Pop-Ups! Don't we just love them?! I am drawn to them like a bee to a honey pot and I am sure there must be many like me out there in the carp world:
Guys with dozens of pots of alternative hookbaits in all the colours and all the sizes. Sometimes a year or more will go by before I discover, tucked away in the bottom of my bait box, a lonely pot of pop-ups, un-used and un-loved just crying out to be used
Let's imagine you are such an angler and one day, probably a frustrating one with carp seemingly as rare as rocking horse poo, you open the lid and take a sniff and the once-irresistible aroma of those baits is now a pale shadow of its former self. But, gentlemen! we can rebuild him them. (You need to be old enough to remember the 1973 TV series Six Million Dollar Man to get that!)
How? I hear you ask. Simple! Just prepare a potent, high attract glug and apply it to those tired old pop-ups, wafters, bottom baits…whatever.
An old fashioned attitude towards hookbaits seems to prevail once again, that of matching the hatch. That is to say, using the same bait on the hair that are used as freebies. Once upon a time, many moons ago, that is exactly how we all fished for carp. However, nowadays a more up to date tactic is in vogue, the use of what we call and 'alternative' hookbaits. Namely one that could not be more different to the freebies if it tried! In fact elsewhere in these pages you will find a Blog called Drawing attention to the hookbait, which outlines my take on this often confusing topic. Here's a link to that Blog:
https://haiths.com/blogs/fishing-news/drawing-attention-to-the-hookbait-1
As outlined I believe that drawing attention to the hookbait using natural stimulants is a very effective way of catching carp. I want my hookbait to really stand out using natural feeding triggers and there are quite a few such triggers as Betaine, Green Lipped Mussel Concentrate, Liver Powder, amino acids and Liquid Foods such as Yeast.
I have been a fan natural extracts for nearly thirty years and use them to add extra pulling power to any bait I make. In fact, back in the day I remember the Nutrabaits gang marketed baits incorporating a tweak they called the ATS Tweak, the initials standing for And Then Some, which in effect means adding a little bit 'extra' to the base mix. I am sure that you will not be surprised to learn that that the two main components of the tweak were Betaine HcL and GLMC!
Here are a few mixed pop-ups that need a little bit of care and attention so I am going to give them an Attractor Boost using mainly natural stimulants. Both GLMC and Betaine and plenty more besides are equally effective when combined to create a high-attract glug or bait soak so here is my guide to creating such a glug using readily available ingredients. To make a glug or bait soak you will need the following:
A pot with a screw top lid
50ml Liquid Enzyme Treated Yeast (Feed Stimulants)
100ml Sanchi Tamari Sauce (Amazon)
10g Betaine (Feed Stimulants)
10g Green Lipped Mussel Concentrate (Feed Stimulants)
10g Liver Extract powder (Feed Stimulants)
Measure out 100ml Sanchi Soy Sauce and pour it into the pot.
Measure the same of Liquid Enzyme Treated Yeast and then add it to the pot as well.
Measure 10g of Betaine using a teaspoon, which is roughly 5g.
Now add 10g of Green Lipped Mussel Concentrate.
Next another two teaspoons full of Liver Extract powder. Add the dry ingredients to the pot and shake well.
Finally add the concoction to the baits and again shake well. Screw on the lid and leave for a few days so that the attractors can revitalise the hookbaits. Bingo!
Using a high-attract glug is a tactic that can also be applied to the bait carper, especially if using boiled baits. When given a generous glug or even a soak in Tamari the bait will give off a tantalising 'eat me' message to any passing carp. This highly attractive liquid should be used in with the eggs at 10ml per egg before adding a base mix with the aim of creating boilies. It should also be added to the cooling baits so that it is absorbed into the skin of the boilies.
Alternatively you could create boilie sausages as outlined at length in several of my other blogs. Here's a link to a detailed look at making 'chops' from boiled sausages:
https://haiths.com/blogs/fishing-news/boilie-chops-and-how-to-create-your-own-shelf-life-bait
As I mentioned in the intro, I have been using natural attractors for more years than I care to think about. Here's a nice big lump from many moons ago, when I had hair and was ten kilos lighter!
May I wish you all a very happy Christmas and a carp-filled 2021. Let's hope it's a great deal better than 2020.
Enjoy!
Written by Ken Townley
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