Carp Catchers Blog

The new Shimano Baitrunner DL 4000 FA and Baitrunner ST 4000 FA are now in stock. These are new mini Baitrunners with a front drag system from Shimano and are absolutely ideal for a multitude of uses, from small water carping, to stalking and floater fishing. They are also superb for barbel, big tench or roach fishing. The  Shimano Baitrunner DL 4000 FA is the upmarket one of the two, whereas the Shimano Baitrunner ST 4000 FA  although having many of the same features is aimed at the entry level market. For more information or to purchase please click on the above links.

For those of you looking for a big pit reel, we now have the awesome Shimano Ultegra 14000 XTB . The Ultegra 14000 XTB has stunning looks and will retrieve over 1 metre of line per crank of the handle. It is also considerably lighter than it’s predecessor. For more information or to purchase please click on the above link.

                  Shimano Baitrunner DL 4000 FA

                         Shimano Baitrunner ST 4000 FA

                         Shimano Ultegra 14000XTB

Best fishes,

John

We now have the new Shimano Baitrunner XT RA Reels in stock. The range consists of the Shimano Baitrunner 10000 XT RA , the 8000 XT RA  and the 6000 XT RA. The XT RA’s are a really nice carpy metallic forest green and have been brought in to supercede the Shimano Baitrunner Aero GTE reels. They feature an XT-7 body and rotor, zinc die cast gear and Varispeed plus cold forged aluminium main and spare spools. For more information or to purchase please visit the main site through the above links.

Best fishes,

John

Customer Ben Roberts has been getting amongst them recently, as this gnarly old mirror shows. Ben’s carp weighed 25lb 12oz and shows signs of being clipped in the distant past. Clipping used to be a fairly common practice on some waters back in the day. This was before carp anglers realised each carp was unique and therefore distinguishable from any other carp. The rig Ben used was constructed using 15lb ESP Ghost  knotless knotted to a size 6 Carp’ R’ Us Longshank Nailers . Ben was fishing a snaggy area and used his  Shimano Big Baitrunner LC  reels loaded with 15lb Nash Bullet XT  to guide the old warrior safely to the net.

Nicely done Ben.

Best fishes,

John

Customer Eric Marlow Used his Greys Prodigy  Carp Rods to good effect on a trip to Bluebell Lakes in tansor. This beauty of a linear mirror carp weighed 22lb 12oz and was the biggest of a five fish catch, it was tamed using Shimano Baitrunner Aero GTE 10000C Reels. Eric used Mainline Fusion Boilies as bait and his terminal tackle included Osprey clear leads and a Korda IQ hooklink. Congratulations Eric on a really stunning capture.

Best fishes,

John

Here’s the promised catch report from Jonathans previous blog and a nice suprise, read on.

“I arrived at the lake at about 5pm to find the sun shining on the water and a light wind blowing from the NW. I header straight for the sheltered and weedy “back bay” as I had a feeling there would be some fish present. I used a small catapult to fire out a few freebies to see whether the carp were up for it and sure enough a couple of fish began to feed. I continued to feed little and often allowing them to build up confidence on the free offerings but they didn’t really seem too bothered. I then noticed a fish feeding further to my right on some free offerings which had drifted that way so moved along the bank and put a few more free offerings over the fish this time they started to take them so I decided to cast in, casting over the free offerings and slowly dragging my controller float (one of your ESP jobs) into position.

Twice I had fish examine my hook bait (dynamite 11mm expander pellet) and disregard it so I reluctantly (big fish in weedy water) decided to drop down a hook size from a size 8 to size 10 korda wide gape. This proved to be the right decision as on the next cast my hook bait was taken with confidence and the line tightened into the 28lb 8oz common, a new PB. It put up a really good scrap and I managed to keep it out of the snags on either side by keeping on plenty of pressure. Those Shimano Ultegra XTB 5500 ’s you sold me are bloody great little reels! After the unhooking, weighing and photos I was well happy and ready to head home but decided to flick one last pouch full of freebies to see if any fish left in the bay were still up for it.

I couldn’t believe it when a fish started to take the free offerings as soon as they hit the water so I had another cast over the free offerings and slowly pulled my hook bait closer to the feeding fish. First the fish swirled at the float and then without any hesitation nobbled my hook bait and made off on a powerful run about 30 yards to my left into some heavy weed. At this point it could have gone one of two ways but the weed the fish had picked up seemed to slow it down and it came in fairly easily. I knew straight away that this fish was heavier than the last and it went 34lb on the scales, my first 30lb+ fish and a second PB in less than 20 minutes. What a result!

I had another couple during a quick overnighter on Friday. The first one at 17lb 5oz and the other 22lb 12oz using chopped  Nash Scopex Squid Plus boilies waded out and placed on clear spots in the margins.”

Jan Porter shows you how to set The Shimano Baitrunner Spool.