SS is for Starburst success
By Martin French
It was the last day of the 2008/9 season and the end of my first winter on Cemex Sutton-At-Hones' lake 3, a winter that proved to be incredibly tough for me as at the time it was a day only water, so anglers were required to pack-up and be off the lake by 10.30pm.
Add to that the fact that I have and young family and commitments that limit my fishing to just two evenings after work a week, that winter I endured lots of setting up in the dark around 6pm, fishing for a few hours then packing away in the dark around 10.15pm, and generally it was cold, wet and as anybody who has fished Sutton 3 will know, extremely muddy!
"Oh dear" I hear you say, "bring out the violins", but all this pain was of course self inflicted and all my decision. After all, you only need one bite to land a whacker and I was not going to get that sat at home watching Eastenders!
I constantly reminded myself that fish do get caught from Sutton 3 during the winter, so although my limitations made it a difficult task, I always felt that if I got my tactics right at some point before the end of the season my efforts would be rewarded.
So true to my beliefs, I walked the lake three times a week to introduce 15 to 20 14mm SS Range boilies to a few little areas that I knew would be left well alone by the other anglers, but hoped that the carp would visit during my absence so when the weather warmed up I could ambush them.
At this time the SS Range was not commercially available but it was something that John had enjoyed a lot of success on from Sutton 2, capturing many winter whackers such the 'Big Fully' at 39lb 12oz and 'Big Common' at 40lb, so I had 100% confidence in his recommendation.
I was also sure that my location was right as Sutton 3 is only 1.5 acres and although the fishing can be tricky at times, with a population of nearly 40 fish including 5 over 35lb, you are never too far from a big carp.
My rigs were kept simple, using a blow back rig for both my 14mm bottom bait and standard pop-ups set-ups, then a hinged stiff rig for my Cork Ball Pop-ups, depending on the type of bottom I was fishing on.
Well, needless to say despite my dedication, during the cold months of January and February my bobbins remained motionless apart from the odd bream. But in early March just as the buds started to break out on the surrounding trees, I received my first bite from a carp since November.
It was a belter totally out of the blue and although I could tell it was not a big fish, probably no more than a low double, I was still absolutely gutted when during the fight everything went solid in an unknown marginal snag.
I remember phoning my friend Si to explain that I'd had my first bite in over 25 evenings but lost it. Ever the optimist he replied "Don't worry son, at least you had a bite". Ever the pessimist I replied "Great, so statistically I only have 24 more evenings before I am due another!". Anyway, as luck would have it I did have another bite and as I said it came on the last day of the season.
By this point I had pretty much lost hope of another fish before the close, the clock had almost stopped ticking, but at 11.15am on the the 15th March a slow take to my right hand rod resulted in a beautiful 17lb mirror and to say I was happy was an understatement.
Far from being the biggest fish in my album, words cannot begin to explain how much I enjoyed this capture. It reminded me what I loved about carp fishing, to me it's not about the biggest fish in the lake, although that's an obvious bonus, but it's about the thrill of the chase and this beautiful heavily scaled 17lb mirror felt like one of the most triumphant moments of my 20 years in fishing. Somehow all the cold winter blanks had been erased from my memory and I was now THE MAN again!
Over the moon, I changed my rig to a sharp new hook, tied on fresh bait and recast the rod back to the spot, strangely confident of more action.
The warm spring sun was now high in the sky and a strong N/W'erly wind was pushing up against the wall lined margin to my right. I felt sure the conditions were now spot on for an area I called 'The Swamp', which was the little flooded bay in the corner that I had been baiting all winter, but despite my constant checking I had not seen so much as a divot in there all morning.
As I sat there contemplating next summers approach, I was awoken from my day dream by the sound of a whizzing baitrunner and before I knew it was up off my chair and into another.
In all the excitement of the 17lb monster, I had totally forgotten to put my buzzer on and was now attached to another angry carp and this time I could tell straight away that it was a much better fish. A slow plodding fight confirmed my hopes and the 'Two Tone' mirror lay on my matt, weighing in at 29.5lb.
