To many there is nothing more satisfying than making your own boilies or hook baits and then going out there and catching a carp on them!
Despite what some might say, it needn’t be time consuming or expensive and remember a bottle of flavouring will last you a very long time as the amounts needed are very small.
So, if you are tempted to give bait making a try why not start small and try making your own hook baits? A nice 1 egg mix pop up recipe will make two pots worth and take you less than an hour once you get the hang of it!
We have put together a little guide to the essential items you will need to get you out there catching new personal best carp on your own hook baits, here is everything you need to know if you want to make your own pop ups………
Firstly, you need to gather all the equipment you will need;
- Pop up mix (Mainline Polaris is a good one)
- Flavours (you can mix 2 or 3 together)
- Sweetener (optional but if you have sweet flavours you might want to add some sweetener)
- Additives (powdered fruit pallatants or GLM and Betaine Powder maybe)
- Powdered colouring of your choice
- Eggs
- Mixing bowl
- Measuring spoon or pipette
- Gardner Sausage Gun
- Gardner rolling table in the size you want the pop ups to be
- Pan of boiling water (always be careful with boiling water!)
- Tea towel for drying the finished baits
- Pot to put them in once dry!
1. Start by cracking 1 egg into a round mixing bowl and whisk.
2. Add your flavours according to the instructions on the bottles and other liquids and whisk again.
3. Add any powdered additives again according to the instructions and whisk together.
4. Now add the powdered colouring of your choice, you need very small amounts, no more than the tip of a tea spoon! If you want a washed out look to your bait then add a tiny bit and mix well, you can always add more but you can’t take it out so use sparingly to begin with.
5. Once you have the desired colour then you can add the pop-up mix a little at a time (if you want to make wafters then add 50/50 pop up mix and a base mix of your choice, trial and error with the ratio will help you achieve the perfect balance).
6. Mix until the consistency is tacky but not sticky, if it sticks to your fingers then it’s too wet, remember to add the base mix a bit at a time, if it goes to dry then the baits will split.
7. Once you have the desired consistency you need to put on your water to boil.
8. Place the required nozzle into the sausage gun, if you have bought a 14mm rolling table then make sure you use the 14mm nozzle.
9. Squeeze the mix out of the gun across the bottom half of the rolling table, you can put two sausages through the rolling table at a time.
10. Place the top half of the rolling table and squeeze down, then gently roll back and forwards ensuring you push down as you roll. After 4 or 5 rolls back and forth lift the top half up and you should have perfect round baits!
11. Into the boiling water slide the baits off the rolling table, boil for 60 secs. If you want firmer baits, then 90 secs.
12. Scoop the baits out with a slotted spoon and onto the tea towel to dry. Repeat until all the mix has gone from the sausage gun.
13. Leave to dry overnight, longer if possible. Once dry they will harden and you can add them to an empty pop up pot, this is a great time to add any Korda Goo or a few drops of the flavouring you used in the baits.
Sound tricky but with a tiny amount of practice it is very straightforward, and you can do 4 or 5 pots of pop ups in a very short amount of time, enough to last ages!
Everything you need can be purchased from us at Total Fishing Tackle and you can make it cost effective by going halves with a mate to save buying all the gear yourself.
The best bit is there is no limit to the flavour combinations, although I would suggest starting with a few classics to begin with. A few favourites used by the TFT team are;
- Mainline Fruitella
- Mainline SweetAde
- CC Moore Pure Betaine Powder
- Nash Strawberry Oil Palatant
- Nash Betalin Liquid
- Mainline Big Crab Flavour
- Mainline Fossoil
- CC Moore GLM Powder
So, there you go! Give it a try and you will see that the satisfaction of making your own bait is one of the biggest buzzes in carp fishing!
As always if you have any questions then get in contact and we will gladly help you out.