wondering if you could help me on my local lake.  When we have put a bed of pellets down the fish are bubbling like crazy and […]

The Spring Carp Conundrum

Spring is just around the corner; the carp are on the move, and back on the munch. Contrary to accepted wisdom, however, this may not be the time to pile in the bait; rather, a softly-softly approach is often key to early season success… The nights are finally drawing in; the water temps are rising, and […]

The Great Bait Debate – shelf-life or freezer bait?

The wealth of highly nutritious and readily available ‘ready mades’ lead me to wonder: why on earth would anyone waste valuable time freezing, transporting, airdrying and rehydrating baits for their French carp fishing trip? Shelf-life or freezer bait? The debate has raged for a while now. To my mind, however, it’s a no-brainer: the extensive […]

Targeting cold-water carp? Play dirty.

Why smarter carpers are trading solid PVA bags for messy method balls this winter… Whilst Fox’s excellent Rapide system has propelled solid PVA bags back into fashion – along the way, earning a place in many a carp angler’s armoury – method feeder fishing remains largely overlooked by a majority of big carp hunters. Which […]

Do Fishmeal Baits Work In Winter?

If you listen to the experts you would never use a fishmeal boilie over the winter months. My thinking was the same, however over the years my views have changed drastically. For the past 2 years I have continued to fish through the Winter months, feeding and fishing with Squid and Orange from Quality Baits. […]

Winter Carp Baits – Thinking Tactics and Rigs

This is the time of year when some of the biggest fish in a lake can be most vulnerable to capture; so winter carp fishing is not as mad as it might first appear! Good planning and preparation including refinement of baits, rigs and use of using warm clothing and equipment is easy. Read on […]

Winter Carping – 9 Things You Need From a Winter Boilie

Another of our resurrected winter carping posts, today’s blog is 9 top tips on choosing your cold weather carp fishing bait.  1. Easily digested – the quicker it’s digested the sooner the carp need to eat again. 2. Low flavour level (that will surprise some!) – if I am presenting baits where I know the […]

Baiting Techniques in Summer Months

Here’s a useful article on how to tackle baiting during the warmer months courtesy of the Quest Baits Blog… The long hot days of summer often mean relatively short feeding spells for the carp (and for many other species come to that) between hours of simply basking in the upper layers of water enjoying the warmth […]

Sorting the Bait as we Approach Winter

Shaun Harrison, owner of Quest Baits, gives us a heads up on his winter baiting tactics… As the cooler weather is now starting to set in it is time for my annual autumn sort out of my tackle and bait but particularly the bait. From past experience I know that some of the baits that […]

Intelligent Baiting For Carp

Big carp can be very difficult to catch, but using bait in more creative ways when carp fishing can really make more opportunities for great catches! Tim Richardson shows you how… Many anglers have not heard about the feeding ‘triangle’ effect. This is where the effect of feeding a swim regularly can influence the behaviour […]

How Much Bait Do I Need For a Carp Fishing Trip to France?

The correct choice of bait can make or break a holiday trip but if you follow a few simple rules there is no reason why you cannot have a great trip. The most common mistake is probably going for quantity rather than quality; it is not worth scrimping on your bait. Many French lakes contain […]

Do your baiting homework before your French carp fishing trip!

Pat Gillett kindly put this short piece together as a follow up to his last article – ‘5 Things To Consider When Choosing Bait For Your French Carp Fishing Trip’.  This piece concerns the actual baiting application whilst you are there and how to get the best out of your trip. The first thing to consider is the […]

Bait for your French Trip – 5 Things to Consider!

With the start of the new year and your 2015 French carping trip rolling closer, it’s time to get thinking which baits to take. Below I have listed 5 types of bait to consider when carrying out your preparation for any carp fishing trip.   1. Pellets   Obviously pellets are very popular with the majority of carp anglers – […]

The Science of Bait – Pt 3

Why do baits work? This quick science lesson is part three of a great informative series from Mark McKenna, the brains behind Baitcraft baits… What should be included in our bait to trigger a feeding response like the one I’ve just described in part 2? The bulk of the research conducted to date suggests that that the most […]

The Science Of Bait – Pt.2

Why do baits work? Here’s part 2 of a great informative series from Mark McKenna, the brains behind Baitcraft baits… When a fish comes across food odour it becomes alerted to the possibility of a meal and if hungry begins to seek out the source of the odour. In land animals smell is judged to be a proximity […]

The Science Of Bait – Pt.1

Why do baits work? This quick science lesson is part one of a great informative series from Mark McKenna, the brains behind Baitcraft baits… When thinking about creating a bait, the natural place to start is to look at the physiology of our quarry and exactly how it is they locate and evaluate their food. In the […]

Making Custom Hook Baits

Here is a little tip for those of you wishing to customise your hook baits and a real quick and easy way of preparing ‘wafters’ (slow sinking hook baits) or pop-ups. It is a method I first used on the bank when I felt I needed a hook bait acting differently to what I had […]