After 5 months of testing, we are now offering new premium bait choices from Nash that will give you more baiting options for a successful session. We are also adding selected tackle from Nash that’s perfectly suited to the challenges of Beausoleil.
Why Nash tackle and bait
I take product and bait testing very seriously and over many years I’ve learned what does and does not work here. Our regular guests have learned to trust and rely on my opinions and understand the difference that certain choices can make. We’ve always remained impartial when it comes to recommending products and this position has not changed. We have chosen to become a reseller of the Nash products due to the exceptional quality of the products within their range.
Nash premium bait
If your only experience of Nash bait has been from the Instant Action range then you may not have a very high opinion of it. I was lucky enough to be able to chat with Mr. Nash Bait himself (Gary Bayes) and explain what I was looking for. A key concern of mine was the move away from freezer bait to stabilized bait. Food preservatives have come on leaps and bounds in recent years and stabilized baits should not be confused with what were traditionally known as shelf-life or ready made baits. Stabilized baits use a water soluble human-grade food preservative that we are already eating regularly ourselves. Once immersed in water, this preservative is washed out of the bait (over a couple of days) and it returns back to a fresh bait which is chemically identical to a freezer bait. Now obviously 99.9% of the time this bait will have been eaten by the carp but should one or two get missed, they will bob up to the top (just like old freezer baits do) where they can be eaten by birds and other wildlife.
Long term testing
Not only is Gary Bayes still heavily involved with the development of new products for Nash but he also owns a lake or two and has been feeding his own carp stabilized Nash bait for the last 15 years. Gary Bayes is held in high regard in the fishery management world and his carp have grown large, healthy and strong on this high quality food source. He had no hesitation in recommending that we use the two premium offerings from the Nash Bait range: Scopex Squid and Citruz.
Scopex Squid
The Scopex Squid is an out and out food bait that packs a whopping 30% protein level. This puts it firmly into the HNV end of the bait quality spectrum. It’s been around since the 90s and has been responsible for breaking multiple British and world records for carp. For many years it was only available to the top guys but now everyone has the chance to fish with this phenomenally effective carp food.
The very first night I tried the Scopex Squid resulted in the capture of a massive carp that I’d never caught before in 10 years of trying! Single Scale span the scales way past the 40lbs mark and settled at a new top weight of 45lbs 8oz. It was an incredible start and I never looked back. It went on to account for 7 more 40s for me before the end of May.
It turned out that the cats liked it as well but only when I created a very powerful food signal by using crumbed and whole baits tight over a spot. When I dotted baits about, the cats didn’t bother. It was only the carp that took the time to track down every bait. The Scopex Squid will only be available in 5kg resealable bags of 18mm and 24mm (1kg) designed for the catfish. If you give us enough notice, other sizes may be available.
Citruz
Citruz Is designed as a winter bait but is also perfect for the front and back end of the season, or any time when bites are harder to find. The Citruz is all about creating a quick response from the carp. It’s not designed to fill them up; it’s designed for use in small quantities either in PVA bag, small bait boat traps of just as singles with a few baits dotted about.
The secret weapon in the Citruz range are the popups. Each popup comes with a miniature 3ml spray bottle that can be used to juice up the whole pot on a regular basis. It’s powerful stuff and just one or two squirts is all you need. Just be sure to shake the pot about to distribute the flavour, then grab a fresh one and wang it out. I’ve never really bothered much with popups myself but these have opened up a whole new world of possibilities.
I’ve had multiple carp including two 40’s just by casting to showing fish down the shallows. It’s not something I normally even bother trying as it’s a waste of time. Citruz has changed this. The first time I tried it I was away within 20 minutes, the second time I didn’t even have a chance to clip the bobbin on…. Yep, that quick! Citruz boilies will only be available in 18mm (pink) and are designed as freebies to dot around. I love the way in which you get a good range of shades of pink in every bag of boilies and in every pot of popups. It gives you plenty of options for a variety of situations. Some days you want a fluoro bright pink popup, other days you’ll be reaching for the delicate washed out pink baits. With Citruz pink, you’ve got all options covered.
Flake
Many years ago, thanks to Korda, the carping world was revolutionised by the Korda Krusha. For the first time it enabled every angler to crush boilies into varying degrees of crumbiness with this handy little device. It was brilliant, available in two sizes and pretty soon every PVA bag in the land was being launched with finely crushed boilie crumb. The only trouble was the time it took to produce anything more than a few small handfuls of crumbs. I’ve had a go working round this problem by sacrificing an old food processor and slicing and dicing boilies with it. My advice? Don’t bother. Don’t even think about bothering. It’s slow, very noisy, difficult to control and a waste of a useful piece of kitchen equipment.
So who was going to solve this problem? Well, yet again it was Gary Bayes. In fact I believe that one of his greatest creations is not some genius bait mix but the creation of Flake. Within seconds of opening the bag and having a delve around, I knew this was a game changer. It makes knocking out PVA mesh bags of crumb of any size laughably quick and because the product is just made from stabilised boilies, all you do is reseal and it’s ready to go for next time.
