Marukyu Match Baits

Part One

There has been a lot of debate on the internet forums regarding the Marukyu range of baits compared to existing baits on the market. A lot of the anglers on these forums develop a hatred for products before they have even seen them, let alone tried them and generally change their minds once they have been out on the bank with the products, but they very rarely post a retractment of their original scepticism.

Marukyu appeared onto the UK market with a bang. Hardly anybody had heard of the company, even though this year was the company's 100th birthday! Suddenly this new bait was in the magazines and on the shops shelves at prices which anglers thought were too expensive compared to other baits alongside them.

A lot of the scepticism from the anglers was that they did not understand the scientific input that Marukyu use to develop their baites for the target country's market. It is without any shadow of a doubt that most readers will know that the Japanese place a lot of money into their Cyprinid industry be it for sport or for keeping as pets like they do with their Koi, that run into several thousands of pounds for a perfect specimen. Obviously what the fish are fed is very important to the fishkeepers and anglers so that the fish get beneficial nutrients from what is put into the water as well as keeping the fish feeding on them all year round without doing the fish detriment or over-feeding the fish on products that are not right for the species in question.

With all this in mind, Marukyu have spent a lot of money on research and development, and are owners of their own Chromo Gas and Mass Spectographer machine (usually seen in TV forensic lab programmes such as CSI) to give a perfect breakdown down to the lowest level of ingredients and amounts. The use of this type of machinery in angling bait manufacture is unheard of until now!

Who are we as anglers to argue with fishery management experts such as Roy Marlow and Dr Bruno Broughton?

Marukyu Groundbaits

Marukyu have a selection of nine groundbaits within their UK range, and we have been sent some of them to take a look at. In the box that we received were the EFG121, EFG131 and EFG150.

The three groundbaits are all developed for todays commercial fishery's which are now becoming mixed fisheries rather than simply just carp. It is true that all the species that are generally in todays fisheries will come to most groundbaits that are available, but Marukyu have spent a lot of time developing ingredients that target specifically the match winning species such as carp, bream, tench and F1's.

The EFG121 has been developed as an all-round groundbait that targets carp, bream and F1's. Made up of 13 ingredients including Marukyu's unique Nori formula, the medium particle size within the bait makes it ideal for feeder and method work. EFG121 can also be used as a paste when mixed 1:1 dry product to water. Like all the groundbaits within the Marukyu range, it does not need riddling to be perfect. Full instructions to how much water per dry product is needed for the bait to react perfectly within the water.

The EFG131 is also an all-round groundbait that has been developed to target carp, bream and tench specifically. The EFG131 has a very fast breakdown time with a low food profile, which makes this a perfect bait for those cold days where you don't want the fish to fill themselves up on the groundbait before they find your hookbait. Just like the EFG121, EFG131 can be used as a paste when mixed 1:1 dry ingredients to water. UKMA have been informed by anglers using it on hard Northern waters that they are catching big Skimmers which has been unheard of before in matches at this time of year where anglers using other groundbaits are catching small roach mainly.

The final groundbait that we were sent is the EFG150. EFG150 has a very fine particle grain size, and has been developed using a good protion of Nori (which the other two groundbaits sent also include). 23 key ingredients are used in the make up of the groundbait, and it is a true all-round groundbait that will attract all species of fish to the feeding area without filling them up. EFG150 has proven itself during testing to work when other groundbaits haven't on the waters that the fieldtesters and consultants were using it on before release.

Full usage and mixing instructions can be found on the reverse of each EFG packaging, and these baits work best when the instructions are followed to the letter.

To help with this, Marukyu have made some instructional videos to show the angler how to get the best out of their groundbaits. Two of these can be watched below.

Marukyu SDP Pellets

To accompany the range of groundbaits perfectly, Marukyu have also developed pellets to compliment the situation that you may experience on the venue of your choice. The SDP range or Scientifically Developed Pellet to give it the full title, has been developed to both be atractive to the target species as well good for the aquatic environment. The SDP range have been developed with angling in mind and instead of being put through a heat treatment process after extruding, the SDP range have been cold processed which gives a faster release of attraction as well as a controlled breakdown.

