NASHBAIT – THE HISTORY OF CARP FISHING BAIT

Since man began angling with rod and line What best to use on the hook to attract their quarry has been subject of most discussion Whether different types of fly for trout and salmon or lure colour for predators The right bait brings a result where other offerings fail Making bait for over 30 years Nashbait has grown to be one of the most successful and internationally respected manufacturers of carp bait in the world This success has been based on the drive and determination of Kevin Nash His fundamental belief in the importance of bait and his desire to find edges both for himself and to help others catch the most difficult carp The three bigs ones for me are number one location two bait and the third rigs If you can’t find them then you can’t catch them so location is number one Then you need to tempt them with a bait that is irresistible If you can’t create greed then you won’t trip them up on the rigs The second most important thing in carp fishing is the bait If you go back to the late 60’s when I started carp fishing anglers used potato breadcrust and flake and the specials were just starting to come out ground bait or sausage meat Then a guy called Fred Wilton wrote this amazing article in the British Carp Study Group magazine His theory was that if you gave a carp everything it needed in one bait then that would be the ultimate bait and it would be irresistible Well it didn’t quite work like that it was irresistible for a while But we learned that carp get clued up and learn to be wary of things That’s how my fishing developed into the HNV’s In those days none of this stuff was available in shops We had to source it all ourselves From there I started a company which was originally called Happy Hooker tackle and bait That name got changed in the 80’s when I got married because my Mrs refused to answer the phone with Happy Hooker So that’s how I started I was always into bait Kevin was always into tackle So we decided to do both And over the years he’s helped with the bait and I helped with the tackle But primarily my job’s bait and his job’s tackle I first started making bait when I was about 16 Probably 30 or 40 years ago It was just simple paste then At the time it was affordable as well you used to have bread and cheese and I used to mix the bread with the cheese because it was cheaper The carp fishing just went from that I have tremendous respect for Gary he has a wealth of priceless information He has the biggest phone bill in Nash tackle I never moan about it because he spends half the day with the phone glued to his ear talking to all the guys testing the baits for him The wealth of information he has is unrivalled in the bait game We had the lads testing the bait for us before it came out Famous baits like Monster Pursuit which a young Terry Hearn got on I think I’m right in saying he caught his first 14 40’s on it Amber Attractor which was a yellow birdfood an amazing bait Those were the kind of baits we started with But I have always been looking at new things all the time and I found these powdered additives There were several of them but we ended up only using the squid as it had by far the best results The launch of the Squid propelled Nashbait to even greater success Word was getting around that Nash were serious about producing high quality and affordable bait for carp anglers around the world A lot of names got on the bait and a lot of budding anglers made their names because of Nashbait I’m very proud of that I mentioned earlier Terry Hearn Nigel Sharp they were two young lads on the Yateley complex Darrell Peck of course he is one of the lads we had The list is endless I always say we are the proving school and then someone nicks them off us because they pay them more money than we are prepared to or can afford but that’s life isn’t it The names just mentioned show that the carp world is constantly evolving sometimes for the better other times for the worse However one man who has stuck with Nash for years and years is Steve Briggs Known as a big fish angler both in the UK and particularly abroad his simplistic approach combined with the advantage of Nashbait has helped him bank some of the most sought after carp in the world Through the year my fishing ends up being quite varied I fish a vast amount of different waters but if I could only fish one type of venue for the rest of my life It would be a large public type venue Places like Cassien through the years have been my favourite venues but I do get something out of all of them I fish the small ones the medium ones the big ones with various stocks and to be honest I enjoy them all Sessions tend to be a week to two weeks these days Some shorter and some are a bit longer but generally a week to two weeks The aim is I suppose to build up a swim through that time You can always fluke a fish on the first day which is always nice but really the best results tend to come later in the session which is pleasing actually because it means I have done the work right Bait is always the first thing I sort out for a session Quality bait is the way forward I have used all of the Nash range in my time I have done well on all of it whether it is Instant Action or now the Key Cray or Scopex Squid They have all been good The main thing is getting that bait established Getting it out there not necessarily putting loads in to begin with There is not a 100% set way to bait up a swim It is a little bit horses for courses but quality bait is always the key I am a big user of hemp Not necessarily in big quantities but I like to put something out that will build the attraction and the hemp certainly does that and the pellet does that But the bigger hits of bigger fish that I have had over the years have always come to quite big beds of boilies That is quite noticeable that when the fish are on it they come to the boilies They love the boilies and the bigger fish will push the smaller ones out to get to them That definitely happens I will use a mixture of all sorts at different times but the one constant is the boilies I have a lot of faith in them catching the bigger fish Any one of the Nash baits on it’s day I know will work Whether it’s Instant Action the Key Cray or Scopex Squid its confidence in your gear and