I know it’s the norm to slate a lot of what Korda do, but you can’t get away from the fact that they put some absolutely fantastic new products out into the market place each year, and by that I mean innovative products which simply weren’t there before. Now yes, I’m the first to admit some the hype can sometimes be a bit OTT, and the necessity to start every product name with a ‘K’ just baffles me from a marketing point of view – why would you want to make it purposely difficult for your potential customers to find your products when searching online, but hey, who am I to question?!
Irrespective of all this, they do have a knack of putting products out into the market place that must have their competitors kicking themselves, so simple, yet so effective, and the Korda Kutter is another fine example of this. I’ve always used a lot of chopped baits in my fishing, as I’m a firm believer that having a good mix of bait sizes and types will increase your chances of a pick-up. That said it’s always been a bit of a pain-in-the-proverbial to do it, as I can get through a lot of bait. In the past, I’ve used various knives and such like, but as it’s always been so labour intensive I usually then just use a mix of different sized baits which whilst highly effective, still isn’t as good as cutting or crushing the baits, which obviously then allows all the attractors in the bait to release much quicker.
The Korda Kutter does just that; it cuts through baits in a second and speeds up the whole process no end, and, to be honest, it’s been a breath of fresh air both at home preparing mixes and out on the bank. I tend to do a lot of prebaiting throughout the year and my Kutters go through a few kilos of bait in no time, and are much more effective and consistent than doing in a food mixer or such like.
The Kutter is a two-piece tool; the green bait tube has an internally mounted blade situated at the base, and a plunger tool which then pushes the baits down the shaft, cutting all the baits in one swift movement. Well, I did say it was easy!
It’s built for the job too, and works equally well with hard or soft baits, and just to prove it, the cut baits you can see in the accompanying image were taken straight from the freezer!
The question most people will be asking is “Could the Kutter improve my fishing?” and for me, the simple answer is “Yes”. You have to remember that irrespective of how they are presented, the vast majority of anglers use the same approach each time out – round baits. It’s no wonder that the fish wise up. By mixing up how the bait looks on the bottom you are immediately making the fish work harder to suss out any danger element, and as the baits are all cut up and releasing attractors, they start giving off ‘eat me’ signals much quicker than a standard round bait. Don’t forget that a cut bait will hold position much better too if fishing bars, shelves or steep margins, so again they can have many advantages in application terms over a standard rolled bait.
Cutting up your hookbait can add an extra element, too; just mount two inverted cut baits on your hair and fish over the mix… a firm favourite of mine for fooling fish that can usually be tricky to tempt.
As with so many things in carp fishing, it comes down to a bit of extra effort and those who go the extra mile to make their presentations look that bit different to the norm will usually be the first to bank a fish!
The Korda Kutter is available in three sizes; 16mm, 20mm and 25mm and retails at around £9.99. Money well spent, in my opinion.
Julian Grattidge
November 2012