UKMA were sent the Nori SDP2101 and SDP2103 pellets to look at which contain Marukyu's own unique Nori (seaweed) blend that has proven to be highly attractive to all species especially carp, bream and F1's. The SDP pellets are available in 4 different sizes per blend with the last number of the code being the size of the pellet in millimetres i.e. 2101 equals 1mm pellet size. We have found that Skimmers love the smaller pellets and that specimen carp readily take the larger pellets without needing prebaiting.

Another benefit to the SDP range is that they are denser than some other pellets on the market which means that they should catapult slightly further for their given size and be less affected by side winds, whilst still sinking through the water column without sinking into soft substrates.

Marukyu have also created an information video on the SDP pellets which can be viewed below.

Marukyu AFP Paste

When Marukyu have been at the shows demonstrating their products, the one product that stands out to anglers witnessing is the AFP Paste or Angler Friendly Paste. Any angler that has fished paste will know that mixing the paste correctly to be most effective is one of the hardest preperations of baits that there is, but by simply following the instructions to the letter on the AFP bags, any angler can mix up a paste that will catch fish on any commercial fishery.

UKMA were sent the AFP310 paste. The AFP310 paste mixes up the same way as the other paste in the range but it is heavier than the other and will obviously sink quicker, making it perfect for fishing on the deck with. The gluten strands in the mixed paste mean that the AFP pastes are more resiliant on the hook than other pastes, yet the hook can pull through the paste like a hot knife through butter still.

To mix up the AFP310 paste, it is as simple as taking 1 part dry mix and ading the exact same quantity of water, leaving for 3 minutes or so, then seperating with a damp hand and turning over.

The two videos below will show you how to make the most of the AFP range, and we had our eyes opened at UKMA with how easy to use the product is and how it reacts in the water.

Marukyu SDP Soft Pellet

The SDP Soft Hooker Pellet are the perfect hookbait to use over the Marukyu hard SDP pellet range.

The SDP Soft Pellets are more than just what the name mentions. They are literally unlike any other hook pellet that has been available previously. The SDP Soft Pellets are available in one size - 10mm - and if you split one open they resemble boilie paste, but Marukyu have told us that it is not a boilie paste at all. The Soft hooker baits can be made larger by breaking open and moulding two together if required and still be fully usable.

Obviously due to the single 10mm size that the Soft baits are supplied in they are ideally suited as big fish baits, but they have already opened a lot of anglers eyes to their uses.

The SDP2210 is a protein based soft hookbait, where as the SDP2310 is Nori based.

We recommend that you try both as they are something else indeed, especially if the water you fish has bigger than average fish present.

As before, Marukyu have created a short video to show the angler how to make the most from the SDP soft hookbaits.

Final Thoughts

Welcome to the mind bending world of Marukyu baits! Some of the team at UKMA are complete bait buffs but when they started looking into the baits that Marukyu sent to UKMA for review even they learnt some things! This is just a small selection of the items that Marukyu sent up for review and we have others that are still to be reviewed (as soon as we have chance to try them, we will place them on the site as well).

Marukyu certainly have created a range of baits that gives the angler something to think about rather than just pick up whatever they fancy off the shelf at their local shop. The products are not the cheapest available, but as the saying goes "you have to speculate to accumulate" and the anglers that we have spoken to that are using the Marukyu range are winning more than they have before on the same venues.

During our sessions we have out caught other anglers on the venues simply by using the Marukyu baits. Whether this was coincidence or not, we cannot be 100% objective, but when you have a good day's sport you have confidence in the bait etc that you used on the day.

We do have other items that we still need to put to the test so please keep an eye on our updates for these items.

For more information on any of the products available from Marukyu, please click the logo below to visit the company's website.