Crustazia: Unleashing the Power of Crustacean Baits

Crustazia...

It’s safe to say that DT baits has a history and heritage having been producing quality bait since 1988. While other companies have been and gone DT has remained an industry stalwart.

It’s gone through a number of guises over the years with ownership changing hands. It’s currently owned by Fenton Trewick. A down to earth, humble, friendly, carp fishing enthusiast who has a little known and seldom spoken about history within the carp angling world which has set him up perfectly to sit at the helm of DT. There has been one constant throughout Neil Messanger is still lovingly rolling our bait and has been for 30 years. It’s been some ten years now since DT released a new bait range, that being the Supa fruit. With such a fine collection of very successful baits it would have been easy to sit back and make do with what we have. Ever the innovator Fenton wasn’t willing to do that. Ten years is a long time and although he has made some smaller innovative product releases, he had in mind a far more ambitious plan.

DT's unique range...

It had been said for some time that the one thing missing from DT’s unique range was an out and out smelly type bait. This didn’t fall on deaf ears and in fact Fenton himself had felt the same but like anything the timing had to be right. So when that time came, the first step was to liaise with our European consultant and dear friend Peder Lichtenberg who had voiced his own feelings on this sometime back, reminiscing about past ventures into a solely ocean based bait that never came to fruition. The two of them bounced ideas of each other until they came up with an agreed direction to take the project. To create something new Fenton had to visit the past in the form of 20-year-old recipes. One in particular was rolled and used way back by a select few to devastating effect but for one reason or another it never went into full production before being shelved and almost forgotten about. Until two years ago when it was revisited and this was the inspiration for what followed. After a discussion with Peder it was agreed that the new bait range should be based around crustation meal and milk proteins. The next stage was looking in to the availability of the key ingredients for the crustacean meal. Hours and even days were spent researching and contacting suppliers. DT’s foundations are built on the exceptional quality of the ingredients we source and this was to be no acceptation. It was a painstakingly long and laborious process speaking to suppliers from around the world, obtaining samples until we were completely satisfied that the bait components met DT’s steadfast quality standards.

Quality assurance testing...

With the key components sourced it was time to work out the correct levels and combine the crustacean meal with high quality milk proteins before starting to roll test batches. This came with its own set of problems. Good quality fish meals are usually very high in protein and nutrients but because there isn’t any fishmeal in this bait it meant using high levels of crustacean meal which arguably has a stronger nutrient profile however the large percentage of crustacean meal effected the buoyancy of the rolled baits. It left them light and prone to floating. After 56 different test roll attempts the correct consistency and levels were eventually found aided by the addition of a liberal helping of GLM, kelp and spirulina which as we know are all proven and very powerful carp bait additives. After hours of research, sourcing ingredients and quality assurance testing we ended up with a very special and unique basemix and one unlike anything else in the range.

That wasn’t the end of the research faze, far from it! It was time to develop a flavour profile as unique as the newly formulated basemix. DT have a select and trusted number of flavour houses from across the world. Fenton consulted a number of flavourists over a considerable period of time. He felt that due to the calibre of the ingredients used in the basemix it wasn’t necessary to massively overpower the subtle natural aroma but rather the flavour profile should compliment it. After sniffing his way through an endless supply of samples and having not been sold on anything he’d been sent he opted to create his own flavour blend utilising two shellfish palatants which complimented the scent of the basemix perfectly. Months of hard work, dedication and resilience resulted in the creation of our most idiosyncratic bait in the range, with an insanely high nutritional value and a flavour profile that guarantees continual results. This ambitious and hard-fought project was now at its most telling stage and I don’t think anyone involved was expecting what came next.

The exciting field-testing stage was now upon us. DT have a small number of team members and consultants compared to most companies out there. We feel a smaller closer-knit team is important for a number of reasons but in this instance, it helped us to get a true reading on how the new bait performed, not to mention that all important feedback. Its safe to say we hit the ground running as the catch reports came thick and fast. You’ve only got to look back over our social media to see how successful and instantly impactive the “test bait” was. It didn’t stop there either! We watched numbers of our team have the best seasons of their lives. Rick Golder banked seven 40+ fish along with countless 30+ fish. Jay White absolutely emptied Furzbray lake in Devon whilst on a lake exclusive. The truth be told we’ve only just finished drip feeding his captures from that trip onto our social media, that’s how ridiculous his results were. Then there’s Alan Clarke who seemed to land a new PB with every trip out. Maybe the most telling of all was what Peder managed to do in Europe. Whether it was an exclusive commercial venue or a wild sprawling abyss he had some amazing results, fitting as he played an integral part in formulating the Bait we now know to be Crustazia.

That bring us up to date and I’m please to say that by the time you read this the Crustazia range will be available to order from our website www.dtbaits.co.uk. We will also be attending all of the UK’s biggest carp fishing shows such as The Northern Carp show and The Big One Farnborough. So, make sure to come and say hello and see what all the hype is about.

Dan Winfield

DT baits.