Life at nash max hendry

LIFE@ NASH

From Nash newbie to work overload in just a few months, he’s had everything from Ball Maker batterings to Bait Booklet all-nighters – it can only be Life@Nash for Nashbait Brand Manager Max Hendry…

LIFE@NASH

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t’s a seriously big time for Nashbait, and all the work since I joined the team has been heading towards the busy April launches.

Three carp shows, the launch of Kevin’s new bait book due out at the start of the month and a mountain of new products means it’s been absolute madness.

For all that, I always enjoy doing the shows.

It gives me a chance to talk to lots of anglers and get their thoughts and feedback on the bait we produce. You can often get jaded about what you are doing but the satisfaction speaking to people who have had great results or personal bests on our products is a lovely way to stay motivated.

It’s a good chance to listen as well, and we know you guys have been crying out for us to do a range of Wafter hookbaits to complement the boilie ranges. Well the wait is over, with Wafters and pots of yellow and pink two tone pop ups in Key Cray, Scopex Squid, TG Active, The Key and Citruz there’s more choice than ever for the angler wanting those important edges. Even better we’ve added 12mm to all the pop up and hookbait ranges – wait until you see those belting little carp sweets that have been dropping out the new rollers, they are just lush and I suspect will be our biggest sellers in the UK at least.

“Three carp shows, the launch of Kevin’s new bait book due out at the start of the month and a mountain of new products means it’s been absolute madness.” www.nashtackle.co.uk

ALL IN ITS NEW PACKAGING AND READY TO GO – THE AWESOME KEY CRAY

THE SCOPEX SQUID STORY The most common feedback I’ve had since I started was that we needed to bring Scopex Squid back out. I didn’t think it was very likely, but I’m chuffed to say that the deadly Scopex Squid is back in your local shops as of April 1st at the same time as Key Cray is launched.

IT’S BEEN NON STOP PROMOTION ALL OVER EUROPE AS WELL AS IN THE UK

The irony is we’ve never actually stopped rolling it as special orders for people, but we just can’t stop people asking for it.

All over Europe, every show and there’s always the same question. Like Kev said –

you win you can have it back…

Each week the pile of catch reports coming in also gets bigger and bigger, no wonder the carp world is as excited as I am to see the Key Cray finally landing in shops. We’ve been busy showcasing all the new bait products and to help get the bait in people’s hands we have been combining giveaway sample bags of Key Cray and Key Cray Hookbaits with bulk Key Cray promotional deals at the shows.

I wouldn’t like to guess how many snappy bags of Key Cray the factory have packed for show season but it must be in the tens of thousands.

www.nashtackle.co.uk

WINNING FORMULA

ONE PALLET OF BOXES – WE’VE PRINTED 80,000 COPIES AND THAT’S JUST FOR THE UK!

THE BAIT BIBLE To go hand in hand with the new Nashbait products, the last few months have been spent putting together a bait book with Kevin and the team. It’s something that I’ve found really interesting and I think it speaks volumes for Nashbait that we were able to produce such a goldmine of bait thinking. Some serious blood sweat and tears have gone into it, I even resorted to some all night office sessions to get it to the printers in time.

Don’t forget that for us a project isn’t ever just about the UK and we

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DIFFERENT BAITS DESIGNED FOR A DIFFERENT JOB – AND BOY ARE THEY POPULAR!

are as keen to promote and grow confidence in our products abroad as we are in the UK. Finishing the UK booklet wasn’t the end of the job, then there were another eight translations to be signed off and sent to print including Croatian, Czech and Hungarian!

Luckily I finished it with a week spare, giving me plenty of time to get everyone proof reading.

The Bait Bible as it has become known was never meant to be an out-and-out hard sell for our baits, more to underline the heritage of Nashbait and the story behind the bait we produce. Even the most

experienced carpers will stop and learn from Kev’s thoughts and no-one can fail to take something from it.

No expense has been spared, from high quality paper to make it feel like a book not a booklet to first class design and great creative photography. At a recent sales meeting it was ironic that the feedback from the reps was that we had better make a point of putting Free on the cover because otherwise people might think they needed to pay for it! Look out for your free copy in Nashbait stockists from the start of April onwards.

Show season gives you an amazing insight into some of the differences between the UK and Continental markets. We don’t produce bait just for the UK market, and tailoring baits to suit the demands of European anglers resulted in the Formula range. It has been a huge success story, anglers all over Europe were crying out for an affordable bait for mass baiting the huge lakes and rivers on the Continent. I am not talking a couple of five kilo bags either, more like 100 kilos. The bait needed to be attractive yet cheap to buy in bulk. Available in Formula Fruit, Fish and Sweetcorn some of the bigger shops have been ordering tonnes at a time to keep up with demands of their anglers. We’ve watched anglers turn up at shows with airport style baggage trollies or carp barrows and buy 100 or even 200 kilos of bait and disappear off home. It’s a totally different mentality.

It’s easy to forget the differences between the sport abroad and in the UK, but if you’re fishing on thousands of acres of reservoir for shoals of carp measured in the hundreds then an HNV bait like The Key isn’t the choice – you’d be better with ten times as much bait to try and hold those nomadic carp for as long as possible before they move on.

You’ll never hold them for any period, and never make the slightest dent in their feeding preferences on such enormous, rich venues.

The name of the game is recognising what job the bait needs to do for you – there’s a fascinating chapter on this style of fishing

by Kev in the Bait Bible. The Formula Fruit is the one that sticks in my nose, and uses the awesome Tangerine Oil and Peach Oil Palatants. I have wondered a few times how many carp it might catch if anyone tried it over here!

www.nashtackle.co.uk

NASH E-ZINE WINTER 2016

LIFE@NASH

A LESSON IN HOOK MECHANICS FROM ALAN!

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THE TWO RONNIES I managed to get out on the bank for some fishing of my own, with a couple of nights as a guest on a lake in the Home Counties.

It was February but the lake had seen some steady action despite the weather being freezing. Needless to say I was excited to get out, and it was my first session using the vogue Ronnie Rig. I’d been giving Alan some stick about it whilst on a feature but after he caught six fish each of which were perfectly hooked, I had to admit I’d totally put my foot in it. With two Ronnies rigged up I cast tight to some overhanging trees on

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SCOPEX SQUID TWO TONE POP UPS AND A RONNIE RIG – THE MOST TALKED ABOUT RIG AND BAIT TOGETHER!

the far bank before walking around and baiting sparingly with Key Cray flake, maggots and some whole baits to try and encourage some feeding. Just two hours into darkness I landed my first carp of 2017. At 29lb 8oz I was buzzing to get off the mark and with such an awesome fish.

I packed up the next morning with a big smile on my face and headed back home to get on with more Bait Book work. I managed to follow it up with another session just two days later and landed a chunky 32-pounder! It was a magical couple of nights’ fishing and made a nice change from being chained to the

laptop. Then it was another Roadtrip to go and shoot with Alan this time on a variety of canals and stretches of river in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. We spent two days chasing carp on quiet stretches with the highlight being a low double stalked by Alan on a cube of luncheon meat.

Then it was back to earth with a bang, or rather a squeeze, for my initiation into the Nash team and the Ball Maker Challenge.

You can see how I fared against reigning champion Mike Wilson on the latest Life@ Nash video on Nash TV.

www.nashtackle.co.uk