Carp Catchers Blog

Also in stock now is the Dynamite Baits Savoury Spice Range which is Terry Hearns very own recipe. The Dynamite Baits Savoury Spice Boilies are made using spices, mixed herbs and chillies on a fishmeal and birdfood base mix. This recipe looks like an ideal winter bait though I’m sure they will catch year round. The Savoury Spice Boosted Hookbait Dip  has elavated levels of the attractants used in the boilies. Finally the Savoury Spice Pop Ups are made with the same ingredients as the boilies with added cork dust for boosted bouyancy. For more information or to purchase please click on the above links.

                   Dynamite Baits Savoury Spice Range

Best Fishes,

John

A recent trip to one of my syndicates saw me bank another 30lb common known as the ‘Elusive Common’ at 33lb 2oz. The fish fell to a corkball pop up fished on a Chod Rig consisting of an ESP Stiff Rigger Hook, Gardner Tripwire and 9 ft of ESP Original Camo Leadcore.

The fish was backed up with a small stocky and a lovely dark 25lb mirror.

Tight Lines

Dave

The new Dynamite Baits Sardine & Anchovy Range is now in stock. The Dynamite Baits Sardine & Anchovy Boilies  are a really,really dark green colour due to the added Green Lipped Mussel Extract. These boilies are the fishiest I’ve ever smelt and must catch fish!! The Sardine & Anchovy Boosted Hookbait Dip  is also a very dark green and contains boosted levels of GLM Extract. The Sardine & Anchovy Pop Ups contain the same ingredients as the boilies plus cork dust for increased bouyancy. For more information or to purchase please click on the above links.

                  Dynamite Baits Sardine & Anchovy Range

Best Fishes,

John

A word now on some new baits now in stock. The new Richworth XLR8 Freezer Boilies were developed from an original recipe from Steve Renyard which was a proven big carp catcher in the early 90′s. Steve has now tweaked it with some new ingredients and is 110% confident with it. They are a nice dark brown colour so they won’t spook wary carp. The XLR8 has a sausage/pepperami type smell and looks to be a real winner.We also have the Xlr8 Pop Ups and XLR8 Impact Boilie Dips  in stock.  The Richworth Salmon Supreme Freezer Boilies  are one of Richworths original boilies from back in the day. After continued requests the Salmon Supreme are back and look set to be as good as they ever were. We also have the Salmon Supreme Hookbait Dips and Pop Ups in stock. For more information or to purchase please click on 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

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

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