your bait The rest just follows on really The rest you have to do yourself though In the early 2000’s Kevin had the chance to grow the company to include a media team One member of this team was Oli Davies Up until recently Oli stayed firmly positioned behind the camera working as Nash’s top photographer Though he normally shies away from the limelight his photo album consists of a surprising number of big and beautiful carp I guess I’m quite lucky in the last decade my job in the industry has taken me all over the country photographing other anglers and filming them and indeed all over Europe Giving me the opportunity to get the rods out on lots of different types of venue My preference is to be able to watch the fish feeding but that’s not always the case You have to be able to adapt and fish lots of different types of water I’m not the sort of person that chips and changes the rigs that I use I use one or two different rigs that I know work in certain situations and I take them everywhere with me because I know that they work everywhere Bait to me is the same It’s quite a personal thing but when you find something that works and works everywhere You don’t have to worry about it any more Carp fishing is about making choices and decisions quite often snap decisions When you arrive at a venue where should I go which end On the wind on the back of the wind Out in the middle in the edge Bait is something you shouldn’t have to worry about When you turn up with a bait you are confident in that is not part of your decision You can concentrate on finding the fish and presenting your bait in the right area and the right approach For me I only take one or two baits with me You can apply those baits in different ways and that opens up your options but it’s something you don’t have to worry about Likewise with pop-ups I take one or two colours of my chosen flavour which is Citruz and that’s it I don’t have to worry about 20 tubs of pop-ups because I know that if I get the colour right the flavour will work and the fish will eat it My angling is predominantly on a weekend I’m a Friday night angler I have been for many years You have to give yourself every edge that you can I try and make the effort to go up to the lake during the week and I try and bait a few spots Keep the bait trickling in on certain areas I’m an edge angler so I can watch the fish as well I’ll quite often go up not with the intention of fishing but if there is an opportunity I have always got a rod in the van so I will try and make the most of it You can always tip the odds in your favour A lot of anglers won’t make the effort to prime areas or bait areas That doesn’t mean a lot of bait It can just be a handful but regularity is the key As a result if you get carp feeding regularly on these spots they will clean them for you Quite often when you are feeding the fish in this manner you don’t actually have to fish for long which really suits me as I don’t get a great deal of time to sit behind rods I want those fish to almost be waiting to be fed and that’s the real edge of prebaiting If you can get them visiting your spot regularly and accepting the bait when you do put a hook bait down there the action is often instant You can have a bite within seconds This has probably been the busiest couple of years for me at Nash in terms of work but it has also been probably my most productive in terms of fishing I have been quite lucky to have been privy to the Key and the Tandoori Garlic when they were first released and it has definitely made a difference to my angling I have fished all over Europe and all over the country and I have been privileged to catch some amazing carp Producing world beating baits requires an in depth understanding of carp themselves and crucially also the science of food and nutrition Kevin and Gary had always worked as a team on Nashbait combining a wealth of angling and bait making experience but leading bait expert Keith Sykes joining the team in 2012 was pivotal in moving the company forwards once again Keith has contributed to exceptional success stories like the Key and the unique Stabilisation process that keeps bait fresh without the use of traditional preservatives and the world renowned Citrus attractor package Returning to the Nashbait story and things are expanding fast at Nash Significant investment is needed to keep up with demand and Gary is thinking about a new Nashbait factory Every time a unit came available we used to have it Rubbing our hands together thinking we had lots of space Six months down the line we needed another unit It got a bit out of hand as we started to grow seriously fast In 2016 a massive investment was made to develop a new facility not just making more bait to supply the demand but also further increase the consistency freshness and quality of the finished bait reaching the consumer After all the work I had done building the factory I was a little bit worried about what was going to happen when we finally started working in here I was really apprehensive getting it started Everyone saying the packing room was too big some were saying it was too small It has all just worked perfectly right down to every single shelf I put up The new factory is just brilliant It is a long trip compared to what we used to have for everyone that works here but everyone says they just love working in the place Even a happy staff makes a difference Nashbait’s new facilities now enable the company to 500kg of boilies per hour The new rollers cutting 10mm 12mm 15mm 18mm 20mm and 24mm allowing us to make boilies suitable for all applications An additional benefit of the new facility is the ability to roll custom mixes for Nashbait customers Anyone placing a minimum order 80kg can now personalise their bait to suit their requirements Over the years I have made a lot of good baits which have caught a lot of fish I have been responsible for different people catching record carp I have caught record carp myself on our bait Scopex Squid has got to be my proudest moment if you like making bait I have made lots of baits but Scopex Squid is the one which has probably caught the most big fish Caught a bigger percentage of fish in England than any other bait and parts of Europe as well Everywhere you go it catches big fish Developing