Magazine Article (Taken from Total Sea Fishing, May 2006)
David had devised to set up the trace for blasting. I assumed that the entire trace body, as well as bait, would be set inside the barrel. But this wasn’t the case; the only item that went into the barrel was a 1lb lead specifically designed for the job.
The rest of the trace was attached by a shockleader, and the baited trace actually sat outside the launcher. This meant that as the lead was fired out, instead of what I thought might happen, which would be for the bait to be snatched up abruptly and destroyed, it actually gradually picked up the slack line and steadily accelerated the bait away – brilliant! David also used an Impact Shield to clip the bait onto in readiness for the launch, which would help keep the trace streamlined.
I watched in awe as a 1lb lead towed a squid body out to sea. You could have knocked me down with a feather when it finally splashed into the sea… at a point over the horizon! It was however, essential to secure the bait on the hooks with elastic, simply because the launch force would have ripped it off the hook.
David set up two rods for the session. On the second rod, he used artificial worms, for demonstration purposes, while the first had a squid bait to try and attract a fish.
My curiosity soon began to get the better of me and I wanted to discover what kind of condition the squid was in when it had hit the water; and the only way to find that out would be to retrieve the rig.
David duly obliged, and reeled in. Again, I was astonished to see that even after the launch, and a long reeling in, the squid was still perfectly intact! So I decided to be a pain, and insisted that David launched the squid bait out several more times, purely to see how much abuse it might handle. To my surprise, it lasted for half a dozen successive launches.
It’s also possible to launch worm baits up to 150 yards without the need to use elastic, due to the way that David sets up the rig. I decided, after a few more launches, that maybe I should allow David to try and catch a fish so that he could have some sort of a break from the toil of reeling in such huge distance.
Despite that fact that the BBC really does work, I still find it a bitter pill to swallow because there is now something out there that can make us big hitters look a little silly… It is truly astonishing.
Article by Barney Wright
Since the May feature, extensive tests on all soft baits including worm, mussels, crab etc using Fox TM Fade Away PVA Wide Funnel (For all round use and for delivering oil based liquid attractors), you simply put fish oil on your soft bait, put it in the PVA tubing, attach the tube onto the weight, drop your weight down the barrel, select the distance you would like to fish at, and your bait is delivered in perfect condition.
Pictures coming soon of soft bait use.
