FAQs and Insights into Bait and the Fishing Industry

At times, it’s only when you’re on the inside, that you know more of the facts and fiction that surrounds the bait industry. DT baits current owner Fenton Trewick, took over in November 2020 having been around the fishing industry for many years. 

He has been a keen carp angler for just as long.

He is a man that holds customer satisfaction and highly nutritious bait production close to his heart. 

Having taken ownership of the company it’s safe to say the first six months was a baptism of fire. 

Thankfully DT baits stalwart Neil Messenger, who has been rolling our bait for over 30 years was on hand to assist with his wealth of knowledge. 

During the infant stages of owning the company Fenton was exposed to the inner workings of the bait industry and he decided to take this opportunity to answer a few of the frequently asked questions and address some of the common misconceptions.

Q: Don’t all bait brands produce and roll their own bait?   

A: In a number of circumstances this isn’t the case at all. 

In the last ten years there has been a steady increase in the number of small start-up bait companies or as some people refer to them “Fred in a shed” bait companies.  

It comes as no surprise that a large number of these don’t actually roll bait themselves opting to use a third party. Further to that it isn’t only true of the start-up companies

A number of the “big boys” also use third party rolling to fulfil their customer orders.

This has cost implications, which usually result in the baits ingredients and quality falling below par, not to mention it makes quality control very difficult. 

At DT baits all our products are produced in house at our Essex based factory and rigorously quality controlled. 

Q: What big name anglers have you got because that’s always a good sign of the bait quality?   

A: We have a small close-knit team of anglers, some you will know well and others you might not be aware of yet. We don’t buy into having a glut of field testers, team members and consultants. In fact, we don’t have any field testers. All our test baits and new products are tested by our team. 

In most cases it’s a sales ploy to guarantee return custom and how can we really look after all our team if there’s hundreds of them?

Our team aren’t just numbers, they are valued people and we want them to feel as such. They will have used our products prior to being given a place with us. 

We tend to offer positions to people picked from our base of loyal customers. It’s important that they believe in our bait and have a working knowledge of our products. 

We don’t give a consultancy or team position based on their name and previous accolades alone. They have to be a good fit and understand what we are trying to achieve. A number of our consultants were promoted from our team members. We like to promote from within. 

There are numerous “named anglers” that are just guns for hire. They go where the money is and the highest bidder wins. Don’t think for a second it’s down to great products and quality bait. In some instances, these people will have custom made baits that aren’t even available to the general public. We know this because every year we are approached by some of these people. 

Q: Carp eat their own S**t, bait is just bait isn’t it?

A: Fish also feed amongst smelly substrates and pick up plastic baits but I think this is probably a subject for Sparsholt college to answer. What I can say is we hear “bait is just bait” a lot and it’s a very common misconception.

Did you know that there are some venues that have actually banned certain companies’ baits? They were deemed dangerous and unethical after work was carried out on areas of these lakes the baits in question were found sitting on the lake bed untouched by fish, slowly rotting over a prolonged period. 

At the wrong time of year that could prove very costly to a lake due to the build-up of toxins.

So not all bait is equal! It’s true that even bait with a poor nutritional value will catch carp, but does it have to end there? And are you really giving yourself the best chance of achieving your targets with a substandard bait? 

As anglers we shouldn’t only be concerned about catching but also the carp’s welfare and that of the surrounding wildlife.

At DT we pride ourselves on sourcing the best quality ingredients on the market.

The reason behind that is that a highly nutritional bait has many benefits not only to an anglers catch rate, but also to the health of a lake’s stock, not to mention the water quality as previously mentioned. We are all active anglers here at DT. We love our sport and want to ensure its future. 

There’s a number of very credible studies that have shown carp can pick out highly nutritional bait amongst lesser quality alternatives. They will opt to eat these first over the others. So top quality bait should feature high up on your list of priorities.

In carp angling there’s a lot of talk about “edges” well it would appear this edge is often overlooked. Stack the odds in your favour and always opt for top quality.

Q: All baits use the same ingredients, don’t they? 

A: In the early days, baits were made from simple household ingredients raided from people’s kitchen cupboards. Over time baits have improved not only in their nutritional value but their ability to catch carp, the process of making bait has become more scientific over that time. 

Many years of trial and error have brought us to where we are now, there is no excuse to produce poor quality bait however it doesn’t stop some looking to capitalise on clever marketing or gimmicks to make a quick buck.

It’s true there are certain ingredients that have to go into bait. These ingredients help with rolling spherical baits and also with forming firm skins. However, these are generally cheaper ingredients that some companies just add a dash of flavour to, usually something that smells amazing, more often it’s something that will catch the angler rather than fish and that’s where it ends. 

