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Still the only one mentioning the term “wonder bait” 😂 Tbh I’d rather pay £22 a pot of SHB, a food based base with cork chunks for buoyancy and whatever processes used to cure them, clearly effectively, than £45 for a pot of airballs like over at the baitroom. Depends what you class as a rip off or whatever agenda you have eh 🤷🏻‍♂️ I’ve caught plenty of carp on pepperami, I’ll still buy SHB because 1. They suit my fishing and 2. I have confidence in them getting me a bite if I put them somewhere in the area the fish are.

Actually mate, sorry to disappoint you on prices, my fishing mate at the time was a best mate of Brian Jarret (ex Hinders Bait when in a glorfied shed), so pop ups and glugs at mates rates 😀 Anyway, the pop ups were probably the cheapest avaiable back in day, and glug was probably a Gycerine based 'flavour' who knows? Deff in those days, nowhere anything like rip of prices now..... To pre-empt, any replies, YES, they were a 'wonder bait' for me and others at the time,,,, were they 'double or triple or whatever cured' of course not 😂 Believe what you want, it's still the ability I had at the time to be on a venue to study fish movements etc and shared knowledge that caught me a few lovely fish..... Oh best not mention Chum Mixers before flying rats invaded.... not sure how much that bait cost!!

I'm not saying you won't catch on other colours BTW, more that if you are targetting a big common using a visual hookbait such as yellow might not be a bad idea.

Have you got any pics would love to see it?

Hinders pop-ups are 7 quid and a bottle of their pop-up glug is a tenner so you're actually not far off after inflation.

My biggest mirror, from Horseshoe lake, in the 90's came over a big bed of premier amino boilies, hook bait was a Hinders Strawberry pop up soaked for days in their glug, was it a wonder bait? Yes for me and others at the time it was.... Did it cost £20 0f course not 😀

And my biggest common came on a white shrimp cork ball...... ....... so it's settled..... yellow, pink, orange, white, and match the hatch are good for big commons. And mirrors. 🤣

My biggest common came to orange and based on a tutti frutti flavour

It really depends on whether you are trying to use the pop-up as a single hookbait or as a food bait hookbait. If as a single 'high attract' hookbait, then for a 1egg mix, then the same amount of flavour and additive as for a 4 or 6 egg boilie mix. If it is as a food bait hookbait then use ¼ of the amount recommended for 4 eggs. So if for 4 eggs the recommended is 4ml, use 1ml. Now as a personal note, I dislike the 'false' taste of strawberry flavours, yet I absolutely love real strawberries. In simple terms, I know that I'm not a fish, and they 'taste' chemicals and ph levels over flavours as such, but other than specialist hookbaits, and certain flavours, I don't like overloaded flavour levels. Remember that less is more.

Hello mate; Not sure if you are aware of social media? but prob not the best idea to give an email address on an open forum! 🙄 Also on another forum, some replies to your other post there: Daveyyyyyyyyyyy Posts: 8 Old Thread #1 12 Feb 2026 at 12.39pm Will 10 ml of flavour + 3 ml of talin be ok for a 1 egg cork ball pop up mix 🤔 As a rule of thumb, I’d start by using about 1/3 of the levels you are suggesting and work from there. 3ml flavour, 1ml sweetener, depending on suggested inclusion rates from manufacturer. As per MrNuvawun's post below. When I roll corkballs I always go by the manufacturers recommended levels for a 1lb mix, Like 2ml Flavour & 1ml Talin. Use that for a 1 egg mix. Then take it from there. Less is more, you don't want them too strong. With such as thin skin and you lose some through the boiling/drying process. You can always carefully rehydrate them bit by bit afterwards once dried in a flavour/talin/hydroslate type solution. A lightbulb moment for me was Jason Hs podcast a while ago when he talks about the hookbait being the one thing you actually want then to eat - not try via attraction. I have never used a synthetic flavour that is palatable at high doses. In his book Gerry hammond said he liked a high dosage flavour in his pop up mix. Sorry to mods for posting this from elsewhere but..... Anyway mate, dont with bother with own hookbaits, apparently maize. tigernuts and even luncheon meat actually work too 😂

When I said that I meant it, what I actually bought was 28lb BS Katran wild carp camo😱 I used this 21lb before and quite liked it but I think in 0.43mm thickness it should be pretty tough and still cast OK.

Hi ,some pointers please on inclusion rates of flavours for a 1 egg cork ball pop up mix ,i have lots of flavours but I am always paranoid of over flavoring so anybodys thoughts would be helpful I have put these 2 together in my head Strawberry 🍓 and cream 😋 ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️ Nutrabaits cream cajouser. 0.35 ml Nutrabaits strawberry jam 0.25ml Talin 0.3 ml Betaine.0.15 g 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️ Solar quench Solar quench mixmaster origonal .0.5ml Talin. 0.3ml Betaine 0.15g 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 would my inclsikn rates be to small or about right Thanks in advance

I've used size 4 choddys with 14ml NS1's for years no probs 👍

Most companies are just making pop ups tbh either bright alternatives or match the hatch. Most just made from a typical pop up mix, there are only a small % I would class as specialist tbh. As for colours I would very much say they are water/subrate/fish dependant tbh and it's about using the right one for the right situation. I like washed out pink as a colour also. But my biggest commons have been on yellow, also I have caught numerous pike on yellow pop ups which also ties in with the theory that commons are slightly more predatory than mirrors and hunt using their sight to feed more. Might be coincidental but I can't poo poo it as a theory.

