Celebrate one year one Imperial Baits

Is there a better way to celebrate my first year one Imperial Baits Team then breaking my PB? Awesome! In my first year fishing with Imperial Baits, I was able to increase my PB from 15kg to 18kg and now for 21,5kg!
For most European country this is not much, but for Portugal…yes it´s very good! We do not have many carp above 20kg, and there only a few places where we can find it and try our luck. One of these places is a private lake I usually visit, it´s called “Lago da Alfarofia”.
Is near to the border with Spain, which attract every day many Spanish anglers, turning this lake into a very pressure and difficult water.

Here is the full story

Three weeks before, I call the manager of the lake and ask to reserve the peg number one.
In home, I prepare everything I will need to start the session;
Three rods 10ft, reels with mailine 0.40, 150gr inline leads. End tackle with Carp´U´Rus Smooth Braid 15lbs, hooks Predator nº6 and Centurion nº4 and the famous Mouth Aligners complete the setup. Also, prepare some pva mesh with IB Amino Pellets 4mm. For baiting not many stuff; boilies IB Crawfish Black & White 20mm, IB Mega.Krill 20mm and IB Amino Pellets 15mm, and of course, a lot of IB additives to attract and stimulate carps to feed. I am learning how to use it 😉

First day is coming, 125 km to destiny! Where I go….
Arrived earlier, around 7:30am. Good weather, clear sky and some very nice temperature! I have a little chat with other carp anglers in the lake, trying to understand how things going. Some catches during day, biggest one so far, around 13kg, and during the night not much activity…
First thing to do: unload the van and start to stand up the Nash Gazebo (excellent choice).
Second, preparing the bait, very important do this one our two hours before you start. This will allow the mix to absorb all the attractors. The mix is very simple: 1kg of IB Mega.Krill 20mm, 1kg of IB Amino Pellets 15mm, and some sweet corn.
Then, I drop the liquid attractor IB In-Liquid, IB GLM Full Fat Powder, IB Squid-Liver Concentrate. That´s it. Leave some time to rest.

Do this at least 2 hours before you use it – it`s worth it!

And not only carp like it 😉

Around 10:30 am, the three rods are fishing:

1) IB Big Fish 16mm Flying Pop Up + IB Flavour IB Frankfurt Saussage + IB Big Fish Amino Gel
2) IB Big Fish “Rambo” 20mm + IB Big Fish Amino Dip + IB Big Fish Amino Gel
3) IB Mega.Krill 20mm + IB Mega.Krill Amino Dip + IB Mega. Krill Amino Gel

Just amazing new stuff!But for sure, everybody who knows IB did await nothing else than great!!


The Amino Gel is always in use!

And yes, Flavours make a difference. At least when they taste and spread like Carptrack Flavours. Here I show you my Favorites….

Looks simple and works very good

Also the baits works well as you can see. And imagine, water is still not warm…
At this point I was alone, my partner Alfonso Rodríguez Cortes will only arrive at night. Around 12:30pm, the alarm of rod number two start screaming. Quickly I pick up the rod and a long fight begin! After twenty-five minutes, I was able to put in the net and land this carp. What a beautiful carp!

We where very happy!

Just a last pick of that stunning carp….
I check his weight…Reuben Heaton scale indicates 21,5kg… Very, very happy! That´s was amazing! Immediately I called the lake manger, in five minutes he arrived, we take some pictures and videos… Fantastic!
My goal for this year was to catch a carp +20kg, and I just did it! Very very happy!
When IB Clock point at 15:30pm, rod number two gets another run! Same location, same bait! A nice common with 9kg!! Just arrived and already two carp? This gone be great, I think to myself….


Bach he goes…
At night, Alfonso arrives and put his rods in the water. At 03:30am, the alarm sounds, Alfonso pick up is rod and minutes after we were able to land a beautiful carp with 13kg!
Not even 24h paste since I start the session and three fish landed! In the morning, we were talking with all anglers in the lake, not many fish came out, very difficult! During day, we move some rod´s to other areas with different deep´s, searching for bites, seems like the carp were not feeding… No more bits in my rods and Alfonso just get a small koi…
Final balance: very happy with my new PB, this year with no competition in my mind, I will just try to catch some big ones. Wish me luck!

