First time out with a new Bait

l always like to test out a new bait on a highly stocked 'runs' water as it gives me confidence for when I get to other trickier venues. After the big freeze last week I decided that my best chance of a bite would be at a commercial fishery rammed full of hungry carp. My preferred commercial, however, it has a boilie ban so decided that I would crush the new nuts 365 boilies down to crumb and make a high attract paste. To do this I blended some peanut butter, hemp oil, a tin of sweetcorn and some of the fantastic Betalin and Sweet Almond Slime together along with a few other bits and slowly worked this into the boilie crumb until I had a workable paste. If the water temperatures were warmer I would have added an egg to the mix to help bind it together but I felt that in the conditions a quick breakdown time was essential to maximise the attraction. I tested a lump in a glass of water and the natural oils and particles that oozed out even at really cold temperatures had me desperate to get to the bank and see how the carp would react.

After having some van troubles on Saturday morning I popped down to the lake in the afternoon to have a look around. It was very quiet and neither of the people I spoke to had caught or seen anything all day. The good news though was that a match on Friday had been won with a bag of over 70lb of fish.

The next morning I got to the lake slightly later than I would have hoped but soon had my rig tied and ready to go. I was using a short mono hair rig with a single piece of fake corn as a hook bait with a small in-line lead. I then wrapped some of my special paste around the corn and flicked it out just under an overhanging branch near to an island. I laid the rod down on the floor as I set about trying to get my rod rests into the gravel. I had the front one in and as I bent down to pick up the rear one my rod was away. After a short fight, I had a small mirror of about 3 or 4 lbs sulking in the net. I soon had the rod back on the same spot as I know from experience that the fish shoal up at this time of the year. Within minutes my hanger slammed up into the rod and I was in again. This fish put up a much better fight and after 5 minutes I eased it into the net. Luckily a nice chap from the opposite side had walked around and he agreed to take a quick photo for me. I let the fish recuperate in the net while I zeroed the weigh sling. The needle spun round to 16lb 10oz and though not a huge carp it was well above the average size for the lake. 

Within 5 minutes the rod was off again with another decent sized fish (for the lake). It tried to snag me up on a half-submerged branch but I kept steady pressure and it was soon in the net. This one was slightly smaller at 14lb exactly. During the fight the drizzle had turned into really heavy rain and I was soaked to the skin after deciding to travel light. Shortly after returning the fish I hooked into another. It was putting up a really good scrap and trying to get into the snags and I was convinced it would be the biggest of the day but then disaster struck and the hook pulled right as I was grabbing the net. 
The continuing cold rain soon took its toll on the lake and after having no more action for a couple of hours I decided to head home to warm up, dry out and watch the football. I was really pleased with the Nut 365 after hooking into 4 carp within the first hour, I can't wait to try the boilies out on another venue with some bigger carp. Many thanks to Kev and everyone at Hinders for letting me test this new bait. 

Callum