Venue Factfile: Framfield Fishery, Framfield, nr Uckfield, East Sussex. Facilities: Three lakes (one specimen, two pleasure), toilets. Bait bans: CATMEAT, particles, boilies (on pleasure lakes), any high-oil pellets. Restrictions/rules: No keepnets (supplied by fishery on matches only), barbless hooks, no bolt-rigs. Contact: Chris 01825 890948 Directions:
Take the left hand turning, signposted Framfield, heading south on the
A22 just past Uckfield. Follow road till fork and take right hand fork
into Brookhouse Lane. Fishery is several hundred metres on left hand
side
It’s not often a new concept in bait hits the stands, most of it has already, ‘been there, done that’. However, 2007 saw 'new kids on the block', the Yorkshire Bait Company, launch a bait which is standing head and shoulders above the crowd. It’s neither a pellet nor a boilie, but a CHUNK. Check inside the various tins of your pussy’s favourite nosh and see what it looks like, chunks of meat surrounded by jelly or gravy… messy and smelly isn’t it? Well Chunks are not!
Chunks take the pellet and boilie concept to new levels by offering a product, which, while exuding the flavour of tinned catmeat, remains soft yet durable. To find out more about this hush-hush wonder bait, we met for an exclusive pre-release demonstration during 2007 with Yorkshire Baits southern 'Rep' Perry Stone, who'd already been experiencing some remarkable match results with many of the company’s products, including ‘Chunks’.
Our destination was Framfield Fishery, a noted carp hotspot in Sussex and one, which incidently, bans REAL catmeat! Having given repeated assurances to owner, Chris Sofianos, that this was totally synthetic and in no way of animal origin, we made our way to our allotted peg on Spring Lake, not really knowing what lay ahead. Perry had only visited the venue twice before and that was a couple of years previous. Framfield’s an out-right pellet and paste water, which regularly posts nets between 200lb and 400lb+, we hoped it would prove an ideal test-base for this new product. Also there on the day, was another team from a major national publication, doing a feature with one of the venues highly-rated experts and his special paste bait, but more of that later.
Perry’s association with Yorkshire Baits owner Rob Hitchens goes back a few years when they both met while he was chasing FishOMania qualification on the open circuit. That was the start of a beautiful friendship, which has now also blossomed into an effective working relationship. Since 2006, Perry has been racking up some enviable records at venues across the south using Yorkshire’s products. “Having qualified for the last years FishOMania final, I’d struggled during my first days practice, catching very little,” he says adding. “On the second day Rob came down with some of his pellets and paste and I racked up nearly 300lb of fish! From that day on I have been hooked (pardon the pun) on his gear. Everything I’ve used has been ‘total quality’
Our day didn’t start too clever with overcast conditions and some sporadic drizzle. Brighter spells were forecast later, but hey, where have we heard that before! Perry started to settle into his peg with owner Chris taking a keen interest in our array of KopyKat items. Having set up two pole lines, one at 4/5m on the edge of the left bank of floating pickerel weed and another 3m to the right hand side. He’s also decided to fish a small gage feeder tight to the island. This would prove a sound test of the chunks ability to weather the pressures of casting.
Perry plumbs up both pole lines and not only finds a standard 3’ depth but also an active group of the lakes residents bumping into his line, obviously eager to sample his chunks! “I’ve a funny feeling it could get a little hectic today,” he say gleefully. He empties a full 250gr pot of 6mm soft pellet with a few chunks on both lines and picks up the feeder. Packing in 6mm soft KopyKat hookers into the medium cage feeder he hairs a chunk onto a PR27, size 14 hook and casts to within half a metre of the island.
Top left: Korum hook links make changing hooklengths a piece of cake! Middle left: Chunk hai-rigged using a latex bait band. Bottom: It just shows how greedy some small carp can be! Above right: Filling the simple feeder set-up with soft 6mm pellets.
