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I found this last night in the Andy Little book 'My Passion For Carp' page 58: "The bait I used was very similar to the one I had used at Darenth during the previous winter........... I had slightly changed the original nix of Casien, Lactalbumin, Calcium Casinate and Gluten etc. In the new mix I substituted some of the lighter milk protiens with Semolina........ ended up with a heavier Casein, Semolina and Gluten" Goes on to say it had a maple flavour, 20ml in a 10oz mix!! also says he used to add granulated sugar in boiling water as a sweetner!

I packed up today after a 3 day blank. I felt that last night or this morning I should have had a fish or two, but it was not to be. Monday was boiling and I had to set up in the deepest shade possible, opposite my usual pre-baited swim. It was not until the weather cooled yesterday and we had some cloud and rain I even felt I was near the fish. Oh well, let's hope that everyone manages to get on the carp this month.

This time of year drives me mad mate, it feels like it should go off but it doesn't lol. One of my local lakes they just bask on the top all day, massive groups of them, 30 - 40 fish, chuck a floater out and they ain't even interested 🤣 roll on August and September 👌

Me too, depending on what I'm trying to achieve. A decent bait shouldn't need boosting as such imo. If the carp find a decent bait, they should eat it. If they don't, it's the wrong bait or the wrong time of year. For me, the purpose of glugging in hydros is simply to pull the carp in i.e. help them find your bait. To optimise this you want them as stacked full of those free aminos as possible - so they pump them out stronger, for longer. Mixing with water will just alleviate those food signals, and reduce the amount of time those signals are pumped out. There is a place for water for certain applications (such as washing-in with glugs/saturating to prevent or slow down the taking on of silt for example), but for attraction you want it neat imo.

I usually just chuck some in with the water tbh, I quite like the liquid to be thinner as it soaks through the bait more. I would use more than a capful, maybe like 25% hydro 25% squid brand and 50% water something like that anyway. Might be less that seems OK , you can add whatever you like though

I've got 2 carp landing nets: a Fox Warrior net which has had the mesh replaced a few times and a Rod Hutchinson Sceptre net, both in 42inch. I've spent more replacing the meshes over the years than the landing net originally cost. For years I lived with just one, but a few years ago came up with the idea of one on each side of the swim, so I could always reach one without, in theory of stepping around the rods to grab it. The 2 faults, they don't match, not that I really worry, and the second is many runs now seem to come on the middle rod... I can't remember who it was by, but the original Springlock mechanism landing net I do miss. I borrowed one for a while back in the early 2000's when I had a load of gear stolen.