I have been using RG Baits now for over 8 years. I was at a point back then where I wanted and felt like I needed my tools sharpening. You may be able to drill a hole in your wall with an Argos job, but you would do it a lot more efficiently and without the wasted energy using a Dewalt. I look at bait as a tool for catching carp. A quality bait they want to eat and a sharp hook in the right place are all it takes to catch our quarry. The rest is just hype. The first RG Baits boilie I used after looking at a few samples was the Formula Red and Plum. Bait is something I know quite alot about, having had a small bait company of my own many moons ago. Its something that Im really interested in. The Formula Red and Plum is a classic old school fishmeal bait which carp simply adore. Especially those old wise lethiathans. They love a proper food source bait thats packed with most of what they need, they simply cant get enough of it.
Yateley
**The mighty Mill**
The first water I used the Formula Red and Plum exclusively on was the mighty Mill Lane in Yateley, catching one of the rarely caught ones. A typical Yateley brute of a carp called The Big Leathery one. Unfortunately Mill Lane became a bit of a graveyard and I didnt like what was going on over there, so it was time to move on. Life’s too short. The Colne Valley
Next I used it to great success on a few Colne Valley waters. Catching my target carp from them. I returned to a water that I fished about seventeen years ago and started catching from the off. The results just got better and better, the more I applied it.
**I love This Place**
I spent hours and hours watching them smashing the Red in the edges. Angling in this way tells you everything you need to know about a bait. How much they want it and how much they can eat of it. The confidence this gives you is ten fold and a confident angler is a dangerous one. Horton
Using the Formula Red and Plum on Horton’s Church Lake gave me results I could only of dreamed of. Fishing the lake differently to the other 98 percent of the anglers and applying the bait in my chosen areas worked a treat. The carp would turn up on time each day looking for their food source, the rest was up to me.
A perfect example of the old, wise residents loving this bait were the recaptures I experienced in my one full season. A very, very rare visitor to the bank was old Black Tail and although we don’t want recaptures, a carp so special just couldn’t be frowned upon.
**Black Tail an epic old carp**
A huge old resident called Alfie was another one of many that loved the bait. Coming to the folds of my net, twice in 6 days and 22 hours from complete opposite corner ends of the lake. A testament that the carp will seek out a bait that they want to eat, whilst swimming over other bait to get to it. A New Bait Only a complete idiot would change a winning formula, but having to change over to a winterised bait once the water temps lowered every year, never really felt good to me. So i decided to change my bait the following season, and try the newly released Prime. This is an all season bait due to its make up and lack of fishmeal’s. As soon as I stuck my hooter in a bag of this at The Northern Carp Show, i knew it was a winner. Another bait, with a blend of very special ingredients and attractor’s that carp just cant get enough of. This bait is totalled unique and stands out from the usual arsenal of boilies. Once again, from the off, it was an instant bait. Having a productive spring with carp to 47lb plus on Horton’s Church Lake. As the spring moved on, I applied it in mass, and the reaction was nothing short of amazing. They loved it. This was a special bait that I had the utmost confidence in. Once you know the bait is the one , all you have to do is find them.
**The Church Bay Steps**
Crayfish pool
With my confidence through the roof, I took the Prime on my first Autumn / winter campaign to the legendary Crayfish Pool. And what an enjoyable, successful one it turned out to be. I caught all but a few of the stock with multiple repeat captures. C Scale now became my obsession. I spent hours and hours watching her feed on my bait, over many weeks. One morning near her home i got my opportunity. She tipped over and picked me up. As the line picked up i moved forward to pick up my Scope, but she had done me. It was all in slow motion as she righted herself, flicked her head violently, and the rig minus the 5 onze lead fluttered to the bottom of the lake bed. The next time we met was in ten days time if i remember correctly. After an awesome battle, knowing mid way through the fight it was her that i was attached to. I was buzzed and full of emotion, now peering into the net at my prize, on what would have been my Dads Birthday. He was no longer with us, but he was definitely looking down on me, I know he was.
**C Scale – A really emotional moment**
Wraysbury North
The opening days draw arrived and i found myself in the traffic queuing to get to the car park. I would normally avoid this at all costs but after a long Lock down i was buzzing to get stuck in to the new challenge of Wraysbury North. After walking the lake and having the done the draw, it was gear to my swim, plumbing rod out to see what we had to fish to. After a lengthy smash up I was happy. Rods out, time to sit back and take it all in. 03.30am and the bobbin pulled up tight on the left hander. After a proper scary ruck with what felt like a very big carp, eventually the line fell slack. The hook had fallen out, FUCK. Gutted, but the positives were i had the pick up. That night and morning I saw alot of what the carp were doing, and what the anglers were doing wrong. In the memory bank it all went with an essay of notes in the phone. Two days later I was back keen as mustard. I spent the first night in a poke hole waiting for the angler to move out of Springates. The angler packed up biteless late morning and i followed on in. After a bit of a lead up I found what i was looking for. The right kind of spot in the right kind of depth. The weather was improving all the time with a big South Westerly smashing across me. My observations from the opposite side of the lake a few days before were priceless. Now to cut a long story short my first two bites came from gorgeous double figure tench, but a session I would take to the grave with me was about to unfold. I spent three nights in the swim applying over 20kgs of Prime in various ways, and had three of my targets along with others.
