Bait According To... Gareth Fareham

The baits that changed everything were little bright singles, without question. I’ve used lots of different boilies over the years, and they’ve all worked well, but the one thing that has stayed completely consistent with my approach since about 1997, is fishing small, bright, ultra-prepped singles over the top of darker foodbaits. Back in the North West it was par for the course and standard fare. Everyone did it, but further afield it took a bit longer to filter out into the mainstream. Even to this day, complex blends and a prep process still holds sway over off-the-shelf stuff.

The game-changing baiting moment which altered everything for me was the same as Darrell Peck’s, actually (issue 219), and that’s washing out, or rather ‘washing in’ my boilies. It was something I had dabbled with before, but I read a piece in an old Carpworld by Shaun Harrison and that spurred me into reconsidering it sometime in the early 2000s. When combined with my good mate Ben Hamilton’s method of ‘heat treating’, you have the perfect combo. Take your freshly boiled hemp and tiger, full of all that steaming hot, oily, salty, sweet liquid, stick your kilo or two of boilie in there, seal up and leave for 12–24hrs prior to a trip, and you have the most supercharged bait ever. That method did me all my bites from the Car Park, and a few came within hours of lacing a full bucket in… no heavy chemical additives, soaks, liquids or any of that, just pure, natural attraction, and a significantly changed consistency of bait, full of liquid that I am convinced the carp eat far quicker than hard, inert baits straight from the bag, or stuff covered in heavy chemical-attractor blends. It’s a mega method, still to this day, and something not too many anglers do, as it requires the extra effort prior to a trip.  

The last bait-related item I bought and loved was some of Alfie’s Secret Squirrel Candyberry singles, beautiful little pop-ups that did me a few bites last year! They’re a great size, are of a superb consistency and contain mega attractor blends. 

On my wish list for future bait items are hemp-sized tiger nuts, perhaps… To be honest, I’m incredibly happy with everything I use these days. The Baitworks boilie is the best I have used, full of rich, coarse, incredibly high-quality natural attractors, and I have options for seasons and different types of water. The hookbait ranges are great, and I still don’t believe you can better the likes of hemp, tiger, maggot and caster, where you can use them. I’m not wishing for anything in all honesty.

I have an excessive collection of hookbaits, without question. I have very little of anything else, just a few big containers full of seed and a freezer full of boilies, but I do have a cupboard full of hookbaits. The old North West days were rich in experimentation with single-hookbait combos, and that has stuck with me. I tend not to actually swap and change too much, but I do seem to collect hookbaits still… I can’t help myself! 

A bait I long to use again is the original, fresh stock, Hutchy Nouvelle Fizz-Autumn Harvest-Sublime combo. It was just absolutely incredible, as was the glass-bottled Mulberry. Even though there are a few companies using old flavours still to this day, I actually binned all my old bottles (yep, not eBay!), and started playing with, and sourcing new liquids and blends, as I was convinced the old vintage stuff wasn’t as effective anymore. They definitely denature over time, and 100 per cent lose some of their effectiveness. I wasn’t happy to gamble on old stuff any longer, so I cut my losses and started afresh with new liquids and new blends. Solar’s original Squid & ‘Occy’ was dangerous as well.

Who influences me when it comes to bait? In all honesty, I don’t worry too much about bait. I know I’m using bait of the highest quality possible, and I just trust it implicitly. I worry far more about application and how to use it. People worry too much about bait.

My preferred baiting approach nowadays all depends on the lake and situation. My angling varies massively these days, so being adaptable and not a one-trick pony is essential. Reading a situation and deciding if it needs a handful or five kilos is the key to consistent results, always. I can go from using massive spreads of 20 millers and 20/24mm snowmen in Europe one week, to tiny little balanced tigers over a few handfuls of chops and caster back home the next. One thing that remains almost always consistent, is using hookbaits with a degree of buoyancy, and that reset the rig and lay it out nicely. I don’t use pop-ups that much anymore, much preferring a balanced bottom bait presented on a good, clean spot.    

My preferred hookbait colour is either a dull sweetcorn-yellow, or pink. 

My preferred free food size is 12mm in the UK, and big in Europe. 

My best bait edge is undoubtedly the washing in with hot hemp and tiger liquid. If you fish boilies, or nuts are banned and naturals aren’t an option or suitable, then it is absolute dynamite, especially on really pressured venues that see introductions of fresh bait every day. On those kinds of places, I’m convinced carp are completely dialled in to knowing when bait is 2–3 days old, and is then considered much safer. If you’re pushed for time, the ‘crusting up’ method with salt, GLM and Krill Powder is an absolute winner as well, and has done really well for me in the last 5–10 years. If you haven’t done it before, give it a proper go.