Bait According To... Ian Chillcott

The bait which changed everything for me was discovered shortly after I met Keith Jenkins and Dave Lane, at my local Army lake, in Aldershot. It was a lake I knew well, and although I had no input into this amazing industry of ours at the time, I knew Laney did! We became close friends and it didn’t take me long to seize the opportunity for some bait, paid for by giving them items of clothing and equipment, supplied indirectly by the British Army. Mainline had just brought out the Grange—a bait which was eventually given the divine kudos of having as much impact on carp fishing as the Hair rig—it was that good! I had more than my fair share of fish during my limited Army time for carp fishing, but this incredible bait took things to a whole new level!

The game-changing baiting moment which altered everything for me came shortly after receiving my first 10kg bag of 15mm Grange from Dave. I was fishing at the same venue, Chalk Farm, where I had first met them and unfortunately there hadn’t been a fish on the bank in three weeks. Knowing the lake well, I knew just the spot to trial out this new carp cuisine: just over the back of a small feature at around 20yds. Catapult range! I delivered 9kg to the spot, which used up around four catapult elastics, then gazed at the spot wondering what planet I had arrived here from (as did the three other anglers on the lake). However, I landed eleven carp to just over 30lb, in the short 16hr session. In 1994 it was an incredible result, and from a lake that hadn’t done a fish for so long. The die had been set.

The last bait related item I bought and loved was a couple of bottles of Mainline’s Smart Fish Liquid. I had become the proud owner of 30kg of a new ‘Fishmeal’ boilie on trial, but it was so new we didn’t have any dips to go with the bait just yet. To that end, I went up to Crowthorne Angling Centre and purchased a couple of tubes as a dip for my hookbaits. I’m not a great fan of over-flavouring my hookbaits, but I do like to negate any nasty niffs I may have put on them whilst handling them. To that end, so as not to waste any of it, I emptied the tube into an empty hookbait jar, covering the hookbaits I was using thoroughly and leaving them in the butt ring for a while, to settle on the rig. The first fish on the new bait—and the Smart Fish Liquid—came a little later in the session. A stunning 33lb linear made my trip to the North Lake at Yateley so rewarding. As it did on the next trip with another 33lb mirror! And to round this off nicely, the next time I was there for my normal two day session, I landed four fish, topped by the biggest and rarely caught common at 38lb 12oz. Purchases simply don’t come any better than that!  

The one bait related I would never part with is my ever trusted Response Pellets. I have used these little critters since their inception many years ago, and have constantly been amazed at how they draw fish into the baited area and just as importantly, keep them there. The added bonus is they also come in the same flavours as the boilies I am using, and break down incredibly quickly. Even when there is little left to eat on my chosen spot, that smell lures the carp back to the area, ensuring they will remain there for a very long time. And the longer they are there and grubbing around for food, the more likely I am to catch one.  

I have a comprehensive collection of hookbaits and dips, and discovered that changing your presentation from time to time, can lead to getting more bites. Not changing your rigs every five minutes, as so many encourage anglers to do! I have discovered two rigs which work for me everywhere I’ve been, having found no need to change. However, hookbaits can be changed to represent something just a little bit different to the norm. My collection has been on the increase for many years, and my selection of wafters, dumbells, pop-ups and dips is embarrassingly huge. Some may never get used, but I always look at them, and it fills me with so much confidence—something which enhances one’s chances tenfold!

A bait I long to use again is something I’m not sure I should say, really. But what the heck. At the back end of the 1996/7 season, when Horton Church Pool was at its finest, Keith Jenkins and I managed to get Steve Morgan to make us a batch of birdfood boilies. It was a complete one off, but its results would help no end with future bait production. Between us, Keith and I managed SIX bites in the last two weeks of the season, more than either of us could have expected over a couple of seasons. It was mind-blowing stuff, and gave us great confidence as we were moving onto the once legendary Wraysbury One for the spring of 1997. 125-acres containing 20 carp, it never got better than that. Both of us caught straight away, me having Mallins at 38lb 8oz and Keith catching Cluster at over 43lb. We just needed more bait, but the recipe had been mislaid. Sad as this may have been, I moved onto the Assassin-8, and things just carried on the way they have always done with Mainline… carp soup!

The best bait related advice I’ve been given in the last year was when I moved onto the North Lake at Yateley. I had absolutely no idea what to expect, but I did have a rough idea of the numbers of fish I would be angling for. It was great chatting to several of the members as I walked around in late September 2021, but the thing which struck me most was what they were saying about bait. Some mentioned the horrific news that many were using maggots(!), whilst others talked of using tiny amounts of bait. Let’s face it, if everyone is doing the same thing, then that is all that is going to catch carp. There is always some room for experiment, which is why I went to the other end of the scale. I was using Mainline’s Hybrid, and on my first session I let them have 2kgs of boilies and Response Pellets. By the time I had packed up 48hrs later, I’d landed three fish: a 23lb common and mirrors of 30lb 10oz and 34lb 10oz. Don’t be driven by fashion—it sucks—and rarely catches you any more fish. It just massages the egos of those who cannot think for themselves.

What is my preferred baiting approach nowadays? As many would think, it’s not necessarily about the quantity of bait I employ. Although I do use bait to catch a few carp, not as some ‘well carpy geezers’ suggest to ‘nick the odd bite’. It’s the use of bait in various sizes which interests me most. Not only does the use of smaller items, such as 10mmers and Response Pellets keep the carp rooting around for more, it also gives us far more choice of hookbaits. I tend to throw 15mmers into the equation, so the hookbait could be a 10 and 15mm boilie, two 10mmers, a single 15… the choice goes on. People worry about tench and bream getting in on the act, but to me that only increases the lure of the baited area to the carp. Invite them all to the party, I say, and no doubt the carp will arrive.

My preferred hookbait colour and size is something of which I have little concern. I guess much comes from the era in which I grew up in carp fishing. It was always a case of match-the-hatch. Nowadays it seems a bright hookbait is the only way forward. However, it always mists the waters for me. If carp are so intelligent, as many claim, then why do they pick up a bait which neither smells or looks like any of the free offerings you have expected them to eat in the first place? What is the point of camouflaging your end tackle, if they are prepared to pick up such an obvious offering week after week, year after year? To me, it all boils down to what we, as individuals, are confident in using. The bright hookbait brigade only highlights how little intelligence, if any at all, a carp has. But hey, if people are confident and happy using them, then why not? I’m going to smile for the camera whatever hookbait I’ve caught a carp on… and so should you.

My best baiting edge is to mix up your free offerings, as I have suggested. If you haven’t got a change in boilie size then break up some of them into halves and quarters. Not only are you releasing the inner core of the baits, adding attraction to the baited area, you are keeping those carp there longer. Crumbing your boilies as well, leaving a light dusting of them on the bottom is a surefire way of ensuring they stay for longer and longer periods of time. So many use boilies as a convenient round object, when there is so much more you can do with them—we haven’t even got into adding liquids and other attractors! That’s for another day, but just think about the almost unlimited hookbait choices this allows you. Bait seems to be a complicated issue to some, but the main thing is to put it in the right place to begin with, and then you can adjust things accordingly.