That isn’t the case with our baits. They are full of amino acids, vitamins, palatants, attractants and trace elements that have been meticulously sourced from all over the world to ensure the finest quality. Rest assured you’d be hard pressed to find a more nutritious quality bait on the current market.

Q: Why is bait so expensive?

A: In our case the price you pay is reflective of how expensive top-quality ingredients are. For some time now the cost of these items have steadily been climbing for a number of reasons that we won’t get into. It leaves you with two options: drop the quality of the bait by sourcing lesser ingredients or pass on the costs. Well DT will never drop the quality of their products, it’s one of the many things that sets us apart from other companies. 

So, we won’t ever be the cheapest bait on the market but we won’t be beaten on quality.

Another factor to consider depends on the amount you use during your session.

Granted some sessions will be longer than others requiring more bait but is quantity over quality really the way to go? 

Some high-profile anglers are known to use insane amounts of bait which can often lead to trends. Maybe it’s a reflection on the effectiveness of what they are using.

There are theories that nutrient dense baits can be used in lower amounts because the carp satiate their requirements, which makes sense.

It’s crazy to think anglers will happily spend insane amounts of money on kit that has nothing to do with actually catching carp, but they’ll scrimp on bait opting to go with the cheapest deal they can get.

Q: What sets you apart from all the other companies?

A: We’ve mentioned it numerous times now but it really is down to the quality of our ingredients and the fantastic range of products most of which haven’t been tinkered with since the company first started in 1988.

Alongside that we have state of the art equipment and facilities.

In recent times the team has undertaken a complete overhaul of the factory.

Installing new machinery along with having bespoke rollers designed and made to improve the shape of our baits and ensure their course texture.

New processes for the working environment in the factory have been put in place ensuring its spotlessly clean, tidy and efficient has also made a massive difference. 

We pride ourselves on customer service. We are happy to resolve any issues there may be, as well as discussing bespoke rolling if you have a boilie you want made, we can facilitate that. Our customers are always blown away by our turnaround times with bait orders. 

Q: What is your most popular boilie and which one would you suggest

A: That’s an easy one to answer when it comes to winter at least. When the water temperatures drop our most popular bait is The Cold Water Green beast. This bait has been responsible for so many fantastic winter captures over the years. Most companies claim they have baits that can be used in cold temperatures but this bait was especially designed for exactly that job. It has the most addictive smell of Winter berries with a creamy back note and very slight hint of menthol. It’s a milk protein base mix and passes through carp at that time of year very quickly unlike higher fat alternatives that can clog them up and leave them sluggish. This fast transit allows them to consume more baits meaning you can create a feeding situation where otherwise you wouldn’t have been able to.

Then we have The Supa fruit which has a luscious soft fruits flavour with a sweet dairy back note. High levels of milk proteins, and of course tiger nut meal, make this a highly effective bait all year round. 

Moving on to our dedicated nut bait The N-blend. These boilies contain an astounding amount of coarse ground tiger nut meal, so much so these are in part why we had to have bespoke rollers made. It has a roasted nut and condensed milk flavour profile which is enhanced with the addition of our milk B plus palatant. It also seems to be very good on cray or bream infested waters, both of which don’t seem to like tiger nuts compared to other baits.

That brings us onto our dedicated fish meals. 

All of these baits use our phenomenally nutritious Pukka fish basemix. 

First up is Fish blood and fresh orange. To the Pukka fish base mix, we add blood meal (for which we have to have a licence) and green lipped mussel laced with natural zesty orange. As well as crunchy kelp and added iron which induces compulsive feeding particularly amongst the bigger fish. We are always so surprised each season how many people contact us to let us know they have either had “the biggun” from their lake or a new PB. 

It has a tendency to pick out the bigger residents of a lake.

Second of our fishmeals is Peach and sour cream. Made using the original Haith’s robin red and a liberal helping of GLM. With a punchy peach flavour profile complimented by our exclusive sour cream which is made up of three powerful components one of which being N-Butyric acid, a renowned attractant.

This bait comes into its own on particularly silty lakes where the combination of flavours seem to repel any pungent substrate. 

Lastly, one of our oldest baits and a timeless classic The oily chicken, a highly textured bait with a flavour profile of delectable roach chicken, alongside that we add red salmon oil, whey powder and soluble hydrolysed chicken protein. 

In this bait we have utilised the attractiveness of Umami which is an intense savoury taste that drives carp crazy and has proven pulling power.

We also have a number of exciting new products in the pipeline so keep your eyes on our social media where we will make any announcements.