Published: 2024. February 20. | Source: Energofish | Articles

This year, the 2024 Arms, Fishing, Hunting Exhibition was held between February 08-11, where I had the opportunity to represent Energofish Kft for two days. On these two days, we received a lot of questions, mostly regarding the 2024 novelties, with most people inquiring about the new 5.5 mm Concourse Twister Mini baits.

The Twister Mini baits have sparked the interest of many of our fellow anglers! 

Everyone was more or less aware that the new baits are the "little siblings" of the "old" Twister baits, meaning that they share the same taste and color as their older brothers, but differ in size: the previous ones were made in a 12 mm version, while the new ones are in a 5.5 mm size.

The difference is visible between the two baits.

 There was also a question that was difficult to answer, but I'll try to provide useful tips regarding them. There was a question about how long this bait can be used, when does it completely dry out and become unusable?

Obviously, a concrete answer cannot be formulated to this question, but if nobody minds, I would like to share my thoughts on this. The baits, like those of other manufacturers, are generally placed in similar plastic, resealable containers.

The Twister baits’ jars are completely full!

To preserve the bait's texture and aroma for as long as possible, whether it's for regular angling or competition, I usually only keep the box open for the shortest time possible. I take out a few bait pellets, place them on my tray or basket for pellets, and reseal the jar. I only open it again that day if all the pellets I previously prepared have been used up. I always try to keep the closed boxes in a shaded place. This way, in my opinion, the drying out and loss of aroma of the bait can be minimized.

 

I would note here that I was at the FEHOVA on Friday and Sunday. The new Twister Mini pellets were on display in every flavor at the stand. The boxes had not been closed since Thursday's opening. Even on Sunday, several people mentioned how good the condition of these baits was. Nobody said they were too hard or lacked scent; on the contrary, those who came and squeezed them, smelled them, all praised them.

 

Another question that came up was about the buoyancy of the baits, do they lift the hook? Like most questions of this kind, they give rise to further questions. What type of hook does each person fish with, how do they present the bait (on what bait needle, rubber ring, quick stop method, etc.)?

 

The Concourse Twister Mini baits are wafter baits, which means they don't lift the hook, but they rise off the bottom and wait for the fish. I tied combined pre-rigs from all sizes of the new Concourse hooks, from 18 to 10, with a Concourse Slim bait needle on the hair rig.

 Items for delicate method fishing.

 

The bait needle was filled with 5.5 mm Twister Mini pellets taken from the same box. Then came the aquarium test. I've already tried this test with many hook types and baits, but somehow I had a hard time achieving that state (aligning the hook with the bait) where the hook and bait were positioned optimally on the bottom of the aquarium (I think this state is when only the hook tip touches the bottom, and the bait is positioned above the hook).     

The 18 Fine Carp hook and the Twister Mini bait: perfect! 

First, the "little barrel" was placed on the tip of the size 18 hook, and I cast it into the aquarium. Let me make another note here. With this hook size, the pellet placed on the bait needle sank so slowly to the bottom, the bait's buoyancy was such that in my opinion, if a fish just took a breath near the bait, the bait along with the hook would fly into its mouth.

 

This size hook initially stopped on the bottom of the water in the position I considered perfect. The difference between the 16 and 14 hook sizes was minimal; they descended to the bottom slightly faster but arrived in the same perfect position. If I placed the 5 mm pellet on the bait needle of the size 12 hook, after hitting the bottom of the aquarium, the hook lay halfway down, and the size 10 hook lay completely flat.

Ideal operation with a 10 Fine Carp hook as well.

My personal opinion about the Concourse Twister Mini baits - if such a thing can be written - is that they were designed for these hooks (Concourse Fine Carp). Or the hook was designed for the bait, but that's a detail question.

 

It was also asked why these baits are not made in one color? To this question, my teammate Zoli Frankó jokingly remarked that actually, they can be used in one color if we skewer the bait across the bait needle. We laughed at this too. But if we think about it, it's true!

 

Our assumption is that fish in the water only see contrasts, shadows, they cannot distinguish colors. My opinion about this is that still, the color of the bait is the most important for achieving a bite. Which color bait is the most catchy on a given day, on a given lake, under different weather conditions, at different times of the day, varies. I think it's worth trying out several colors on a given lake at a given time.

 

Returning to Zoli Frankó's funny remark. Is it really just a joke? I think there's some truth to it. Generally, fish take our bait from above, so if, for example, we stick a lemon-yellow-orange pellet, chocolate-orange in color, from the yellow side onto the bait needle, then orange is seen from above, and vice versa. My personal favorites are the white-orange (mango) and yellow-orange (chocolate-orange) colors.

 

Many also asked how big fish can be caught with them? With the comment that due to their size, they are only suitable for catching small fish. I can only express my opinion about this too. It is true that because of their size, a bream or roach can easily eat them (there is a competition situation where you have to fish for these fish). Hungarian method fishing generally revolves around carp. As a result, the vast majority of method waters in Hungary are inhabited by carp. Our great anglers say that usually, the bream species appear first on our feeding spot, and over time, they are followed by carp. If the bigger fish appear at the feeding spot, they "drive away" the bream species from there. My opinion is that in such cases, if there is a small (in this case 5.5 mm) bait on the bait needle, the carp can easily suck it in with less effort, thus, we can achieve bites faster with these small baits (for example, if the fish is finicky about food).

Really nice carp can also be caught with these tiny baits!

 That the Concourse Twister Mini bait is also excellent for catching carp, in my opinion, is not a question. The size of the fish depends on the size of the bait we throw in front of it. It is well known that bigger fish are more cautious, harder to trick. If we think about it, we can see that, for example, a bigger fish is less suspicious if the bait pellet size is closer to the size of the feed pellet (I don't use feed pellets larger than 4 mm).

I can think of more questions that you asked us at the FEHOVA, but I think I have already written too much, and I'm happy if someone reads it all!

Pető Gábor