Bait According To... Ian Chillcott

Was there a game-changing method or approach that altered everything for you…
“Many of the things which have changed my view on how to catch carp have evolved over time. I can never suggest one-off events are something of any consequence unless they have lasted the test of time. However, as we are talking about bait, I think it best to talk about my early years, years which were spent fishing on incredibly limited time—the Army never understood the draw of carp fishing! But what always amazed me, was how much carp could eat. 

“My desperate lack of time meant I did a lot of stalking in the late 80s, setting traps and observing the limited carp I could find. I soon learnt the more bait I put on a spot, the more carp came to eat it. The more carp which came to feed, the greater the level of competition—and competition is the best situation we can create. You can’t create it with a single little PVA bag or a scattering of 20 or so boilies. One carp could demolish those situations in seconds, so I always gave them plenty of bait.

“Of course, there wasn’t that much bait-making equipment around in those days, so I did it by hand. But I hated seeing them eat all my hard work by pre-baiting. To that end, corn, trout pellets, maize and hemp bulked things out a little. The trouble with the particles, as I often found out, it made catching much more difficult. And this is exactly why I only use Mainline boilies these days. Easy to use, and with a bit of imagination, the best bait to catch a carp!”

Have your thoughts and opinions on the appropriate size of free offerings changed over the years? Do you prefer to use a bed of 10mm baits, for example, or are you happy with 18mm?...
“For a long time, my stalking tactics taught me so much about carp, and in the short-term I could get away with just using 18mm boilies. They were easy to roll and to be honest, the bigger the hookbait, the more effective the rig became. Now there’s something to think about! Over time, as the pressure increased on the carp, we had to change our view on things. I started to use 15mm boilies for most of my fishing, including smaller 10mmers in the winter, and it’s a combination I have stuck with to this day. In saying that, it’s only the limitations of your mind which inhibits what you can do with boilies. Thinking caps on…”

Do you introduce feed on a little and often basis, or do you prefer to bait up and then leave the swim undisturbed?
“Bloody hell, there’s a million miles of bait-related subjects and headaches to talk about there! However, I will try and keep things simple. I have always believed I should bait and wait. The only time you can get away with baiting up little and often, will invariably be on a water absolutely stuffed with carp. It’s more of a match-fishing tactic, to be honest, and it’s not for me. 

“A session begins with trying to find the best place to put my bait, and once it’s there, it will stay untouched by me until I either get a bite or I’m resetting the rods. Call me old fashioned, if you like (and I probably am), but I cannot think of anything I would like to do less than keep casting at the spot I want to keep quiet and noise-free.

“I’ve painfully heard it so many times: I re-did the rod, or I baited up a little more, and got a bite an hour later. It happens once in a lifetime, and some then tell the whole world it’s the best tactic ever invented. Of course it can happen, but so infrequently. Bait-up, then leave it to the fish to sort things out… Works for me!”

By using large quantities of bait, perhaps the extreme, have you or someone you know, outfished the rest of the anglers on a lake?
“Even by the way the question is asked, it seems as if this is purely a tactic to use now and again. It isn’t, and anglers should be aware that the use of large amounts of bait (other than on some French holiday where the carp are starving), should only become the norm when the water has been sussed and the bait you are using is acceptable to the carp. I can see little point in using massive baiting tactics when you are not sure of the environment and the carp you are fishing for. Getting to this stage can take a long time, and over the years I’ve got myself there after at least a month of work. Yes, I have caught the lion’s share of carp from waters, but this isn’t an article to make me look good, it’s to help people get the best from the bait they are using.

“There’s one other thing which concerns me, which revolves around our individual perception of what dictates as ‘extreme’ large quantities. The biggest influence will be money—sad, but true. I believe it is important for me to tell you about my tactics, as it’s something I love doing. However, I am always a little embarrassed to talk about how I normally bait up, and for at least the last 25 years, it’s been boilies. Can I expect the angler who’s reading what I’m rattling on about to afford what I am using? No, in most cases, but I am convinced it’s important for everyone to realise just how much a carp can eat. 

“I remember a long time ago, somebody I read about for years, suggesting a carp would only eat around 3-4oz of food a day. I hate to pour scorn on anything, especially when this person had taught me so much, but what a load of old baloney that is. Given the right conditions and circumstances, carp will eat pounds of bait at a single sitting, you’ve just got to know about the water and the carp which live in it, that’s all. 

