 The Bait and Feed Company
Steve Briggs
It was for bait rolling reasons that I first got in contact with Dave Coakley at The Bait and Feed Company. For many years I enjoyed messing about with bait and rolling boilies myself, it was always a bit of a chore – albeit and enjoyable one. But gradually I began to find myself with a little more fishing time that required a little more bait and all of a sudden I realised that time spent making bait was in fact wasted fishing time!
When you’ve made your own bait for so long then trusting it to someone else isn’t easy. I had used other peoples services but had normally been there to help out and could see what was going on. It was around the same time that I had joined the Hutchinson camp so I was putting my trust in Rod Hutchinson’s bait so why not let someone else roll it too? From the first batch of baits that arrived I realised what I had been missing out on. They were better than the baits I used to make myself and all the hassle had been taken away. I suppose the thing that worried me is that in England these days it’s very hard to get decent service anywhere. People don’t seem to care about customers other than getting money from them, but I have to say that The Bait and Feed Company just don’t work like that, right from the start it was obvious that they care about what they do and about their customers.
The other thing that I was wary of was bait arriving on time. With the amount of fishing that I do now I have to work to quite tight deadlines. I may be going away somewhere and then return for a few days before going off again and to have fresh bait for each trip means that there are often only a few days in which to get it all sorted. I remember the second phone call I made to Dave quite well. The first call was obviously to order a batch of bait and arrange delivery dates etc. Well as the time approached I thought that I’d better ring again and check just in case anything’s wrong. Dave Coakley seemed a bit puzzled as to why I had rung? “Yes we’ve got your order and I’ve got the delivery date here so everything is fine”. Sure enough bang on time there was a knock at the door and there was my bait! Planning a trip away, or any fishing trip for that matter and then not getting the bait is everyone’s nightmare, but after using The Bait and Feed Company for a few years now and placing regular orders with them, every order has turned up exactly when it’s supposed to – bar none! Since moving on from Hutchinson to Solar the bait I use may have changed but the quality of the preparation is as good as ever.
Besides the basic rolling service they also provide some very good additional services. Firstly the air-drying service. This is one thing that has helped me no end when going away. Many of my trips are to places that have no facilities such as freezers and the only alternative for using fresh bait is to air dry it. For a small extra charge the baits can arrive already dried and packed in heavy duty paper sacks. While I still normally put them in air-dry bags when I get to my destination, I’ve kept baits in the paper bags for over a month and they were just fine.
The other service which I think they do brilliantly, is to make matching pop ups for the baits you order. The first ones I used were when I was on the Hutchy MC Addicted and the pop ups were not only very well made they matched the actual baits really well. The icing on the cake was that I was using them on a Colne Valley water that holds some very special fish and not only did they work but I caught the biggest fish in the lake on them, a lovely old Leney mirror. More recently they made me up some BYT pop ups to match the bait that I was taking away to France. Again, not only did they match the other baits very well, they caught me a lot of fish including a couple of 50’s. Again making pop ups was something I used to like doing myself but I cant compete with these ones so why bother?
Of course The Bait and Feed Company is much more than just a bait rolling company so I soon began to explore some of the other things they have. They have a vast range of pellets of all sizes and I know that they are very keen to make sure that what they supply is the best possible quality. Like many people, I use a great deal of pellets throughout the year and of all sizes. From the 2mm Shrimp Meal Micros which form a lovely, fine bed of fishy flavour and are brilliant for use in PVA bags when you want an instant response, right up to the 20mm Marine Halibuts which have been great when I’ve wanted to use bigger freebies to complement larger boilies on places such as Cassien in the summer months. But they’ve also proved themselves as hook baits for carp and barbel. I love a bit of barbel fishing in the winter and the 20mm Halibuts are my number one hook bait when fished over some of the smaller versions.
The range of particles is just as big and they are supplied either re-cleaned and graded or they can be ready prepared! I’ve used their Supa-Combi mix with Aniseed a lot over the last couple of years and it is the quality stuff not some of the cheap imitations that are around but they can do a Supa-Combi/Sweetcorn/Condensed Milk Extract mix that sounds good enough to eat myself I don’t know about letting the fish have it! But if someone said to me to name one favourite product, it would have to be the Particle 42 groundbait. When it first hit the shelves I thought it looked like it was worth a go but I didn’t realise just how good this stuff was going to be. Over the years I’ve dabbled with various groundbaits but none of them have come close to the effectiveness of the Particle 42. As the name suggests it is a mixture of 42 different particles and seeds that have been ground down finely. To complement the groundbait there is liquid 42 also and I always use the two. In fact my normal mix is to use one third Particle 42, one third Supa-Combi Mix and one third 4/6mm Hi-Betaine Marine pellets. Add liquid 42 and some water from the soaked seeds, mix and leave to stand for 15 to 20 minutes. What that gives you is a groundbait that has cloud effect as well as having slightly larger food items and plenty of content and the smell is just amazing. At Rainbow Lake it has been devastating and has produced numerous good fish including mirrors of 63lb 8oz and 68lb 4oz – I’d better be careful here I’m giving all my secrets away!
So from someone who was a little bit dubious about letting other people make my bait for me I now don’t have to even think about it anymore. I feel very lucky to have ‘found’ The Bait and Feed Company as they just do such a great job. It’s clear that their aim is to provide a good service and they also add that personal touch to everything that they do. Recommending people isn’t always easy but I know I can recommend the services of The Bait and Feed Company to everyone out there. From bait rolling to pellets, particles and groundbaits, the range is big and it’s growing all the time – and so I’m sure will be their list of customers. Top marks to everyone at The Bait and Feed Company, thanks for everything. |
