The Monument Bait Range from SBS | |
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SBS IS A name I associate with my carp fishing from nearly 15 years ago. Then it was their classic flavours such as Bunspice zest , Frankfurter sausage and Maple that brought me to the label. Now some 15 years later time has moved on and so have angler’s bait buying trends, and so to satisfy the increasing requirement of anglers to have an instant ‘off the shelf’ quality bait SBS have produced the Monument range of readymade baits, somewhat aptly named after the Monument carp fishery. What’s on offer? There are three bait flavours in the range, the M1, M2 and M3, with each having its own characteristics and suitability depending on your personal preference or situation. The M1 is a fishmeal based bait with a good loading of Robin Red which gives its colour and spicy hint. The M2 Marine Extract is a blood based fishmeal with what appears to be a little Robin Red in it as well but with a lighter browner colour tone to the M1 bait. The M3 Four Season is a ‘two tone’ bait with a deep red and creamy yellow split, due the fact it’s half fish meal (the M1 mix) and half sweetened cream seed mix.
The baits are available in 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 and 24mm sizes and as well as the 1kg bags you can bulk buy in a 5kg bucket format. All three varieties come with the usual ‘optional extras’ which can be purchased to compliment your readymade baits. These include matching bait dips, pop-ups, method mix, pellets and PVA Bag mix, to enable you to boost, individualise and perfect your baiting strategy. That’s the technical bit over with, now to the things that matter. The baits all have a nice spongy feel to them and although they state on the packet that they benefit from re-hydrating prior to use they are soft enough to be used for all the usual boilie targeted species straight from the packet. In fact with a little pressure between finger and thumb the baits are easily split and crumbled which is just about the texture I prefer in a bait and makes the preparation of broken baits or boilie crumb on the bankside for bag or spod use that much easier. The inclusion of a seed mix in varying quantities in all three baits gives a nice coarse appearance and will speed up breakdown and digestion. Consistency of shape is good and 99 % of the baits I used flew straight and true from the throwing stick and catapult with only the odd one being an aerodynamic individual and veering off to find a swim of its own.
All three of the baits have a good strong aroma but not overpowering. M1 and M2 have a spicy fishmeal smell and M3 has the same with a sweet edge to it. Also, as all use common ingredients, they would compliment each other over a season’s campaign. All keep their colour well and after a few hours in the water don’t ‘wash out’ to the point of losing their visual signal to fish. I particularly liked the ‘two tone’ appearance of the M3 bait which is something a little different, and as it’s something that has fell out of favour in recent years might just be the edge you have been looking for, as not many fish see or get caught on twin colour baits. Although the packaging is not the flashiest or eye-catching the bags are some of the strongest I’ve seen used on readymade baits, and although a resealable facility would have been an added bonus that has been overlooked, it’s what’s inside that counts.
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