“Have I caught over lots of bait, anything up to 10-15k of boilies? Yes. Do I do it all the time? No. Carp angling is about weighing up the odds, looking at the conditions and populations on a venue, and then making your plan. Use bait as an item of tackle, find a way of using it according to what you find on the bank… not what the local expert has told you.”

Have you ever used anything unusual as a hookbait which has caught you a bonus fish or two?
“Coming from an era when everything I did was an experiment, it’s not surprising that I have used a multitude of different baits. Some were always going to be winners, some I never made my mind up about, and others were completely unrealistic. 

“Hemp and nuts seemed to rule the roost when I started carp fishing exclusively in 1985, but as normal, I got bored with doing what everyone else was. One of the first real experiments which sticks in my mind, and probably the most important thing which lead me to think about bait as I do today, was a strawberry. I had found several carp, on an extremely difficult water, gathered under a blackberry bush. They looked up for a bite to eat, but it wasn’t until I got a strawberry out of my daytime lunch bag, that things changed. I lowered a side-hooked berry down, thinking it would pass the fish and come to rest on the silty bottom. It had hardly started its descent before one of the fish engulfed the thing, and battle commenced! 

“I landed four more fish during that spring on strawberries but proving the carp liked them made me continue my desire to find some other peculiar thing to use as bait. The list of unusual baits is endless, but I soon realised it was where I put it which mattered most.”

Do you believe that balancing hookbaits is unnecessary, or is it something we can overdo, in theory making them react unnaturally?
“To be honest, I have come to the conclusion it really doesn’t matter. I have balanced situations all of my life, but it’s purely a confidence thing. If you’re happy with something, why change? I try and use a bait similar to my free offerings, i.e. a 15mm boilie. If I balance it with a Mainline Topper, as I do, by the time it’s been immersed for a while, the boilie would have soaked up so much water the balance is gone. 

“The same with my pop-up presentations. By morning, a very normal bite time on the more difficult venues I fish, the hookbait will sink like a brick. It will still be a pop-up, as I intended, but it has no negative buoyancy at all. Usually, it’s fashion which dictates what everyone is doing, but my advice would be to find something which works for you… and stick with it!”

What are your thoughts on re-freezing boilies?
“The short answer to this question would be: I have no problem at all. However, I reckon it should be explained a little. As long as I have bait left over at the end of a session, then I will always take it home and re-freeze it. There are those who would say my Mainline Baits are so active, the decomposition process starts very quickly. This may be so, and that’s what makes their baits so damn good, but I can assure you I have caught just as many carp on baits which have a ‘little white coat’ forming on them. I am no expert, let’s get that straight first, but I believe it is the sugars which are forced to the surface and to me, this increases the signal my bait is extruding into the water. The simple answer to a simple problem really: just don’t re-freeze if it doesn’t smell as it should.”

Also, are you one for using boilies straight out of the freezer, or do you prefer to let them thaw out, perhaps glazing them with a liquid?   
“I’m not so sure this matters at all. However, simply by the way I do my fishing, my boilies will be thawed anyway. I walk the lake I’m at for hours, when needed, leaving the boilies to brew in their own juices. As they say, it works for me. A quick footnote to this: I never put juices, oils or any other liquids on my boilies. I reckon they send off just the right amount of “come and eat me” signals as they are. I don’t want to overdo it for fear of identifying the baited area as a trap. Only my opinion, of course!”

Do you think alien smells can taint or affect our bait? These might come from anglers smoking, filling up with petrol on route, or perhaps using a hand sanitiser, which in this day and age, everyone tends to do?
“This is a very valid question—a question which will last the test of time. However, there will always be examples of when it really doesn’t matter. Unless of course, you pour petrol in your bait bag, or store tobacco or other smoking accoutrements with your boilies! 

“I always tell people to have a look at Rob Maylin’s DVD, The Yateley Yahoo Crew. In it, you will see a young lad called Terry putting his boilies in his mouth, before transferring them into his catapult pouch, and sending it out into the lake. I’m not suggesting Terry had bad breath, or didn’t clean his teeth, but surely something must have soaked into his bait? Even if it had, and not to rub his ego too much, he was a very successful Yateley angler even then! Did his toothpaste make a difference, or was it the fact he had a carry-out curry the night before, who knows? 

“As I have always said, keep it away from alien smells, and let it work the way it was supposed to. I shudder at the thought in the future, when someone tells us holding your bait in your mouth is an awesome bait distribution method. I feel a little sick thinking about tasting my new fishmeal bait all day, especially if I want to put a couple of kilos out!”