Flake opens up a whole new world of baiting options that can be implemented quickly and easily with no prep. Even a small handful of flake will keep carp feeding over your spot for extended periods of time whereas the same quantity of boilies could be gone in seconds. We’ll be offering 5kg bags of Scopex Squid flake which (carefully applied) will keep carp visiting your spots all week long. We’ll also be selling 1kg bags or Citruz. Perfect for creating small bait boat traps or for PVA bags.
Pop ups
Alongside this incredible range of Nash boilies and flake, we’ll also be supplying the Scopex Squid pop-ups in 15mm. I’ve gone for the white version as I think they’ll make the perfect snowman presentation that’s been popular with a number of our guests. For the Citruz pop-ups, I’ve gone for pink. Just like the Citruz bottom baits you get a full range of different shades in every pot so you’ll always have the right popup for the job.
Spod Syrup
The spod syrup (1 litre) will only be available in Scopex Squid. This is perfect for those that want to knock up a grubbing mix for deployment along the margins or by boat. This two part liquid is a complex mixture of oils and liquid food and is designed to create long lasting attractions throughout all levels of the water column. Don’t forget to give the bottle a good shake before pouring over pellets or flake or ideally over a heavenly mixture of both!
Nash Pellets
Alongside our proven range of carp pellets and catfish pellets we’ve also gone with pellets which match the Scopex Squid and Citruz boilies. The Citruz pellets are only available in 2mm (1kg) bags. These are the perfect pellet for creating small but powerful PVA traps. The Scopex Squid Pellets are 6mm and available in 5kg bags. Perfect for knocking up a grubing mix.
Nash Cultured
Yet another first from Gary Bayes are the cultured hookbaits. These hookbaits are simply the highest quality, most attractive hookbait you’ll ever fish with. They are a labour of love to produce as the coating is slowly built up over many days. In total, no fewer than 20 coats are required to produce a finished cultured bait. These baits can’t even be called boilies because there is no water or heat involved in the process.
The result is a hookbait that slowly leaks off a huge amount of attraction over many hours. They are in an entirely different league to an out of the bag boilie. It never ceases to amaze me that there are carp that swim here that I’ve never caught and we know a few carp that virtually never get caught. The Box common is a good example. During my test fishing when the temps are right the fish are getting through 25kg of supplementary food every single day and if you think I’m catching every time I have a dabble you’d be very wrong. Even with the best rigs I know they still clear me out on a regular basis. I’ve not yet had the chance to test the cultured range myself but based on the quality of the products I’ve already tested I simply cannot wait for them to arrive. I want to catch that common so bad and I need every edge I can get my hands on!
Nash Tackle
To further enhance the level of service we provide to customers, we have decided to stock a small selection of tackle items from Nash that I believe can make a massive difference to your results. I have tested each item thoroughly and incorporated it into my own fishing.
Nash Bullet
If you’ve been following our journey for a number of years you’ll know that we’ve had massive problems with premature mainline failures since day one. In 2014 we decided enough was enough and after an insane amount of testing we selected 25lb Big Game as the recommended mainline. We made progress with the issue immediately and a few years later we introduced compulsory knot testing for all rods and the progress continued.
Over the last two years I’ve been able to conduct a huge amount of real world testing myself. Last year I experimented with a very popular line: ESP Syncro XT loaded in 18lbs. It’s good stuff but I still wasn’t confident in signing it off for use here. This year I’ve been able to give the newly re-launched Nash Bullet a proper go. Bullet mono was hugely popular in the 90s and this new version builds on that success.
I never fished with it back in the day but I’m very impressed with the 20lb (0.40) version. In my abrasion tests it was equally as robust as Big Game 25lbs (0.48) and considerably better than the ESP. It was also highly reliable during knot testing. I found the 5-turn tucked blood knot to be 100% effective (over 10 consecutive tests) using our 8kg (17.5lb) kettle bell. It’s a brutal deadlift test so that’s very impressive for a 0.40 mono I can tell you! On the bank I’ve found the Bullet to be an absolute joy to fish with. It’s easier to handle than the Big Game and casts for miles with very little effort. I even got a baited rig stuck 4m up a tree during testing (the tree was 100 yards away and I wasn’t giving it the big un). Very impressive for a 0.40 mono.
As a result I’ve signed the Nash Bullet off for use at the venue. Obviously If you’d prefer to stick with the 25lb Big Game then that’s no issue. The Nash Bullet will be available to pre-order from us and I’m sure we’ll be carrying a spare spool or two for those that wish/need to re-spool during their stay.
Current list of tackle items include:
Nash Bullet mono 20lb (0.40), Nash chod Twister hooks, Nash chod Claw hooks, Nash Tungsten sinkers, Nash loupe with built in LED light, Nash splicing needle, Nash Knot Puller, Nash Cutters.
I’m sure that this range will increase and if there’s anything else you’d like to see or order directly from us then all you have to do is ask. For pricing just pop over to our bait and accessories page where you’ll find each item mentioned. As always you’ll be able to pre-order using this form and the items will be ready and waiting for you on arrival.
