The Simon Crow Column: Big Fish Love SLK!
I used to joke about the amount of times I was asked: “How can I book on Rainbow Lake?” For several years I used to get at least two or three people per week ask me that question, but recently it’s been replaced by: “Crowy, what’s your thoughts on SLK?” This one is in my inbox nearly every day at the moment!
The big-carp specialist, SLK
People who know me will tell you I put a lot of emphasis on quality bait. I’m not much of a rig man, preferring to keep things simple in that department. I rely on watercraft and understanding the carp first and foremost, but bait has always been very important to me, especially when fishing for pressured fish. They really need to want something when they’ve been caught a few times.
The more experienced you are as an angler, the more you have to fall back on. I’ve seen poor results from poor-quality baits, when you try to scrimp on price and end up with something that smells nice but is, in fact, something completely different. Trust me, if you only pay attention to price, you will be relying on luck more than anything when it comes to big fish, and luck doesn’t always go in your favour.
Autumn is one of the best times for big fish
Any old Jack can put together a cheap bait and then try to make out other companies’ baits are overpriced. In fact, a lot of the cheaper bait companies don’t even make their own bait; they simply contact one of the known industry rollers and get them to whack together a bait for them. Loads of the Facebook bait companies do this. Some don’t even use UK rollers to make the bait for them; they prefer to go to Holland, where they can get bait made even cheaper!
Cheap baits include cheap ingredients, such as lots of semolina and soya flour. They will be heavily coloured and flavoured to mask them. They are easy to pick out. Of course, they attract carp and people catch on them, but they don’t work as well as the better-quality baits. This is an absolute fact, and if I could pass on one piece of advice about bait and big fish, it’s to use the best-quality bait you possibly can. This means stick with one of the better-quality bait companies that you know has a track record of producing good-quality products. All of the established companies have proven carp anglers at the helm. At DNA Baits, Jase Trought has been on the scene for years. He’s known for making top bait and has a track record of catching awesome carp on baits he has made himself. He knows what works, and the company is known for going to extensive lengths to make a bait right. Nothing is put out there without thorough testing.
Waiting patiently on my Lincoln syndicate water
When I started using DNA Baits, I knew straight away which bait I wanted to use. SLK contains ingredients that are known to attract big fish (shrimp, liver and krill). The bait has a proven track record with loads of big fish under its belt too, including many tricky once-a-year-type carp.
The biggest fish in my Lincoln syndicate, the Trent Mirror
I started catching good fish with it right from the off, and that has continued through to my recent fishing on the Lincoln syndicate I started fishing in September. I wrote about my first trip to the water in my previous column, when I caught the venue’s biggest common Arnie at 36lb on my first trip. I backed it up with another of the A-team on the same morning, and then two trips later, I went on to land another brace of thirties, one of which was the biggest fish in the lake called the Trent Mirror. The other fish was an ancient mirror known as Wrinkly, also over 30lb.
The prehistoric-looking Wrinkly
If that wasn’t enough to convince me of how good SLK is, my next trip down saw me with another two stunning thirties as well as my most-wanted carp from the water, known as the Woodcarving Mirror.
My third brace of thirties in four trips
I’m still buzzing from how well my fishing went on that lake. I fished a total of only nine nights and caught seven of the finest fish in the lake, all on SLK.
I don’t think I need to tell you any more about my thoughts on this brilliant bait. If it’s big fish you want in your net, then SLK is the one for you. It really is a winner!
One of Lincoln’s finest carp, the amazing Woodcarving
