Bartropp's winter campaign starts in style as new bait fools a forty.


Top carper Leon Bartropp had a dream start to his winter campaign recently with the capture of this 41lb 7oz specimen on his very first trip.

Targeting a new water, the sales manager at Sticky Baits settled into a swim for maiden winter session, placing his baits near a small island.

Field-testing a new boilie from Sticky, Leon set down a bed of feed over an area of dark silt, before presenting the 16mm bait blowback snowman rig style using a 12mm Buchu Berry popup on top.


“I was hoping I hadn’t missed the boat as far as getting a bit of bait into the water and sussing out spots to try as I’d left it a bit late in the year to start my campaign on a new water,” Leon told Total Carp. “This new boilie did give me confidence though, as on paper it’s a great cold water bait.”

Even though he sat through the first few days and night biteless, the Fox consultant needn’t have worried, especially when a south westerly appeared to get the fish on the feed.

“The south westerly we had picked up on the second day so I put a bit more bait out and it looked very good, especially where my middle rod was placed just off the side of the island where the wind was blowing into,” continued Leon.

The baiting approach worked well, with Leon having to jump out of his sleeping bag at 6.30am the following morning to hit a screaming run.

“It gave a great fight in the dark and after she tried to get around the back of the island a few times I had her in the net. In the torchlight she looked as dazed as I did and I couldn’t have wished for a better start to my campaign,” he added.


Leon’s winning rig consisted of an 8inch 25lb Black Cortex hooklink – a colour Leon uses over the dark silt as the water clears over winter – to a size 5 Fox SSC hook, with a Slik clip with a 3oz Exocet lead at the back.