I collected my old Kenwood multi-chef from the shed and set about milling a couple of kilos of Krill into fine crumb. When that was done, I added two handfuls of Krill 2.3mm pellets and then a handful of the Bloodworm pellets in the same size. These were thoroughly mixed to fully disperse them through the crumb and all that was left was to add the oil.
I don’t know too much about oils but I did think that pure Hemp Oil might be the best to easily disperse into the water column in really cold weather. I added a small amount of this and mixed it in thoroughly, ensuring all the tiny crumb particles were coated. I left this for an hour to soak in and then found that the mix would take a little more, so I topped it up and left it overnight to seep into the pellets and larger pieces of crumb. I wanted it so that the crumb was damp enough with oil that it would hold together if I gave it a gentle squeeze but not so saturated that it looked black with oil.
I used this mix in small mesh bags that I hooked on to the rig and occasionally inside a solid bag too. The hook bait varied between a trimmed little piece of Krill wafter and a sliver of the old classic, Peperami. If you have never used this then you need it in your locker! Get the super-hot, ultra spicy one – I carry it everywhere and French carp in particular seem addicted to it. I would often trim up a few sticks with the braid blades and drop all the little oily bits into the bags too – it all helps!
The initial outing with the mix was during brutally cold weather. I made up a little mesh test bag and dropped it into the margins to check it was melting and breaking down as I wanted it to. The water temperature was an exceptionally frigid 3.8ºC and yet, straightaway, tiny little blue ‘blooms’ hit the surface, telling me that I needn’t have worried at all about the oil working properly.
The first time I used the bags, at Sandhurst, I had a really nice mid-twenty which, reassuringly was the only fish out of the whole lake, despite it being busy. It had only been a short session so the result was more than enough to convince me that the tactic had some mileage.
It’s worth just mentioning the hook baits again. As you will have noticed, they are very subtle and innocuous in both instances and again the reverse of the trend that winter hook baits seem to take. I’ve gone over this many times before so I won’t labour it here but briefly, with practically every single carper in the country doing something to make their hook bait different from the rest of the feed, how long will it take the carp to work out that everything bright is attached to something sharp?
The starkest observation I had of this last winter involved the birds. Years ago, when the tufties came over the spot you’d get a few bleeps and knocks and then usually hook one of them. Nowadays this rarely happens as the birds seem to cleverly manoeuvre themselves across the baited area and avoid the traps that we anglers have been so kind as to make really visually obvious! Everyone I have spoken to used to hook more birds than they do now and so if the birds have learnt, do you not think it is just slightly possible that the carp have too?
On no less than three consecutive trips last winter, I caught a tuftie and then two coots. The most interesting part of this was that I didn’t see anyone else catch a bird and when I thought about it, I realised I hadn’t seen anyone else catch a bird for ages! On each of those trips I also caught the only carp from the lake so it does seem that by most of us fishing bright pinks on the oh-so-predictable Ronnie, we have given both the carp and the birds a much easier route to not getting caught. Make it subtle and look less like a trap and it won’t be regarded with suspicion!
This winter I intend to expand not only on the fishy bags but I am going to have a play with actual fish too. I have a hunch that lots of whitebait or even anchovies could be deadly. Imagine having a spod mix of Krill crumb, mixed with a kilo of chopped whitebait with a 2in whole one hair rigged – I just know that would slay a few carp that have got bored of the usual offerings and fancy something a little bit different.
I went on to use the oily, fishy, pellety bags throughout January and February at Bayeswater with plenty of good carp falling to them. On a couple of occasions I’d get a little slick of hemp oil prior to a bite; although some of it would come off as the bag melted and the crumb broke down there was clearly still enough there to prove attractive even after a long January night.
The results proved to me that, as always, ignoring urban myths and working things out for yourself is not only very effective but it’s hugely satisfying too!