That was the signal for the start of the days expected showers, but it would do little to dampen the action about to commence, for no sooner had the tip settled, it slammed round catching Perry unawares. “Not a bad start considering the place has never seen this kit before,” he said, retrieving the feeder with the rigged chunk still attached! He fills up again and re-casts. No sooner has the tip settled than it slams round again. This time Perry’s on-guard and he leans into the first fish of the day, a small 1lb chub, Chris is still watching intently and comments “that’s one of only a handful in the lake… and you’ve caught it.”
Perry’s started to throw in a few samples of the chunk floaters down on the 5 metre line to see if there’s any reaction… there is, lots! “I don’t think I’ll be on the feeder for very long,” he says pointedly. Ten minutes pass and some of the bites have been hard to hit. Perry suspects it’s small fish because he’s already netted around four small commons between 8-12ozs, amazing considering the size of the chunk.
A continual slurping from the 5 metre line prompts an excited Perry to plead with me to let him come in on the pole. “OK, I suppose we’ve proved the point about the chunks durability and appeal” I replied and he swaps rod for pole.
Within 30 seconds the float buries and a lively 1.5lb carp is brought to the net. It’s at this point that the skies open and we’re treated to a thunderstorm, so everyone retreats under the brollies. It lasts for 10 minutes but Perry is being plagued with constant liners. “I think I may have gone overboard with the initial feed,” he says adding, “The fish are going nuts and just knocking into everything.” He pegs back on the feed and bites eventually become more positive. “You can get carried away with this bait if you’re not careful as it can make the fish too preoccupied with flashing around the swim after it. Keeping the feed light can help focus the fish more on your hookbait.” It seems to have done the trick and a steady stream of carp of around 2lb keeps Perry buzzing for the next half hour.
Chris in the meantime had walked off to check the progress of the other group of feature reporters but returned after a short period to find Perry scratching his head. “I’m getting fish, but they don’t seem to be very big?” he says to Chris who pointed out that we could see more small fish showing in today’s unsettled conditions. “The bigger ones tend to shelter right under the edge of the weed, near where your feet are” he tells Perry. With that he emphasises the point by throwing a pebble in the right hand edge, 6 inches off the bank and only a metre from Perry’s foot. “What there!” Perry retorts unbelievably. Chris also showed him where to fish on the left hand side in a similiar position, but 4 metres away.
Unfortunately all Perry's rigs were attached to top 3s but that didn’t deter him. Getting out a spare top two with the elastic through the top section only he quickly makes up a simple polyball rig with about two foot of 0.17mm Powerline and a PR21 size 12 hook (above). We know that there's fish in the edge, but are uncertain what size they may be. Chris assures us that it’s possible to take 100lb in an hour when the ‘Biggies’ move in.
Perry lowers his rig into the crease between the bank and weed and glances at us expectantly. He was not to be disappointed as the polyball shot under within a couple of minutes and a none too pleased 4lb carp was unceremoniously dragged from its safe bolt-hole. Perry’s strike was somewhat unusual in that he’d hold the top section and rig with his left hand, gently tapping the water to signify dinner-time, while grasping the second section in his right hand. As soon as the ball disappeared he’d sweep the top section as far to his left as possible while trying to insert the second section into it. This would give him greater leverage as he powered the thrashing fish away from the weedy haven. It took Perry a bit of practice but he's not slow to master any particular technique when it comes to catching fish, especially when time is of the essence!
TOP TIP: Chunks can be used directly from the containers or soaked prior to a session. To create a softer and mushier chunk, soak for several hours/days/weeks. It’s probably a good idea to have some continually soaking in fridge ready for use. As they have no early reaction to water they are ideal when fishing in rain, unlike many other pellets on the market
Feeding just a couple of chunks regularly as enticement, Perry was able to build up a very high bites-to-hooking ratio. Combined with the chunks incredible durability on the hook, which allowed for maximum time in the water, he set about amassing a major net of fish over the next 3 hours. The left hand swim proved equally productive with a string of 2-4lb fish hitting the bait. Had Perry been using real cat meat, or paste, then there would have been no way that this quantity of fish could have been netted in the same time frame, bearing in mind we didn’t see anything in excess of 4lb. Had the larger fish shown, then Perry may have taken a few fish less… but knowing him like I do, I doubt it!
