Antbaits Revisited February 2006 It's nearly four years now since I first reviewed Antbaits pellets and matchballs, and I can honestly say the baits have got even better! First of all I have to admit I do use Antbaits hooker pellets or Softees as they are called. My local tackle shop stocks them and they are very popular with the matchmen and the specimen hunters alike. So when a box of Antbaits latest fish 'sweeties' arrived on my desk I was eager to see all the latest developments - and I wasn't disappointed. The bait range has certainly developed - for starters there is the hair rig hookers, hard pellets which are pre-drilled, which makes hair-rigging a doddle. These come in various sizes right up to donkey-chokers at 18mm. The flavour range is brilliant with Scopex Cream Oil, and the Simply Strawberry Oil being my particular favourites. 18mm Simply Strawberry Oil Hair-Rig Hookers The Test... OK - you're stood in the tackle shop, you lift a jar of pellets off the shelf, open it up and have a good sniff - well you do don't you? If it makes your mouth water or you're tempted to eat one - then it's looking good. Everybody does it - don't worry you're not alone! If you open up a jar of Antbaits Simply Strawberry Oil Pellets, believe you me - you are tempted to taste one! The fish are in the same opinion too. I fished the strawberry oil pellets on a size 10 hair-rig, targeting carp and I caught roach - all of them 1lb+, they were seriously outgunned on 12lb main line - but what a result. Next time I'll be using the 18mm to keep them at bay! That's on a big size 10 strong forged carp hook by the way. Next in the range are the Softees - which I use regularly. There are 6mm, 8mm and 12mm sizes with loads of different flavours, Creme de la Creme, Tutti and Banana, Bloodworm Extract, Halibut oil, Trout Liver oil, Oil of Sweetcorn, the list goes on. My favourites are the Oil of Sweetcorn Softees, they come in a thick 'glug' which smells just like freshly cooked sweetcorn. They are slightly 'rubbery' in texture so they stay on the hook well if you're casting them out. The Trout Livers Oil Softees make your nose wrinkle though. If you take your dog fishing with you - watchout - my Staffy adores the Halibut Oil Softees and would eat a whole jar of them if he got chance! There's a wide choice of flavours and sizes throughout the range. Second from left is the Soft Barbel/Carp Hookers - that come complete with free hair rig stoppers. Catch Can Next in the range is the 'Catch Can' - all you really need to catch fish in a single can. 2/3 of the can holds ball pellets, which breakdown in the water after about 20 minutes or so, the remaining 1/3 of the can is boilies and then there's half a dozen pop-ups as well. It's a cracking idea - it's clean, convenient and there's all you need in one can - which is re-sealable, so nothing is wasted. Again there's lots of flavours to choose from. For the Barbel angler This was new to me - pellets for feed and hooker pellets in one bag, a great idea. Again very clean and convenient in an air-tight vacuum bag. There's also free pva bags included. I can't comment on these Barbel ANTbaiters, Andrew Kennedy has 'borrowed' them - and promises to send me his opinion. They didn't last long! The bottom line As you know, AnglersTimes tells it like it is - and the Antbaits range gets a definite thumbs up. Clean, convenient and the fish love them. I can personally recommend the softees (something I don't usually do), give them a try, you won't be disappointed. Don't just take our word for it... Matchball won the prestigious "Best New Product" award at "Go Fishing" 2003. Gerard McCaffrey fishing at Maleon in France set a new lake record with a 66.8lb mirror, 57lb, 53lb, and six 40's, and a load of 30's - it was the first time he'd ever used the Sweetcorn 15mm hair rig hookers. Terry Eustace, had cats to 147lb using them last year. Will Raison has had great success using Softees and advocates their use, as does Keith "King" Arthur. Steve Ball using Ball Pellet Hookers caught a new lake record common of 52lb, and 5 more 30's! Paul Hurst of All Seasons Angling Centre, in South Wigston, Leicester, caught a 60.8lb common, on the HRH's, and he has had catfish to over 180lbs on 6 X 18mm HRH's on a hair! OK - that's enough - there's a limit to how much you can sing the praise of these baits - I reckon you get the idea! Coming Soon... We heard on the grapevine that Antbait has developed some new 6mm Micro-boilies, 6mm X 6mm Perfect Pellet-shaped Boilies and a fantastic innovation called Link- Brik, which is a groundbait brick with a hole in it, enabling you to thread it onto your hooklink. It is 18mm in diameter, and completely breaks down in 4 minutes, covering your hooklink with feed and particles, right next to your baited hook! It eliminates tangled hooklinks and settles gently on the bottom before breaking down and disguising your hooklink! We'll let you know... Good fishing to you all Kevin Miles Editor NFA Angling Coach