Solid Bags & Super Snails… Paul Stevens

This entry was posted on 4th September, 2013

Solid Bags & Super Snails… Paul Stevens

A recent session on my local syndicate water had me thinking… I had been observing a small group of Carp over my baited area, I watched them for a good half an hour as they were feeding heavily and ripping up the bottom… However they weren’t feeding on my baits, they seemed to be feeding on the thick weed and silt that was in abundance.

After rooting around in the margins and studying some of the weed in the lake I noticed that it was rife with aquatic life. The weed was a home for hundreds of tiny organisms, with one in particular catching my eye; the tiny water snail.

So it was back to the drawing board and time for a rethink on my baiting strategy. I trawled the internet looking for different ‘natural baits’ and pondered my choices, did I go down the ‘bloodworm’ route, or did I look for an alternative.

I eventually came across the CC Moore Water Snails, remembering how the weed had been crammed full of them; I thought they had to be worth a shot!



Once I had received my snails I decided to experiment, I wanted to add them into my solid PVA bags and I needed a carrier to go with them. Knowing that the fish in the lake can be partial to fishy baits I opted for the N-Gage XP stick mix and some very good Shrimp pellets, a good drop of Equinox Concentrated Bait Dip completed the concoction.

The mix looked perfect and would provide a tasty carpet of tiny particles to occupy the feeding Carp. My hook bait was going to be a trimmed down hardened Equinox bottom bait. I decided to trim my hook bait down, so it looked more natural in amongst the smaller free offerings in my bags.

My first trip back on the water armed with my new bait, saw me trying to locate some feeding fish, it didn’t take long, as I soon found a group of fish in and around some thick weed and pads.

I prepared a couple of neat solid bags, packing in plenty of my special mixture and adding the rigs, these were then cast to the likely looking areas.



Whilst observing the water I soon noticed signs that the fish were grubbing around over the top of my rigs, small bubbles began to break surface and the clear water had turned a dirty brown colour. Sitting on my hands, I was confident it was only a matter of time before one of them made a mistake and my confidence was rewarded as around half hour later my Delkim burst into life and line started to melt from my spool.

After dumping the lead the fish popped straight to the surface and the fight was on! After a short spirited fight, the first fish on the snails was in the folds of my landing net, pulling the scales around to a pleasing 19lb, it wasn’t a big fish, but what it lacked in size it made up for in looks!



After a quick picture I released the stunner back to it’s watery home and then set about tying up another bag.

Evening passed without incident and with work the next day I was keen to get a few hours kip. I’d probably been in the land of nod for around 3 or so hours, before I was rudely awaken another screaming run and another fish around the 19lb mark.

As I repositioned the rods I was happy with my days work, two fish in a short overnighter… can’t be bad! The rest of the night slipped away and soon dawn and the thought of work, was upon me, it was time to pack away.

I started to dissemble my banksticks and alarms, I’d laid the rods on the ground with the reels in free spool and as I put the last bankstick in my holdall I heard… click, click, click… line started to peel from clutch as another lake resident fell to my traps.

I quickly grabbed the rod and bent in to what felt like a much better fish, after an intense fight, with the fish going from weed bed to weed bed I managed to get the big girl in the net! This time it was a nice Common, which pulled the needle on my Reuben Heatons round to a very pleasing 24lb, it also brought up my hatrick on the snails!

After a picture I quickly released the fish as by now it was really time to get to work!!!

All in all the session had been a great success, three fish in less than 24 hours and more importantly three fish on the snails! I arrived into work with a spring in my step and future thoughts of the snails landing one of the real big girls!

I’ll keep you posted.

Tight Lines

Paul Stevens. Pauls Tackle Box: CC Moore Water Snails Korda Solidz PVA Bags Nash Fang Twister Korda N-Trap Hooklink Korda Inline Leads