Pictures done, rod recast and over the moon with two in a day, I crept back through the swamp to my corner spot for one final look. The warm afternoon sun was now beaming straight into the bay and to my amazement, now sunning themselves amongst the weave of tangled branches were 4 nice carp, one of which was definitely a decent 25lb+ common, possibly even 'The football'.
As quickly as I could, but being extremely careful not to spook the fish, I waded back to my swim and and quickly wound in a rod. Then armed with a fresh 14mm SS Range Cork Ball Pop-up and hinged stiff link, I headed back to the corner.
A quick peep into the water confirmed that the fish were still there only now they had their tales up and were munching on the baits I had introduced before their arrival.
With as much stealth as possible, given my excitement, I lowered my little pop-up down onto a lovely clear spot on the marginal shelf, just 12 inches from the bank, then set the clutch and laid the rod on the floor. Surely it was a only a matter of time as the common was now troughing big time.
Suddenly out from under the bush to my left waddled a big fat mirror, straight along the shelf and in no more than 18 inches of water, I was sure it was not one of the fish I had seen earlier and if anything it seemed bigger. The mirror hovered over my bait for a few seconds then sank down into the cloudy water. The tip slammed round, the water erupted and she was on.
I knew which fish it was from the outset, after all I had seen it literally take my bait and after a few anxious moments she was in my net. The scales confirmed a weight of 36lb 12oz and the 'Little Starburst' was to be my new UK PB.
It's funny how your fortunes can change on a venue like Sutton. One minute I was pulling my hair out and questioning my ability to ever catch a carp again and then suddenly I was buzzing. I had sat on the lake for too many bitter evenings to count without a carp but now I'd had three in a day. I was like a kid in a sweet shop but felt that after all that effort this result was no more than I deserved.
SO, JUST HOW IMPORTANT WAS THE BAIT CHOICE?
Well the proof is in the pudding, the SS Range catches carp. Why? Because its a quality food bait, but what does that actually mean and why is it so important?
Let's be honest, in today's market with so many bait companies selling lots of varieties of bait, it's probably more difficult to find a bait that won't catch carp than a bait that will. So is there such thing as a secret wonder bait or nowadays has every great carp attractor been revealed to the mass market?
Well, there are definitely a range of ingredients that carp find extremely attractive and you can make it more difficult for yourself by not using a bait that contains a good attractor but to catch carp consistently you must get a number of key factors correct, and all at the same time. They are:
Correct location, correct application and the correct food source.
Location and application are for another discussion, but most anglers just don't really put enough thought into what is an absolutely vital part of their approach to carp fishing. THE BAIT!
WHY THE NEED FOR A QUALITY FOOD SOURCE?
A carp is a simply creature, with simple instincts. It's sole purpose is to survive and therefore knows, by instinct, that it must eat a balanced diet to achieve this survival.
There is no doubt in my mind that a bait with a low nutritional value or a shelf life bait with a high preservative level will undoubtedly catch carp in the short term, but a well balanced food source bait will be far more effective over a long period of time.
There is no denying that shelf life boilies have their place in carp fishing as they do catch carp and the magazines are full of great captures. But, if you are after long term success and want to fish for big healthy carp, which most of us do, then a campaign based around the use of a good quality frozen food bait is absolutely essential.
You may think that it's just your lovely smelling 'flavour' that attracts the carp, but a carp does not smell like we smell. Our noses pick-up up particles in the air and our brains tell us that it's a nice smell. A carp however, smells by using its barbels and other receptors to taste the variations in the ph of the water and as a bait breaks down its not just the 'flavour' that alters this ph, its also the breakdown of the other attractors and ingredients within the bait. It's a combination of all these things that tell the carp that this is what it needs to eat and believe me, as a creature of instinct a carp knows what it likes and what is good for it.
SO WHAT DEFINES QUALITY?
