When I first heard about the Angling Lines Bait, I was very interested to get my hands on some. My previous dealings with Angling Lines had been with regard to their prestigious carp venues, so I knew that this bait would be designed to look after fish, as well as catch them. After all, they wouldn’t want anglers throwing any old junk into their lakes!
In fact, not only are these baits made from the best ingredients, the boilies are also designed to break down in approximately 48 hours, which means that you won’t find lakes paved with Angling Lines bait!
The Angling Lines ‘Specials’ that I was sent have been developed over many years and have had some simply stunning catches in France. Just take a look at their website and you’ll see what I mean!
When the bait arrived, I did the usual ‘fisherman’ thing • I took a couple of boilies out and sniffed them! I then broke them in half. To say I was keen to use them is an understatement • I could tell by their very texture that the smells wafting up my nostrils would ooze out of them at a rate of knots. Although these boilies were shelf-life boilies, they were somewhat ‘spongier’ than many I’ve used and practically like ‘fresh’ baits. So far, so good.
The water I’m fishing at the moment is a bit ‘odd’. I’m told that it was once a good carp fishery, but that the carp were moved in order to make it into a match fishery. However, there are still a few carp left in there. As my fishing seems to be ‘snatched’ trips after I’ve finished all my work, dealt with Anglers’ Net and then spent some time with my wife and daughter, I need somewhere local. This venue fits the bill, so it’s where I do most of my fishing at the moment. Truth be told, it’s actually a nice water and I enjoy it there. I’d had a few nice tench out previously, but no carp and no real ‘bagging’ sessions.
I can now safely say that I have found a bait that the fish in there go mad for!
I’ll be honest and say that I still haven’t caught a carp, but that’s down to me, rather than the bait. My theory is that if I can catch a lot of the tench, I’ll pick up one of the elusive carp eventually. I don’t think it will take long now.
From the first time I used the Angling Lines Specials, the fish were all over them. They must have read the Angling Lines Bait website: “A blend of fish meals, robin red, ground bird food, amino acids and a highly attractive crab flavour.” Sounds so good, even I nearly ate them!
I can’t remember how many tench I’ve had out, but I do know that I’ve had numerous ones up to 6lb 9oz in some very short sessions. Most of my sessions are around 3 hours. Also, loose feeding boilies is banned at this venue, so the fish haven’t been ‘taught’ to take these ones! My club prints a list of the best fish caught during their matches – the tench I’ve had were bigger than any caught last year.
Angling Lines Bait also do matching pop-ups for their boilies, as well as dips and pellets. I’ve tried the dips and pop-ups and they are of equally good quality. I expect the pellets are the same.
The range is broad, covering fishmeal bases, seed bases fishmeal & seed bases as well as milk proteins. As well as being able to buy in ready made and frozen states, you can also buy base mixes. As previously mentioned, pop-ups, dips and pellets are also available. Oh, and paste. Told you it was a broad range!
When I spoke to Angling lines to tell them that I’d ‘only’ been catching specimen tench on their bait, I was half expecting them to ask me to hold back this review until I’d had a carp. I couldn’t have been further off the mark….you see, their baits have already caught catfish over 100lbs and barbel over 11lbs! It truly is an ‘all-round’ versatile bait!!
In conclusion, I’d say that the Angling Lines Baits are definitely worth a look. They are a quality bait, rolled in the UK and sold by a company that knows about big fish. I’ll continue using mine and am confident that I’ll have a big carp on the bank soon. If not, these specimen tench will more than do for now!
For availability, pricing and even online ordering, check out www.AnglingLinesBait.co.uk
Elton Murphy – August, 2005
