Cygnet Wide Frame Catapult Review and Initial Thoughts

Well it is that time of the year again when we are out hammering the fish left and right. So many companies and so many options for equipment to buy it can boggle the mind sometimes.  I am a huge fan of using catapults for my everyday fishing. I do love a Spomb but I find myself using the catapult for when I want to get bait out insanely fast and accurate. As soon as I get to my chosen swim I pull it out of my bucket and fire around 8-10 boilies over the spots I plan to cast to. While I am getting all of my gear sorted I am drawing in fish with the few free offerings. I have had a decent amount of quick bites from this technique because as soon as I cast in my rods I had a bite within 5 minutes or so.

In the above picture you can see the Cygnet Wide Frame Catapult. First impression it looks similar to all of the other catapults on t he market. Like mentioned above since I use catapults all of the time I know what breaks on them the most. The band is the first thing to wear out usually on most. I have had around 5-6 catapults now from all companies so I have experience in what to watch for.  This catapult comes with a standard pouch which is great for all around usage. I have used some companies and the pouch is so tiny that you wonder why they even made that small of a pouch unless you plan to only put out 2 boilies of course. They also make a large pouch which you can buy seperate.

The frame itself has a little give to it and that actually helps in getting maximum distance when firing out. It almost adds an extra spring effect to the elastic and long distances are a breeze.  The biggest thing I loved about this catapult is the band. I am notorious for breaking bands right away due to heavy usage. This band from Cygnet is heavy duty and you only have to pull back a little ways to get the bait out. Of course if you are shooting for 60 yards plus you will have to pull back a little farther to achieve those distances.

In the video below I show the Cygnet catapult and also show it in action so you can see its performance.

Again as mentioned above the catapult comes with the standard pouch. This will hold roughly 15+ 18mm boilies. You can use larger particles, ground bait balls, method mix or anything else you can think of. The large the object the farther it will fly and the smaller items such as particles will only go about 20 yards if that. They also make a large size as well that will fit even more.

One other key thing that I must mention is a few companies make replacement parts such as bands and pouches for your catapult but many  are somewhere pricey. The Cygnet lineup has very reasonable priced replacements which is another added bonus. They sell the bands and also both size pouches that you can keep as spares that way if you plan a trip far away you will have peace of mind in knowing if something happens you have a replacement and also those replacements didn't break the bank to have.

In the above photo you can see how the bands are held into place. There will be a small plastic piece that goes inside of the band and what this does is puts a lot less stress on the band when you go to fire. This means the band will last a lot longer than normal. You can also see the part of the frame where the band goes through is rounded and smoothed nicely so ensure no matter what angle you fire from there is no edges that will prematurely wear out the band as well.

In closing I will say I have loved my Cygnet Catapult from the moment I used it. I am going on close to 3 months now and it is going strong. I have done a ton of sessions and fired kilos and kilos of bait out during those sessions and this still is holding up. I even baited 5-8 kilos with this for a prebait and that is usually a catapult killer and no wear at all! I am highly impressed with this and I am sure you will be as well. The other thing is the price is really great for a catapult of this caliber.                                  Brian Wingard

Big Carp Tackle is the sole supplier of Cygnet Products in the United States and they can be found at the links listed below. You can see the catapult plus the spare pouches and bands.

http://www.bigcarptackle.com/cygnet-wide-frame-catapult-4516

North American Carp Angler out Now! Q1 2014 Free to read

Black Pack aka Germ Pack Bait basic recipe step by step Part 1 of 2

As the spring is drawing closer I wanted to start to focus on more baits and one popular packbait that I have used in the past with great results is the Black Pack aka the Wheat Germ Pack Bait. This one is insanely easy to  make and only requires a few ingredients.  In this article I am using CC Moore Liquid Food Liquid Molasses and CC Moore Wheatgerm.  This does require heating the Molasses so it absorbs into the wheat germ better and also refrigerating the mix will stiffen it to allow for maximum distances on the cast over 100 yards.

The first step will be for you to measure out 6 cups of wheat germ to 2 cups of molasses.  It is best to measure out the wheat germ and place it into a seperate bag or bowl. I then measure out the molasses and place it into a put and begin warming.

After you place the 2 cups of molasses into your pot it will look like the image above. Once it begins to bubble it will change to light brown and then start to turn foamy like you can see in the pictures below.

Once it reaches the bubbling stage take it off of the heat and mix in your wheat germ that you had measured out. You will want to do this quickly because as it cools it becomes harder to manage.

Next step is to let this cool a little bit then place it into a freezer bag. The freezer bags are thicker so they can withstand the flattening process.

As you can see in the above photo you want to press and roll this flat to around 1/2 inch thick or less. After doing so you want to place it in your refrigerator for a good 6 hours or you can place it in your freezer for around 1 hours time to speed up this process. The key is to keep this in a cooler bag while you fish. This ensures the mix stays stiff and you will be able to cast  an extremely far distance without it flying off. You can either mold it around your lead, boilies or baits.

As you can see as soon as you place the pack into the tank the color fades as the molasses spreads throughout the water so you have the flavor traveling far quickly.

I usually pair up this mix with a CC Moore Steeped Black Tiger nut as it compliments the pack bait well.

The amount of leakage is incredible after only a minute on the bottom and keep in mind this is in a tank with no current so the effects on a lake will be much quicker.

The above is molded around a lead weight. I enclosed some pictures of the pack around the boilies as well.

You can see each one side by side and compare the amount of leakage each one will present on  the bottom to give you a better idea.

Finally my favorite part the cloud effect. A light stirring of the water and you can see how the molasses fills the tank!