CARPING ALLEGEDLY
After allowing us a peek inside his pimped-hookbait box, Bill Cottam goes window shopping, and marvels at the bells and whistles of the modern bait boat
The Magic Box
Various reincarnations of my so-called magic box have travelled just about everywhere with me for the best part of thirty years, and I don’t envisage anything changing in the foreseeable future.
My magic box is where I keep all my pimped hookbaits, baits which, for as long as I can remember, have played such an important part in my angling approach. Although alternative hookbaits, fished over the top of a generous scattering of food bait, still play a part in my angling approach, these days, the contents of my magic box are more commonly used as the buoyant part of a critically balanced Snowman Rig.
Years of relentless ridicule from those who know me best have ensured that I came to terms, many moons ago, with the fact that I will never be known for the quality of my rigs, and that many friends constantly crave a look in my rig wallet for the entertainment value its contents provide. For what it’s worth, though, my Snowman presentations do continue to fool the occasional scaly banger. My set-ups are invariably critically balanced, something I achieve by beginning with a wholly buoyant presentation before meticulously trimming the pop-up with a modelling knife until the finished rig takes about ten minutes to sink. The only downside to this procedure is that I have a habit of using the top of my bivvy when trimming my pop-ups. Invariably, I end up having to replace it every few years because I have cut it to ribbons!
“I will never be known for the quality of my rigs, and that many friends constantly crave a look in my rig wallet for the entertainment value its contents provide.”
I am convinced that the combination of the double, and consequently irregular-shaped, hookbait, which is fished on a longer-than-average hair, and the critically balancing of the overall rig gives me a presentation that is difficult for them to get rid of, and it continues to serve me well.
The contents of my magic box have changed somewhat over the years, and for a good many, the mainstays were flavoured with things like Nutrabaits Violet, Black Pepper Liquid Booster and Fruit Special UTCS—three hookbait smells that served me incredibly well—a prototype Squid and Octopus, and Geoff Kemp’s old Green Zing. These days, things have changed somewhat, although the way I use them hasn’t particularly.
More recently, the magic box has become home to seriously pimped RG Baits’ Formula + Arctic Crab baits—which, in reality are my match-the-hatch hookbaits—Squid & Octopus and the lovely Savoury Crab from Proper Job Pop-Ups, Mainline Cell, and some of CC Moore’s Northern Specials. My friend Colin McNeil alerted me to the effectiveness of the Northern Specials relatively recently. I have to say that they have now become a firm favourite, along with my long-term number one choice as far as high-attract hookbaits go: Nutrabaits’ White Spice.
For my sins, I was running Nutrabaits at the time the White Spice hookbaits were launched. I remember being enormously pleased when the prototype samples came off the rollers, and I remain equally impressed to this day. In fact, if I had to choose my all-time-favourite, high-attract hookbait, and more importantly, the most effective, I would pick White Spice in a heartbeat.
There are no rules when it comes to alternative hookbaits, and no doubt everyone will have their favourite flavour and colour. For my part, I am a big fan of white, and I use the colour more or less exclusively. There is no theory behind my preference for white hookbaits, other than the fact that they have done so well for me over the years. As with so many aspects of carp angling, I guess it’s a confidence thing.
Generally speaking, I am not a huge fan of adding liquids to my free offerings in an attempt to increase their effectiveness, but the same cannot be said when it comes to alternative hookbaits. Their inherent attraction qualities can certainly be increased by using them in conjunction with a bait spray, a Goo, Smart Liquid, or one of the life-changing liquid concoctions that seem to be flooding the marketplace these days.
My preferred way of using products of this nature is to add them to a pot of hookbaits on a little-and-often basis over a period of time, as opposed to flooding the pot and leaving the hookers to swim around in liquid.
Bait Boat Dilemmas
Although I use them only once in a blue moon, I currently find myself on the verge of having to treat myself to a new bait boat, and have consequently been skegging around the marketplace in an attempt to find a model that best suits my needs. Under normal circumstances I probably wouldn’t have bothered, but a trusty vessel may well be useful at a couple of the waters I plan to wet a line on this season. My current boat, which I believe was one of the first Deliverance models to see the light of day, has never really let me down. I fear, however, that in common with her owner, her best days are behind her.
Things have certainly changed considerably since I was last in the market for a bait boat, and just what some of the more complex models are capable of these days proved a real eye-opener. My problem is with much of the new technology that comes part and parcel of some of the models. Being a Yorkshireman, I do not particularly need, want or have any desire to spend Bugatti Veyron-type money on something I will use only very occasionally. And as much I would no doubt find a built-in echo sounder useful, I don’t particularly want something that necessitates me having to cart a tripod and a tablet around with me. I can’t cope with the extra clutter, or additional kit that requires charging.
“Being a Yorkshireman, I do not particularly need, want or have any desire to spend Bugatti Veyron-type money on something I will use only very occasionally.”
Along with echo sounders, my research into what is and isn’t available on the bait-boat front these days revealed such features as return-to-base facilities, 3D lake mapping, bait spreaders, underwater winch cams, compatible phone apps, and autopilot GPS to ensure that your boat automatically, and rather conveniently, drops your bait on the same spot each time… all mind-blowing stuff for a technophobe like me!
I do have a couple things on my bait-boat-accessory wish list, though, namely a deck-mounted solar panel to save me from the laborious task of having to charge the bloody thing up all the time, and top of my list, a heat-seeking depth charge device that can automatically pinpoint the whereabouts of any crayfish that might be lurking around my baited area, and instantly send them to meet their maker.