The time is running good for us 🙂

Thank to Max Nollert and all the Team Members of Imperial Fishing / Imperial Baits, they make this possible!

Thanks to João Claudino, manager of the “Lake of Alfarofia”

We love To Fish!

What happened already before this nice trip from Antonio you will read and see in the following…

Winter, two nights fishing, January 2019

by Antonio Lopes Nunes

During winter, carpfishing is very difficult and tough, the low temperatures, the cool wind, less sunny hours, make it more difficult. However, there is a good point: small carp feed less, and the chance to catch a big one is more effective. For this reason, after many text messages trade between me and my big friend Alfonso J. Rodríguez Cortés, we decided to try our luck in the famous “Lake of Alfarófia”. Our choice was to fish in the deep part of the lake, pegs number one or seven (average deeps ten to thirteen ft.), but unfortunately they are not available. We check weather prediction that indicates a small increase in the low temperature as well as some light rain. With this information, we decide to go to peg number five (average deeps between three to seven ft.)
Suggested by Alfonso, we agree to make things as a team and there are no “my rods” or “your rods”. One bite for one, one bite for the other! Therefore, it was. I like the idea, seems more important both have fun, them both compete each other. And we spread rods better 😉

I arrived Saturday at 7:30am, very earlier, and a stay some time watching the lake activity. The temperature was very well for this time of year. Alfonso arrives the lake and so we start to mouth everything, rods, bivvy, baits…Then we get to the boat and start scanning the water, searching for the deepest places and clear bottom (we do not want to fish in the top of the muddy). Work done, hot spots identified, rods in water: 12pm

Bait boat mix: mix of cooking seeds, IB Amino Pellets 4 and 15mm, Sweet Corn, IB Carptrack ADD FAT, IB Carptrack Squid Liver Flour and IB Carptrack Protein Concentrate. Mix and add lake water. Leave to rest more than one hour.


What a mixture – pure bomb under water!
It´s ready to use. This mix agglutinate all ingredients and have the advantage to concentrate even more when we drop it with the bait boat, all reach the bottom together, don not disperse. Also using a PVA mesh with IB Amino Pellets 4mm.

Start to rain…and so it goes for several hours, no light, sometimes was very hard! When hard rain stop, around 22pm, first bite! A small common can resist to IB V-Pop Yellow 16mm, plus IB Pineapple Flavour, plus IB Amino Gel Pineapple.

Sunday, 02 AM: another bite, another carp landed, this time scale indicates 8kg, the baits was IB Half´N´Half Big Fish 24mm, I guess this one feels big already 😉Sunday 06am: third bite, another common carp 7,2kg, the baits was IB V-Pop Yellow 16mm, plus IB Pineapple Flavour, plus IB Amino Gel Pineapple.
During this first night, wind increased a lot and in such small deep, we decided to call the Lake Manager, there was nobody in peg 1, could make it, to ask if we can move to this peg. The answer was ok. Here we go…
Again, mouth biwwi, rods, and more important, make a quick recognize of all this area where we gone fishing. Alfonso, with is bait boat made this quick recognize and so you mark the hot spots with deeps between eight to eleven Ft.
15:30 pm first bite, some hard fight and felt something hit the line, carp gone away…to bad, the bait was IB Big Fish Flying Pop Up 16mm plus Frankfurter Saussage Flavour
16:45 pm, second bit, same rod, same bait! Did not hooked…
21:30pm a powerful run, pick up the rod e start to feel the fish. There is a nice fish, so Alfonso went to dress waders and bring my boots (margin to sallow), when he is close to me, another run in another rod, Alfonso goes to the second rod, while I am fighting with a nice carp…Meanwhile, another run!

Unbelievable, both fighting with carp and a third one! Unfortunately, the third carp gone away, Alfonso already landed his carp and is now with me. Two nice carp and lots of fun with this activity!

We think there´s gonna be one excellent night with lots of captures. The scale indicates 11,2kg and 4,5kg! No, not at all…No more bites since this time. Night gets too cool, and we think when the sun rises, the carp will show up again. However, there was not the case. A beautiful Monday morning, no wind, clear sky! The perfect morning in winter. However, it is time to come home to our families. The session is over.
To me, was a great pleasure to share those fourteen eight hours with someone who has very great experience in carp fishing for many years!

Next session, somewhere in Spain…
We Love to Fish…