Aqua-Dynamix
The Oyster

Part One

Over the past six months or so, Aqua-Dynamix is a name that has been popping up all over the place. Everywhere from Carp TV to facebook, a bit of a buzz has been created about this new bait company with quite a bit of clout. With top rod Ed Betteridge now joining the fray as head consultant, the future is looking very bright for the Derbyshire based company. So to find out what all the fuss was about, UKMA contact company MD Rob Johnson to have a bit of a chin wag and arrange for some samples of this new Oyster range of specialist carp baits to be sent over for us to put through there paces, here’s how we got on.

First things first, UKMA made contact with Aqua-Dynamix at 3.15 on a Wednesday afternoon and requested some samples. At roughly 09.40 the next day a courier knocked on the office door with my samples for review, now to me that is customer service of the highest order and huge brownie points were already in the bag; and I hadn’t even opened the box yet!
Before I could get out on the bank, I had to prepare my baits ready for action. So I opened the 5kg bag and placed half of the boilies in an air dry bag so as to make sure they were nice and firm - ready for the hair and the throwing stick - and the other half in the freezer for later.

After 36 hours in a well ventilated brick shed and after several visits to the bait to ensure that the baits had dried to a consistent texture, I was very pleased that my preparation plans had worked a treat and the baits were all perfect for use. They had dried out evenly leaving me with a firm but slightly moist centred boilie that, in my opinion, were now ready for use. I had another 24 hours until it was time to get out on the bank so I took a small boillie pot and placed 20 x 16mm air dried bottom baits and 20 x 16mm cork dust pop ups inside and covered them in the incredibly aromatic Oyster Boillie Dip that is supplied in 250ml bottles.

I know took the remaining 2.5 kg and placed these in another air dry bag and regularly rotated the baits over the next 24 hours. My master plan was by preparing my air dried baits for different periods of time. The idea behind this was to create a steady and continuous release of attractants into the swim that hopefully would instantly produce fish from a very hard weed infested water that is full of natural food. So for my boillie campaign to actually work, I had to get my baits and rigs spot on to fool these boillie shy, hard to catch beasts that live within this stunning 5 acre estate reservoir.

As I previously mentioned the lake I was fishing is absolutely full of weed with very few recognisable totally clear spots. To guarantee that my hookbait was presented in such a way that the fish would be able to take it and at the same time keep my hook clear of weed debris.  I used a 16’ combi rig with a 10’ stiff boom and a 6’ long super natural hooklink, designed to hopefully give me a perfectly presented hookbait, no matter where or what it lands on the lakes bed in my baited areas. I used this rig fished helicopter style on my middle and left hand rods, whist fishing a free running leader rig on my right hand rod. So after selecting my spots, I placed 50 baits on each area and placed my rigs in position - time to sit back and wait.

TOP TIP - To save you a little bit of playing around on the bank, when fishing a 16mm critically balanced snowman rig whilst using the Aqua-Dynamix Oyster. A standard number 4 shot placed on the hair, directly under your bottom bait is just enough weight to perfectly counter balance the cork dust pop ups to allow your baits to settle perfectly on the bottom. This finely tuned presentation turnout to be my saving grace.

After just 4 hours over my left hand margin area, I received a powerful "one noter" run and I leapt into action as my left hand rod tip hammered round to the surge of a very annoyed Abbey Lake resident. After a very moody tussle along 40 yards of marginal rushes a stunning twenty pound mirror slid over the net and mission accomplished. After only 4 hours in the water the Oyster had made an instant impact and produced a very reasonable fish from what can only be described as an awkward venue. Now my other two rods were both baited using another option and over the next 40 hours, these rods never produced a single bleep, all my action was on the Oyster.

First Impressions

The Oyster from Aqua-Dynamix has one of those aromas’s that really gets your nasal senses working overtime. An initial mellow fish aroma is then taken over by a pleasant fruity undertone that made my shed smell fantastic after 72 hours air drying. The baits dark red colouration and lively flavour compliment each other and instantly gave me that element of confidence in the bait you need to be successful when using a new bait range for the first time. I was very pleased with the fish I had as it was the only fish taken from the venue over the 48 hours I was there.

On first impressions I was very impressed with the all round performance of the Oyster Range of products from Aqua-Dynamix. The boillies that sell for £10.95 per kilo, air dried perfectly with no sign of any abnormalities. The Cork Dust pop ups sell for £4.95 and worked superbly and to finish the set off you have the gorgeous Oyster boillie dip that sells for £7.95 for 250ml. As I was able to catch on the bait instantly on a hard venue, this in my opinion is a great testament to the baits all round potential.

However, the team at UKMA don’t like to leave things to chance and if Rob will oblige, and I’m sure he will, we will be out on the bank again in a week or so, on a slightly more rewarding water to see how the Oyster performs along side a tried and tested bait, watch this space.