By quality, I simply mean the use of ingredients that are essential to the carps dietry requirements. I have known John Elmer of Scattered Baits for many years and know that he spends a great deal of time and effort perfecting the levels of each ingredient in his ranges of bait to create a balance between attraction and nutrition. Bait formulation is far more than just producing a range that smells nice to us, it's all about creating a food source that a carp recognizes it can live on.
SO WHAT BAIT IS BEST FOR WINTER?
During the colder water temperatures, a carps metabolism slows right down, as does its movement. It still has the same dietary requirements but its need for food is greatly reduces as it lives off the reserve that it built up over the autumn period.
Also, and this is a key factor, during cold temperatures a carps intestines do not release the enzymes required to break down certain fats, so oily fishmeal based baits are not recommended as during winter they can cause digestion problems for the carp. This type of bait, unless the fat levels are sufficiently reduced (ie 'winterized') can make the carp literally stop feeding completely until the water warms up during the spring.
Ideally, you should be looking for a milk protein based bait like the SS Range. This bait is designed to give the carp all its nutritional requirements, yet is easily digestible and therefore leaves the carp hungry for more, even during the colder months. This obviously this means the chances of a rare winter bite are massively increased.
Not only is the SS Range created using ingredients that the carp instinctively know are good for it, it's attraction level is also enhanced by using a combination of classic proven fish catching 'flavours', that are tried and tested and have captured many great fish from notoriously tricky venues around the UK, including Cemex's Sutton-At-Hone and the Road Lake.
Just one more thing to note though, is that because a milk protein base has a high nutritional value, you don't need to introduce loads at a time as that can have an adverse effect.
At this time of year, as I just fish short 12 hour overnight sessions, I feel I am generally only fishing for one bite and on Sutton 3 the window when this is likely to happen can be slim, so I want any bait that does get picked up to be my hook bait.
With this in mind, a little and often approach over the winter period is all that is required for me to keep the carp on the move and continue eating. I just like to introduce 10-20 baits every couple of days to each of my winter hotspots then when it's time to fish, I will just fish a single hook bait, or maybe a two bait stringer.
If I do catch or if the conditions are extremely favorable, say the air pressure is dropping or a strong SW'erly is due, I will introduce 5-10 free offerings but the one thing I always think during winter is that you can put more in, but you cant take it back out.
The other thing to remember is that, even though the action during the winter period may be slow, as soon as the spring arrives, the carp that have been used to picking at the odd bait from your spots, will sudenly become a lot more catchable as they pick-up more baits. Hopefully, this is when you can reap the rewards for all your winter efforts.
CORK BALL POP-UPS
These little wonders are something that I first used back in the mid 90's and the obvious benefits are often overlooked. Firstly, they are extremely buoyant and will stay up for days, but secondly and most importantly they are made by wrapping paste from the rolling process around a cork ball which means that as your hook bait breaks down it releases EXACTLY the same food signals as all you free offerings.
This is can be extremely beneficial as if you think about it, you have spent hours walking the lake to establish your quality food bait and really get it going, only to then use a pop-up that has either been micro waved or made of a totally different 'pop-up' base mix to the one you are using as a hook bait. Yes, they may smell the same to us as they use the same 'flavour' but the breakdown of the bait itself will mean your hookbait is releasing slightly different food signals to your free offerings.
The downside of cork ball pop-ups is that they are time consuming to make as they have to be rolled by hand, so to make them commercially available means that the price has to be slightly more expensive than your average pot of pop-ups, which is why you don't generally see them on sale.
However, I think the Scattered Baits Cork Ball Pop-ups are still a very reasonable price and believe me at £9.99 the extra few pounds is money well spent and one pot will still last me most of the winter.
Obviously you cannot pass a baiting needle through the cork ball so for a snow man rig or a blow back rig I will still use a standard pop-up, but whenever my approach sees me typing on my baits, such as with a chod rig or a hinged still rig, I can assure you my little pot of SS Range Cork Ball Pop-ups will not be far away this winter.
Cheers & Tight Lines
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