Carp Zoom has bait market covered and reveals big plans for catfish sector

Hungarian tackle supplier Carp Zoom has entered the new year with exciting developments on two fronts. It has entered into an exclusive agreement with one of its major competitors in the bait sector and is targeting a fast-growing sector as a priority for 2025.

In an exclusive interview with Angling International, CEO Salim Fadil revealed that it has teamed up with the largest supplier of halibut pellets in Europe to manufacture and distribute the iconic carp bait across Europe at the start of this season.

It is also focusing on its newest brand CatZoom to cater for a huge surge in popularity of fishing for the monster fish in many countries across Europe.

Of Carp Zoom’s partnership with Alltech Coppens, the Holland based fish feed specialist, Fadil said: “It is an unusual partnership that resulted from demand from customers. We always believe that it is better to work with a competitor and others in the market. Alltech Coppens is an old and established producer of pellets for breeding fish. It is well known all over the world and also produces halibut pellets for anglers in Europe.

“We produce our own range of pellets, but anglers have been asking us to stock Alltech Coppens alongside ours. We have developed a formula in conjunction with our new partners – under the Carp Zoom powered by Alltech Coppens banner – which feature in our latest catalogue and will be available for the start of the season

“It is a fruitful cooperation because Carp Zoom has the selling power throughout Europe and provides it with a new distribution stream. Our team is looking forward to working Alltech Coppens going forward. It has high product knowledge and we can learn a lot from each other.

“We appreciate it when working with different brands because you can learn more than you lose through working with the competition.”

Carp Zoom has established itself as one of Europe’s top carp bait brands over the last two decades, but in recent years it has added other fishing disciplines to its portfolio and currently has six sub brands, including its newest CatZoom, which Fadil says has huge potential for the business and has been prioritised as a growth area in 2025.

“The take up in catfishing has been really surprising. There has been big demand for products following a huge surge in popularity in many countries across Europe. All products that we had made in China this year sold out. We are now developing more catfish rods, reels, lines and scales to cope with what will believe will be a large demand in the future.

“Anglers want to catch as big a fish as possible and there is nothing larger in freshwater in Europe than catfish. Increasing numbers of anglers from Germany, France, Spain and Italy have been travelling to top destinations like the Po and Ebro in search of the big species. Catching a fish that can weigh between 80 to 100kg is really special and catching the imagination of anglers.”

Carp Zoom may be growing across fishing categories, but Fadil says that bait is still the major part of its business and keeping up with the ever-changing trends in the sector is vital to keep ahead of the competition. “The bait sector is changing so much more quickly than it did four or five years ago. New demands from anglers are becoming hard to keep up with, but we are fortunate that we have a very good team here, including top Hungarian tournament anglers.

“Our experts know what is going on in the market – they are all trailblazers and are at the forefront of changes. They are creating the trends and that means that we can deliver solutions quicker than other producers.”

Fadil adds that Carp Zoom enjoyed a successful sales year in 2024. “Many companies in the industry complained sales last year, but we had no reason to do so. We closed better than 2023 and there were a number if reasons for that.

“Accessory sales were stable, but bait turnover rose. After the boom of sales during COVID – some of the best years in the tackle industry – the next two years have seen inflation rise across the world. Anglers are not buying rods and reels or large ticket products. They are using their old tackle.

“However, they still need bait and are spending more on it. Our baits are still the best sellers and we are continuing to develop new and innovative baits for the market.”