**Jay’s Common – Simply Awesome**
Yet again the bait had given me all the confidence I needed. I was proper buzzing and put a plan in place for the season ahead. Moving forward I chose an area that had been ignored for at least a few years and within a month of prepping the spots I was fishing the swim.
** Walking the rig to the dinner plate sized spot**
All three rods would receive takes each morning, I could set my alarm by them. It was crazy fishing. I had an absolutely brilliant six months catching alot of carp, along with a few other old ones I dearly wanted. Unfortunately i went on a run of losing a few also but hey its fishing. The changes were made and not another one fell off from that point, until another lockdown paid the end to my time on the most amazing of lakes. The Prime had done me proud once again and just shows that being different and using a different bait is an edge all by itself.
**Waiting For The Magic To Happen**
At last lockdown was over and we could now travel and do nights again. I had a new ticket and was buzzing for it. I went to the Lee Valley and had instant success. Again watching carp gorge on the Prime in the margins, but to cut a long story short, It wasnt for me, and my time was done.
The Carpwolds
Next up I went to the Cotswolds. A place I had fished a few times in years gone by on socials, but this time it would be my home each week for a season. The lake in question was a pressured, tricky pit riddled in crayfish, with a small stock of lovely carp. No real big ones in today’s world of carp fishing, but a few mid thirties and one upper thirty. It was now the first week in May so the carp were well and truly moving around the lake. After a few trips I began to quickly tune in to what the carp were doing and fished it the way i like to. Fishing the margins that were neglected by the anglers but very much not so by the carp. After refining a few things I started to get a few opportunities and had a few. Not the better ones at this stage, from these spots, but as time went on I knew where i needed to angle for them. The spawning seemed to go on forever so I fished another pit a few miles from there, but still popped in each week to give them some Prime on a selected two spots. Again no one even looked in these parts. When the time was right in September I was back. Doing my best to keep the captures under wraps, which isnt always easy. It was real exciting angling there, and I started to see the better ones visit one of the spots daily. The action lasted about three weeks until i got caught doing a self take. This made things harder and the usual sheep stuff put an end to the carp going anywhere near this spot. October was here and the other primed spot was real deep, with lots of tree cover. It was perfect for the time of year. I could perch up the tree and watch the carp turn up. It was a real tricky spot to fish and the first opportunity I had I got it all wrong. The line lay was real tricky such was the steep marginal drop off. After a frustrating weekend and getting clocked by an angler in there, i spent the week driving around at work cursing myself. The week seemed to take forever to get to Friday night, although I did prebait on the Wednesday night. Eventually it was Friday and I was back in the Cotswolds late evening. I pulled into a packed car park. There were anglers near the pokey hole so i crept in quietly and gave them some prebait before settling into a main swim for the night. As soon i had a chance the following afternoon i was gazing down into the deep marginal spot. It wasn’t long before I saw the carp I wanted, old Drop Scale. I couldn’t believe it, she was still coming to the baited spot even after the balls up the week before, and the disturbance of a few locals now interested what i was up to. I got the rig in place and quickly had the Long Orange. Fuck i thought. It turned up from nowhere and that was that. Sometimes though its meant to be. The next opportunity was Drop Scale, the one I really wanted after seeing her on her previous capture back in May. The Flurocarbon mainline got snagged on one of the huge boulders in the margin and after a few fucks and shits were thrown about luckily I managed to jump in below the surface and free the line from danger. Every time I tried to get her in the landing net, shed make another powerful lunge away from me and down the marginal shelf. When I eventually managed to get her in the net i was wrecked. Knackered. Who cares though, i was chuffing buzzing and couldnt wait to get my hands on her. The mainline was proper grated up as well. Real lucky aye.
**Drop Scale – Chuffing Buzzing**
When i lifted her up, the locals that gave me abit of shit since finding me doing a self take, all looked down the bank towards me with envy. The smile on my face spoke all the words needed.
Yateley North
**The Christmas Tree**
The North Lake was my home for the new season. The first few sessions it was all about singles and very light baiting, but by the end of April i was fishing the over looked 30/40s swim. I was having a few bites in the night and managed to keep it quiet, so gave them a bit of bait to keep them busy while I was away from the pond. The Bailiffs Lin was one I really wanted from the North, only speaking to my mate Colin about her the night before I got the bite from her. Caught up in the moment, I didn’t realise at first that it was her. What a proper character of a carp, chuffed to of had her. Especially as I had been unlucky with losing a few of the target Sutton strains from Kingsmead and Wraysbury North. The carp spawned the following week, so it was time to leave them to recover for a month. The first week back to the lake, the dreaded news that The Wedding Fish was found dead. Gutted. The spring disappeared and before we knew it the summer was in full bloom.
**The Bailiffs Lin**
I moved onto a new ticket at this point with a winter return in mind. The summer and Autumn has been a steep learning curve and I have loved my fishing as much as I ever have. The future is looking bright.
Be lucky, see you on the bank sometime.
Justin