To put the day into perspective you may recall at the beginning I mentioned that there was another major national doing a piece with a venue expert. Well, being inquisitive, I checked out how their session had gone and found they’d been quite successful. The paste expert had taken between 60-80lb of carp for the feature, unfortunately this was only a ‘guesstimate’ from both magazine and angler. Wishing to be as accurate as possible, we asked Chris to help weigh in the three nets Perry had filled. After the sixth weigh our total reached 235lb, comprising of around 130 fish. To be fair we did start a bit earlier and finish later than the others, but I know that this amount of size fish, would have been nowhere near possible with either paste or catmeat on the hook. Chunks displayed distinct advantages over both these baits. In fact I’ll go so far as to say that I believe any other hard or soft pellet would have had trouble keeping up with the chunks. Having seen its effectiveness ‘up close and personal’, it remains to my mind, an incredible concept from an incredible company and I have no doubt that the whole KopyKat bait range will take many 'commercials' by storm over the coming years.
The ‘Chunk’
Square in appearance and about 8-10mm in size, they come in a dark to mid-brown colour. They are impregnated with a special secret formula essence, which gradually oozes out during immersion in water. Formed of a solid, yet sponge-like texture, they can be straight-hooked or hair-rigged for the big wagg, bomb or feeder as they are capable of remaining on the hook under the greatest casting pressure. Chunks take on an appearance similar to its mushy counterpart the longer they remain soaked. Shelf life is remarkable, lasting many months when left in a sealed container in your fridge, assuming you don’t let fish get to it of course. After very prolonged soaking (months) the chunks start to gradually break down and are easily chopped up into a bitty soup, which can then be fed via a pole pot. There is also a special high intensity KopyKat booster ‘glug’ available to spice up anything you like!
The KopyKat Range KopyKat is a complete bait system offering many options. Centred around the incredible ‘chunk’, there are hard and soft feed pellets to compliment your feeding strategy. These range from micros through to the larger 9-11mm soft pellet (see individual packs). There’s also a fluffy groundbait, which knocks up into a superb paste, just by adding more water
For KopyKat Chunks and all Yorkshire Bait products, enter our trading partners site for a fast and reliable service.
Simply log onto V2V Angling's website via the this banner and key in the promotional code MACOM10408 to receive a 10% discount on their exciting range of DVDs.
Our day didn’t start too clever with overcast conditions and some sporadic drizzle. Brighter spells were forecast later, but hey, where have we heard that before! Perry started to settle into his peg with owner Chris taking a keen interest in our array of KopyKat items. Having set up two pole lines, one at 4/5m on the edge of the left bank of floating pickerel weed and another 3m to the right hand side. He’s also decided to fish a small gage feeder tight to the island. This would prove a sound test of the chunks ability to weather the pressures of casting.
Chris in the meantime had walked off to check the progress of the other group of feature reporters but returned after a short period to find Perry scratching his head. “I’m getting fish, but they don’t seem to be very big?” he says to Chris who pointed out that we could see more small fish showing in today’s unsettled conditions. “The bigger ones tend to shelter right under the edge of the weed, near where your feet are” he tells Perry. With that he emphasises the point by throwing a pebble in the right hand edge, 6 inches off the bank and only a metre from Perry’s foot. “What there!” Perry retorts unbelievably. Chris also showed him where to fish on the left hand side in a similiar position, but 4 metres away.
Simply log onto V2V Angling's website via the this banner and key in the promotional code MACOM10408 to receive a 10% discount on their exciting range of DVDs.