MERLIN BAIT & TACKLE run a busy shop in South Kirkby in West Yorkshire. But unlike most other tackle shops they are also bait specialists. They manufacture high quality groundbaits, pellets and additives, not just for themselves, for they manufacture and package for other bait companies. Merlin are an established family run business. They started out in 1999, working from a garage, blending groundbaits using a cement mixer and packing product by hand in polythene bags using a heat sealer. Right from the early days they determined that their products would be the highest quality possible and with this in mind they decided that, for instance, their bread crumb would be just that, pure crumb with nothing else. Much of the crumb we buy today is the waste of all kinds of bakery products, but not Merlin, which is simply 100% pure bread.
Word got round about the quality and this led to a problem. That of not being able to supply the demand, with requests for 20x tonne lots, from Italy, Holland, Ireland, Hungary and many more countries. Merlin can produce only a maximum of 10x tonnes per week, mainly because they can’t source enough slicing crumb. They are working on this problem but refuse to lower the quality.
They moved from hand packaging and introduced machinery to make life easier and have installed three fully automated lines with vertical form fill and seal machines which can make and fill bags at a rate of 40 bags per minute. They moved premises several times to bigger outlets and are currently working out of more than 20,000 sq ft. They are now producing for some of the UK’s and Europe’s market leading companies from a well established factory using the latest hi-tech machinery. Merlin now produce more than 50 products, including groundbaits, pellets, liquids and pastes, all of them rigorously tested by many of Yorkshire’s top match anglers.
FishingMagic have tried some of Merlin Baits products and there is no doubt that they are top quality. The crumb is exceptional, starting from £ 1.50kg and the worms – yes, they do large Dendrobeanas – are amongst the best we’ve seen, and very lively and fresh still after arriving through the post. Merlin Dendros are £ 12 per kg, with prices reducing for quantity. The pellet range covers High Betaine Feed pellets, two sizes, 3mm and 6mm, expander pellets, High Oil and CSL and Soft Hookers. And then there are particles, flavours and method mix. Take a look on the Merlin web site for full details and prices. |
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