Ryan "Ribblecraft" Turner
Member
I was just boring my long suffering lady with more fish talk and was reminiscing on the first time I fished a commercial. I reckon it was Cudmore's Milo. I only fished naturals like Hollingworth Lake, Rochdale Walton's club waters, numerous big reservoirs and the odd canal session. At the time I hadn't started my Ribble obsession and had only ever dabbled with a float on the odd local river. I was most excited when my mate described the red letter day full of barbel, chub and carp at the time I had never even seen a barbel I don't think! So when he picked me up at 4:45am ready to make first in the queue for 7 or 7:30 opening time. I couldn't believe he insisted on getting there first, 60 mile away too! Anyway the sight of grown men literally running to their pegs like German tourists in Benidorm putting towels on the poolside sunbeds, except with seatboxes and chairs proved what he had said " I'll get the tickets and pellets, you take my chair and your seatbox and grab those two pegs there" he said pointing out the alleged flyers as he drove through the gates, first in the line!! This brings me to the thread title.
Sillybait. What a belting bait that was! I was assured it was the dogs' doodahs on Milo and would really impress me so with the lads all having been there before and apparently done "The Ton" using the now legendary all in one wonder bait I bought myself a couple of bags of the original blue and red packaged version. At a fiver a pop it was then a reassuringly expensive option compared to my usual, and almost exclusively used and trusted Sensas variety. The fact that it was both a ground bait and a hook bait was certainly intriguing not to mention unique. The way the neat bait could be mixed to any consistency from a soft pole fished paste to a much tougher chucking type paste for feeder and in-between for shorter lobs with a waggle. Then of course the 50/50 mix using regular brown crumb making a matching feeder or ball-in bait meant it was a revelation to me. The "just add water" situation meant that my regular kitchen based experiments using pellets, eggs, various oils, base mixes and all sorts of usually disappointing ingredients were now a thing of the past!! Whaqtb a bait it was. Of course the proof being in the fishmeal flavoured pudding then ended up with me grinning from ear to ear as barbel, chub, carp, bream and tench fell to balls of the totally silly new discovery. No matter how big a ball of the stuff I tried on the hook they just hoovered it in! My Drennan Medium Feeder got a proper work-out. So my first experience of a commercial coincided with my first Stillwater barbel and best of all my first hilarious go of a fondly remembered and most definitely brilliantly aptly named bait ever!! It wasn't my first ton-up session but it was without doubt a totally SILLY day!!
Now that last sentence turns out to be an unexpected but perfect link to another possible extinct bait that was maybe my favourite ever, but that's for another post, in the meantime I'll have a look to see whether or not it is really true, as I suspect, that this other brilliant bait is indeed gone.
So what bait or item of tackle are you a former fan of? Is there something that you remember from your distant angling days and still can't believe it is no longer available from our tackle shops or even our supermarkets for that matter. (No hedgehog flavoured crisps or cans of Quattro please! Unless of course you used to add them to your ground bait or boilie mix!)
Sillybait. What a belting bait that was! I was assured it was the dogs' doodahs on Milo and would really impress me so with the lads all having been there before and apparently done "The Ton" using the now legendary all in one wonder bait I bought myself a couple of bags of the original blue and red packaged version. At a fiver a pop it was then a reassuringly expensive option compared to my usual, and almost exclusively used and trusted Sensas variety. The fact that it was both a ground bait and a hook bait was certainly intriguing not to mention unique. The way the neat bait could be mixed to any consistency from a soft pole fished paste to a much tougher chucking type paste for feeder and in-between for shorter lobs with a waggle. Then of course the 50/50 mix using regular brown crumb making a matching feeder or ball-in bait meant it was a revelation to me. The "just add water" situation meant that my regular kitchen based experiments using pellets, eggs, various oils, base mixes and all sorts of usually disappointing ingredients were now a thing of the past!! Whaqtb a bait it was. Of course the proof being in the fishmeal flavoured pudding then ended up with me grinning from ear to ear as barbel, chub, carp, bream and tench fell to balls of the totally silly new discovery. No matter how big a ball of the stuff I tried on the hook they just hoovered it in! My Drennan Medium Feeder got a proper work-out. So my first experience of a commercial coincided with my first Stillwater barbel and best of all my first hilarious go of a fondly remembered and most definitely brilliantly aptly named bait ever!! It wasn't my first ton-up session but it was without doubt a totally SILLY day!!
Now that last sentence turns out to be an unexpected but perfect link to another possible extinct bait that was maybe my favourite ever, but that's for another post, in the meantime I'll have a look to see whether or not it is really true, as I suspect, that this other brilliant bait is indeed gone.
So what bait or item of tackle are you a former fan of? Is there something that you remember from your distant angling days and still can't believe it is no longer available from our tackle shops or even our supermarkets for that matter. (No hedgehog flavoured crisps or cans of Quattro please! Unless of course you used to add them to your ground bait or boilie mix!)
