Via a series of Blog posts & a video diary Paul Cooper will take you through his preparation routine.

Blue Lake(Part 2)

Mirror carp from French Lake
Jim with a Quality Baits 39lb 2oz fish caught in the throws of winter
Bait
  • It is now the beginning of February and I’m already thinking about what bait I will be using for the Blue Lake trip and what quantities I will require.  This to me is the most important aspect to a successful fishing trip.  By April the temperatures should be around 20°C and a good fishmeal based boilie should be all that is needed to put those extra few fish on the bank.
  • It’s important to check on the Website, or with one of the Angling Lines team, what freezer and fridge facilities are in place at your chosen venue.
  • Unfortunately Blue Lake it has all other amenities, but no freezer or fridge.
41lb UK caught common carp
41.02 - a stunning common caught on HG42 boilies

Early autumn last year, Jim and I approached Simon of Quality Baits to see if he could successfully produce a bait for us.  With a bit of tweaking and test trials, within a few weeks we had the perfect bait which which we gave the name of HG42.
I first tested the bait on my local syndicate water with some amazing results which included the lake record of a 41.1o Common, which for our region is the record carp.
In October I had 2 opportunities for trips carp fishing in France at Boux, and on both occasions, I took Quality Baits HG42, 18mil boilies.
Carp caught from Domain de Boux, France
A mirror caught at Domiane De Boux on HG42 in 2011
The results again were amazing, on both occasions landing over 27 carp per visit and putting some of its biggest resident carp on the bank.  By the end of November I had accounted for over 75 carp on Quality Baits HG42, all caught in a 2 month period.
Quality Baits HG42 Shelf Life Boilies
Quality Baits HG42 Shelf Life Boilies
Up until now, the boilies that we had used were all fresh baits that needed to be kept in a freezer. With Blue Lake, we have no freezer or any way of keeping the bait fresh for a week, so I approached Simon to see if he could produce our bait in a shelf life version.  I was aware that he was producing his famous Patshull Park boilies in both frozen and shelf life, so why not the HG42?
We are in the process of developing a new boilie which we will be calling HG47. This is based on the same ingredients of the HG42 but with alternative flavours and additives giving a rich savoury smell and a dark red colouring.
Simon has now produced both the HG42 and HG47 in a shelf boilie. As soon as the weather improves I will be putting them through there paces leading up to our Blue Lake trip on first impressions the product looks really impressive.
What quantity will I need?
It’s well publicised that Blue Lake has received 2 large stockings of big carp over this winter period.  By April the fish will be hungry and I think that a reasonable amount of bait will be required to hold them in a swim.  Below is a full list of the bait that I will be taking on this particular trip;
  • 10 kilo of HG42 and 10 kilo of HG47, both in 18mils.
The reason that I use 18mil baits is that they are easier to put out with a throwing stick than smaller baits, and also bigger baits do seem to deter smaller nuisance fish.
  • A 20 kilo sack of carp pellet(shared between the 2 of us)
  • A 20 kilo sack of hempseed(again shared between Jim and I)
  • An assortment of various pop ups in sizes from 10mil to 18mil.
  • A kilo of Tiger nuts (ready prepared in preservative from QB)

I already made my enquiries about prices and availability so all the bait will be in my possession at least a week before the trip.
As with all of the Quality Baits boilie products, they average around £6 per kilo and are freshly made to order so if you are interested check out the web site atwww.qualitybaits.co.uk
Paul Cooper
Fishing France at Blue Lake