Willy Worms
Starfish Super Aroma Halibut Mix

I’m always a little perplexed when it comes to reviewing groundbaits as many appear to be a very similar thing in different packaging and I wouldn’t want to say that they are all the same.......thankfully, this offering from Starfish Baits immediately strikes me as a well put together product with plenty of the right components to allow the angler to catch fish!

I’d not heard of Starfish Baits before being asked to take a look by the UKMA guru Ray Best, so I took some of the baits up to Cheshire to fish at Gawsworth Fishery near Congleton. I chose to use the Halibut Mix as I wanted to target the big carp which reside in Wood Pool, and I know they are partial to Halibut pellet; I also know that bream flood into the swim at the merest hint of pellets, so it seemed a good way to get some attraction into the swim without being snowed under by them!

I weighed the bag first to ensure I wasn’t being undersold and, as expected, it came in at smack the stated 1kg (give or take a few grammes for packaging) so a good start. Opening the bag, it smelled strongly of halibut (good news!) and was fairly finely ground; - I think there is nothing worse than big lumps or flakes which need to be liquidised out before use.

There were one or two larger food items, but nothing which would affect the mixing or subsequent breakdown.

Colour is another issue for my confidence when angling and this was a lovely dark ‘nutty’ shade which will blend easily with any other additives without breaking up into a pale area on the lake bed which may spook wary carp. The odd fleck of colour within the bait always adds a little interest for feeding fish, and the Starfish Baits Halibut Mix has just the right amount to generate curiosity without causing any trepidation for hungry carp.

Adding water to the bait was easy, by constant and thorough mixing, the liquid is dispersed without ‘clumping’ and consequently leaves a firm mix (obviously depending on the amount of fluid added) which catapults well and can be thrown some distance without coming apart in the air. I tried some in the margins where I could see that breakdown rates are clearly affected by the amount of additional things added by the angler and the amount of water used to mix it initially, but it holds up extremely well when blended with minimum water and doesn’t begin to break down for some minutes.

I spent the day fishing over the groundbait, balled in and using it in PVA mesh as a stick mix (mix it fairly dry, or add vegetable oil and be quick!) and managed to land a few carp to around 10lbs; not huge fish, but at times they were really grubbing up the lake bed to get into it and I’m happy to reckon that had I been on a longer session, it would have formed a big part of my baiting strategy.

Certainly recommended, more details from www.willyworms.co.uk rrp around £2.99.

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