the Squid was very satisfying for me Developing completely new baits with new ingredients is very difficult Everybody nowadays especially with the internet has got access to everything that you have got It is hard to tie up exclusives but we still do We have just tied up an exclusive to be supplied in the UK for Key Cray It’s hard to find new ingredients but it’s worth looking The crayfish meal is exceptional I have never seen fish react to anything like it I have tested every single raw ingredient you can possibly imagine and seen reactions and non reactions Again it’s quite natural People say they have a natural bait because it has an essential oil like Eucalyptus in it or similar When was the last time you saw a Eucalyptus tree in the middle of the lake The bait has 30% Crayfish meal in it and that is 30% of what the carp normally find to eat There might not be crayfish in your lake but crayfish are very similar in makeup to shrimps They eat it all year because they eat crayfish and shrimps all year Key Cray along with Scopex Squid have been designed as food sources giving carp the nutrients they need resulting in them choosing to feed on them time and time again They are the perfect baits for anglers targeting tricky campaign type waters Prebating or fishing medium to long sessions with the aim of building a swim In todays busy world not all anglers have the time to fish this way and in the case of Alan Blair fishing time is always limited Nashbait has also been working hard to produce baits for anglers that just need action and want it quickly to suit their fishing lifestyle and approach When I look at Kevin Nash he has devoted his while life to catching the biggest carp Me on the other hand I am just happy going out there and getting bites catching as many fish as I possibly can I’m not the guy who is going to apply a load of bait and build a swim and get fish revisiting More often than not I’m visiting a venue once and once only so I need everything in my favour to catch carp straight from the off To give you some examples a lot of my fishing revolves around fishing pop-ups Single chodies little multi rigs and Ronnie rigs Basically locating the fish tracking them down and casting single hook baits at them At best I might flick a few freebies over the top In many cases I am using 10mm baits again just to be that little bit different from everyone else and it has caught me a lot of fish Bait choice you can’t go wrong with the Citruz It has caught me an incredible amount of fish over the last two years As well as that when I am rocking up at any park lakes I opt for something white Something like the Coconut Creme and the Amber Strawberry and you will never go far wrong For sure I use pop-ups a lot as that single hook bait lure approach But in some situations like when the fish are particularly wary Fishing the river for example they don’t come into their own That’s when I draw for the Cultured Hookbaits They are packed full of attraction they ooze out goodness for hours and hours on end as i say they have caught me some really special fish When we come into the summer months fishing gets really exciting The fish are a lot more visual I can go around the lake exploring different areas and get them feeding on the surface That’s when things like the Riser Pellet slow sinking maggots and Soft Hookable Floaters come into their own You can hunt those carp down it is the most exciting form of fishing and I really buzz off it And that’s what I was saying earlier about the power of a high attract hook bait in this sort of situation I’m not trying to build up their confidence by feeding and applying bait regularly I’m rocking up with a single hook bait or at best just a few freebies That can be the result if you get it right I approach the swim quietly assess if there are any fish there first Very very instant Buzzing Like I said earlier I’m not about sitting it out for days or weeks on end trying to catch really big fish I just love catching carp and this is a great example of that We haven’t been here long this morning and but tracking them down That hunting approach using nice bright baits like the Citruz I have managed to trip up an absolute stunner Alan Blair’s enthusiasm and work ethic has been crucial to the success of Nash as a company This combined with Kev’s love of angling and seeing other anglers succeed has played a huge part in making Nashbait the market leading force it is today There is nothing that gives me greater satisfaction than to hear one of our boys has had a whacker or the fish of their dreams on the bait There is nothing that can match that phone call I had one a few weeks ago actually A young lad has come on the phone he was only twelve saying he can’t catch fish Blaming everything He thought it was all down to bait why he wasn’t catching I spent two hours on the phone with him going through his tackle trying to get him to understand he had to find them before he had a chance of catching them Use a simple rig and then finally I said use this bait He rang again last we and one of the girls in the office took the call She said I think it’s that lad you spoke to a couple of weeks ago He was so excited he had caught his first double and the whole office went up with a cheer I’m getting all emotional now And that’s what Nashbait means to us All this work I have done over the years is not just filling in time Every single waking hour and minute whether I am at work or not is quite often spent thinking about bait thinking about fish thinking about fishing I don’t do going to weddings and things like that I hate going out I’d rather be on the bank If we go for a walk it has to involve water I’m thinking fish and fishing all the time I think because of that passion I have and Kevin has the company has been born from passion rather than just trying to outdo the next door neighbour If somebody sells more boilies than me I don’t care it’s just how it is That’s why I think Nashbait has done quite well and Nash Tackle as a whole Nashbait and Nash Tackle is made up of passionate people who love their fishing as well as working in the industry Not only that but it gives their families a living but nothing beats knowing that our baits are helping anglers all round the world catch the fish of their dreams