Absolutely fine imo. I regularly use size 4's with 13's and happy to use a size 2 with a 15 or 16's.

Thanks for the input chaps.

How many bait companies are already producing specialist pop-ups? Dynamite, Rod Hutchinson, Baitworks, Mainline, Crafty Catcher, DNA, Sticky, CC Moore just off the top of my head. On the 'right time, right place' note, our syndicate lake fishes badly in winter. The few fish that come out tend to be caught on pale pink pop-ups, not yellow, but pink. Even the difference between purple and pink is enough to not catch in the same spot.

Can’t stop it. At least they’ll get a good hookbait to use instead of rubbish. But Mark doesn’t push his baits apart from the other forum and posting catch reports on socials. He doesn’t need to. The baits do the talking. Can’t deny how good they are in the right hands, even in Mediocre hands to be fair. Think you’re the only one classing them as a “wonder” bait though so keep your point going.

Exactly right mate 👍 Posted Friday at 08:0 @greekskii also to answer point 2. The big common from a club pit has been caught on SHB multiple times over. It’s a club ticket. Plenty of day ticket and easily accessible venues amongst the catches. Can’t understand the point you are trying to make about venues tbh. Makes no odds on if they are effective or not. People might look at the fish and go “I’d love to catch that I’ll try get a ticket”. But no one goes “SHB is catching those fish, I’ll get a ticket so I can use it on that venue” Can't be to bothered, honestly, but some of the captures were made from a couple of North Devon 'holes in the ground', and were very expensive venues, some from syndicate venues, a few from london club lakes which I give respect to. Anyway, the point I was trying to make, obviously unsucessfully, is that the ' what rod, line, hook size etc newbies' will lap the catch reports up and no dought part with dosh for these 'wonder' baits ☹️ I get the feeling that so many new hookbait 'companies' will be popping up soon - no pun intended - it will be a war out there!

Made a couple of 1 egg mixes with the AA Baits super buoyant fishmeal pop up mix, my sausage gun was perfect the last couple of times but I think this mix just expanded a bit more, so the sausages came out a bit big and I ended up with some pillows and odd shapes, but never mind flavour wise they are pretty banging one is scopex, black pepper and bergamot and the orange ones are banana scopex, black pepper and bergamot. They are very buoyant though, and one is holding up my rig nicely next time I will make some matching wafters and I'll have made enough hookbaits to last a life time.

I nearly always used a 13mm or a 15mm with a size 4 although now I'm a home roller they seem to vary in size so will use a size 4 for whatever size I pull out the tub 😂 I use a size 4 trig hammer xt btw which is a pretty big hook. I wouldn't worry mate will be fine.

" On a side note, I read in this thread about yellows for commons. Well, I nearly always fished yellows as my hi viz hookbait and nearly always caught mirrors. " Well that's blown that theory then , emmcee , Just don't tell Kev. as he's after a big Common ! . 😁

When i first started out carp fishing i met a bloke on a lake i fished in the Colne valley. If I recall, it was before the hi viz hookbaits were all the rage was about but they were starting to appear more and more in the shops. Anyway, this bloke was a margin fisher, made his own bait but all in pellet shape. His hookbait though was always a hi viz pellet so he could see it better in the margin. He'd catch a few fish but he saw that the hi viz hookbait would be ignored mostly when one or two carp were on his spot but readily taken when 3 or more were feeding. I think most would agree that carp are easier to catch when they are competing with each other. He wanted to catch though when they weren't competing. One day i watched him bait a spot with his homemade pellet and slip in a hi viz one as well, the difference being the hi viz one was a freebie and his hookbait was a match the hatch (clever angling I thought to myself). His catch rate more or less trebled by making that change. When he couldn't get a margin swim he'd fish pva bags in open water and fill the bag with his pellet and one "decoy " hi viz pellet and he caught plenty. On a side note, I read in this thread about yellows for commons. Well, I nearly always fished yellows as my hi viz hookbait and nearly always caught mirrors.

Over thinking imo. Crack on. Personally prefer bigger baits but I have used PJPU 13mm with size 4s in the past and caught, on a fairly tricky water too.

Hi, Is a size 4 Korda Choddy hook on a hinge rig too big for a 14mm pop up? There's no issues with the pop ups I'd like to use, they're super buoyant. I've previously fished this rig with a 16mm hook baits so using these 14mm ers makes the hook looks a bit too big! Am I overthinking this and the set up I intend to use is good to whack out in the pond? Thanks