Carp Catchers Blog

We now have the Sticky Baits Bloodworm Range in stock now and it has been doing really well for some of our customers. The Sticky Baits Bloodworm Boilies  contain both low temperature and soluble fishmeals, plenty of fresh bloodworm, blood plasma as well as a specially imported. To raise the attractor profile Robin Red and Paprika are also included at the optimal level. We have the bloodworm boilies in both Freezer and shelf life. To compliment the boilies we have the Sticky Baits Bloodworm Pop Ups and Sticky Baits Bloodworm Dumbells. For those of you that use sticks the Bloodworm Bag & Stick Mix contains much higher levels of the soluble ingredients than can be used in the boilies themselves resulting in really high levels of attraction around your hookbait. To increase that attraction even further soak your hookbaits in the Bloodworm Bait Glug which contains a potent fish protein extract, Paprika oleoresin and not forgetting hydrolised bloodworm. The Bloodworm Bait Glug is really thick and Sticky!  If you are using the dumbells or boilie bottom baits, the Bloodworm Paste, which also contains higher levels of the soluble ingredients than the boilies, will boost your hookbaits attraction even further. It could also be a great stalking hookbait in its own right. Finally we have the Sticky Baits Bloodworm Pellets which are one of the best selling specialist pellet of all time. The bloodworm content has been increased and the Hydrolysed Bloodworm Compound has now been added making this pellet even more potent. For more information or to purchase please click on any of the above links.

Best Fishes,

John

Regular customer Lea Baverstock has just upped his personal best with the cracking common carp shown below. Lea’s common picked up his Mainline Cell Dumbell Hookers hookbait tipped with Enterprise Pop-Up Sweetcorn at 6.30am and took 10 minutes to land. It was caught from A1 Pits and weighed 26lb 8oz. Well done Lea !!

Best Fishes,

John

This is an alternative to the previous Carp Catchers Blog on how to tie The Shot On The Hair Rig. It is tied in exactly the same way except the hair is lengthened by 10mm and the shot is placed halfway along the hair rather than directly next to the bait.

Setting the rig like this means the bait sits up off the lake bed by about 10mm if using a pop up hookbait. It allows the hook to lay flat on the lake bed alway from the bait, making it less obvious to wary carp. This alternate Shot On The Hair Rig  provides good bait separation and ensures the rig is hook heavy, making it more likely to catch in the carps mouth.  Though more effective with pop up hookbaits, a bottom bait can be used and the rig will still be very effective as it is still hook heavy.

Tight Lines

Dave

The Shot On The Hair Rig is basically a bottom bait rig with a small shot added to the hair to allow a pop-up hookbait to be used. This completely alters how the rig to reacts to how it would with a bottom bait. The hookbait is allowed to move more naturally due to it’s bouyancy and the length of the hair. The shot on the hair allows you to either critically balance or overweight the pop up hookbait.  The nature of supple braid allows the hookbait to be picked up with minimal resistance and the pattern of the hook means the point hangs low below the hookbait helping it to grab hold. The simplicity of The Shot On The Hair Rig makes it easy to tie and it minimises the bulky components such as shrink tubing used on some rigs.

For the purpose of this demonstration I used the Korda Supernatural Hooklink, a Korda Kurv Shank Hook and a No.4 split shot. The shot size is determined by the size and bouyancy of your choosen pop-up, the bigger and more bouyant the pop-up the larger the shot. I found a No.4 shot to work perfectly with a 14mm Richworth Pineapple Hawaiian Pop Ups  although it varies between different makes and types of pop-ups.

Step 1.

Cut 14″ of Korda Supernatural from the spool and tie a small overhand loop knot in one end.

Step 2.

Thread on your choosen pop-up and secure in place with a bait stop.

Step 3.

For this version of the rig pinch the shot onto the hooklink below the pop-up. This will give you a slow sinking hookbait which is almost critically balanced. We will show you an alternative version of this rig, which has  the shot positioned differently, soon.

Step 4.

Thread the Korda Kurv Shank Hook onto the hooklink passing the braid though the back of the eye to the front and position the bait about 6mm from the top of the hook.

Step 5.

Now whip the hooklink up the shank of the hook 6-7 times and then pass the hooklink through the back of the eye to the front to finish the knot.

Step 6.

Double over the other end of the hooklink.

Step 7.

Then form a loop with the doubled over section of the hooklink.

Step 8.

Now pass the end of the doubled over section around the bottom and through the back of the loop created in step 7.

This creates the figure of eight, if you get this eight shape then you have done it right.

If you struggle with tying the knot then try this method. Alternative Figure of Eight Loop Knot.

Step 9.

Now gently tighten down the knot and trim the tag end.

The rig is now complete and ready to be attached to your lead setup.

The rig is best fished of with a small Dynamite Stick or PVA Mesh Bag thread down the hooklink over the hook to avoid tangles.

Tight Lines

Dave

We now have the new Dynamite Baits Robin Red and Banana Nut Crunch Ranges in stock. The Dynamite Baits Robin Red Hookbait Dip,  Liquid and Fluro Pop Ups are all made with the original Haiths’ Robin Red. Haiths’ Robin Red is arguably one of the finest and most popular carp catching additives ever and Dynamite Baits have now made it available in this user friendly range. For more information or to purchase please click on the above link.

The new Dynamite Baits Banana Nut Crunch Boilies ,  Hookbait Dip and Pop Ups were developed by Terry Hearn and feature a crunchy banana and chopped nut base with a creamy banana flavoured attractant. The base maximises the leakage of the natural sugars and attractants, making the Banana Nut Crunch range a perfect alternative to fishmeals. For more information or to purchase please click on the above links.

                          Dynamite Baits Robin Red Range

                         Dynamite Baits Banana Nut Crunch Range

Best Fishes,

John

At last! a catch report. Sean and Lea went carp fishing over the Christmas holidays on the Bluebell Lakes complex and were the only two there. Sean unfortunately didn’t have a sniff, but Lea had two jack pike and the very welcome mirror carp shown below. Lea’s mirror weighed 20lb on the nose and was caught on glugged Dynamite Baits Red Fish Pop Ups . Well done to both Sean and Lea on managing to actually getting out in the arctic conditions. Special congratulations to Lea though for getting the one we all want, a carp in the snow!!

Best Fishes,

John

Here’s a nice 35lb 2oz mirror carp I had recently. It led me a right dance as it got into a massive weed bed and even though the lead had dropped on the take I had to go out in the boat to free it. It was well hooked though and it was never going to come off. I used half a kilo of scattered 18mm Mainline Activ-8  boilies as bait and the hookbait was a snowman with a 10mm Mainline Hi Visual  Milky Toffee pop up. The rig was tied D rig style with a size 6 Gardner Longshank Incizor  hook  and a 30lb GLT No Can See Fluorocarbon Hooklink .

Best Fishes,

John

Another single hookbait which could be utilised well in the winter is artificial baits, preferably the flavoured or high-viz variety as they need some attraction to them. The Enterprise Artificial Boilies 10mm , the Niteglow Eternal Boilies and the Solar Everlasting Hookbaits are all top artificial baits that will work well as single hookbaits. Don’t discount artificial sweetcorn as a single winter bait either the ever popular Enterprise range or the new Cotswold Bait Creations Soft Floating Corn. Imitation baits are resistant to nuisance fish, won’t lose bouyancy, go soft or lose attraction.

Give them a go.

Dave

In the previous Carp Catchers Blog we talked about dips and glugs but we didn’t make clear what the difference between them is. This Blog will correct that.

Boilie Dips

Boilie dips are normally quite viscose and clear. They have a powerful flavour dissolved in a neutral carrier. Your hookbaits can be left to soak in them indefinitely and this will have an added effect/benefit of hardening them. Boilie Dips can be used with bottom baits, but they are ideally suited to pop ups. A couple of good examples are the  Richworth Impact Boilie Dips and Mainline Hookbait Enhancement System.

Glugs

Glugs are normally quite thick and based on a liquid food source. Very often they will have the same liquid attractors and nutrients as the boilies they represent. Hookbaits can be left in them indefinitely and though both bottom and pop ups can be glugged longer soaking is more suited to bottom baits. The reason for this that glugs or food dips as they are sometimes known are quite heavy and soak right into the hookbaits and this can affect the buoyancy of pop ups. Glugging into a food dip before casting is the more usual way to get an extra boost is the more usual way to use glugs with pop ups. A couple of good examples would be Nash Baits Top Rod Food Dips and Fresh Fish Mussel And Oyster Liquid .

Best Fishes,

John

Glugging or dipping single hookbaits can improve their pulling power and increase the chances of a run when no free offerings are available. Most pop-ups have a matching dip/liquid to go with them which can be used to soak hookbaits in for increased attraction. Although that doesn’t mean to say that hookbaits have to be soaked in matching dips, you could always try something different and mix hookbaits with different liquids. Try dipping or glugging your singles and see how your results improve. Two of the more popular dips are the Richworth Impact Boilie Dips  and the Mainline Hookbait Enhancement System

Glugging or dipping baits can be messy business, there are items out there such as the Sixth Sense Stainless Steel Dipping Tool which makes the job far less messy.

Tight lines

Dave