elmoputney

crusian · February 17

16 minutes ago, kevtaylor said:

I assume we're still talking about these special baits at 20 quid a pop.

What I don't understand is were paying for a curing process with active enzymes/ingredients? Surely the active elements only last a short period then it's just a normal bait? never understood this part.

That's a can of worms Kev, I'm sure someone will be able to assist but I used Co pilot to try and understand bio active ingredients a bit better. Still don't properly but this is something I learned which may help 😱 😂

February 16

30 minutes ago, B B said:

That’s just reel porn … I’m surprised the mods let you get away with it

Yes Its certainly a phwoooar rated image 😱

B B · February 16

16 minutes ago, jules007 said:

I fish a very snaggy venue that has all manor of junk on the bottom, so after good advice i went onto Hydro tuff and never looked back, does just what it claims

Yeah it's good stuff I've used it before, I've also used katran though and just fancied giving the heavy stuff a go. I remembered how cool it looked on my reels 😱 😂

yonny · February 16

I've been buying some bits for the upcoming year.

12 cans of ngt bargain gas

28lb katran wild carp camo line

And I have had to remodel the spinner rig as some key parts have become less easily sourced.

So I've been on JPrecision and ordered some gape x hooks and some different kickers and bait screws and bits to play with. I have used kranks before and seem to remember them giving decent hook holds. I looked at alternative rigs even made a nice soft hinge rig , but it all seems too much faff 😱

yonny · February 16

36 minutes ago, yonny said:

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. 🤣

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.

February 16

58 minutes ago, framey said:

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

Have you got any pics would love to see it?

February 16

On 13/01/2026 at 11:55, elmoputney said:

no not really gt80+ is good but I think I'm going back to hydrotuff next time I spool up.

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.

February 16

16 hours ago, salokcinnodrog said:

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.

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.

greekskii · February 14

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.

yonny · February 14

22 hours ago, greekskii said:

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.

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.

February 11

5 hours ago, ianfrog said:

Still unable to get through to NGT by phone or email.

Trying to get a reason to go down that way and knock on the door.

(Or maybe trading standards might concentrate their minds on communicating with people that have paid them for things).

Cheers

Ian

Why do you want to complain about the line?

greekskii · February 10

19 minutes ago, greekskii said:

Heard of 50kg pop ups that went on a trip to France with some mates once 😂😂 can’t remember which ingredient did it though.

I feel like I've heard that story before somewhere. Could you find out what it was and what level please 😂

February 10

16 minutes ago, salokcinnodrog said:

Cor, don't do Ai, it grabs information that is frequently incorrect, lol.

Joking aside, it does get facts wrong sometimes, basically double check using another source, preferably not Google based, as Google can have an agenda. (Don't get me started on that one!)

I was using sodium caseinate to make buoyant pop-ups so 50% base mix and 50% sodium caseinate was right for me, I wanted the buoyancy.

As an ingredient in a base mix 10% is probably the maximum.

I know that a few people have overdone it unintentionally in a finished bait and had floating freebies.

I preferred calcium caseinate in any of my standard base mixes, more to do with cost as sodium caseinate is about 10% more expensive. As a specific ingredient in hookbaits it was bearable.

Thanks Nick what I meant when I asked was what % would I need when adding to my basemix to make a matching pop up? I know it's not going to be exact and basemix dependant I was just looking to see if I could make a food bait pop up with it.

AI isn't perfect but it can be a good tool, I've made loads of basemixes from scratch with it just for fun and I would be happy using some of them.

February 10

11 hours ago, framey said:

AA baits suggests 10% for pop ups

Sodium Caseinate is a milk protein derived from using sodium to remove the protein content from milk. It has a protein content in excess of 96% and makes a very functional binder. Being one of the lightest of the milk proteins caution should be used as to the inclusion levels as 10% plus can make baits buoyant.

Recommend inclusion level is up to 10% – (100g) per kg base mix.

Do you think 10% added to 90% basemix would be enough make a hookbait buoyant though?

Or you do you think that means max inclusion alongside other ingredients?

I can't help thinking if you could make match the hatch pop ups with 10% everyone would use that tbh.

commonly · February 9

7 minutes ago, salokcinnodrog said:

You made the discovery that cork dust absorbs water, and expands allowing the bait to break down.

I pretty much just stuck to pop-up mix, or with standard base mix adding around 50% sodium caseinate after sieving it.

Yeah I think with egg albumen it would have made them less soluble and firmer but yeah I've learnt I'm not going to bother with cork dust,the AA Baits wafter mix seems pretty good so will use that if I need bright or alternate wafters but tbh i will probably just add some pop up mix next time to my basemix to make wafters. Keep it simple and all that.

Is 50% sodium caseinate not too high? I just used Copilot and it recommented 20% max? I know it's AI but it does seem quite useful for stuff like this? I know it also might be wrong though 😂

kevtaylor · February 9

1 hour ago, kevtaylor said:

I agree with the common thing they do seem to go for yellow a lot and I don't use yellow much and catch mainly mirrors, gonna use this as I actually want to target a big common this year.

Underwater vids aside, I just wouldn't consider using brights after spring on a busy water where they see everything all the time, 90% anglers on brights with ronnies all year round says to me AVOID THIS

I think you'll catch more over a season on match the hatch, just my opinion though👍

Maybe keep at least one on a yellow all year then, is that "the big common" 😍

I do kind of agree with the give them a choice kind of hookbait still though. Maybe just tone it down a bit later on in the year, and go for something similar but different if that makes sense. At times I've done quite well on the brown proper jobs. Something a little different but not greatly.

Also I've never been one to use the same hookbait on all 3 rods, so I can't ever be conclusive about it 😂

kevtaylor · February 9

1 hour ago, kevtaylor said:

Does he then miss out on all the fish that avoid a bright one, all his eggs in one basket? There are lakes and times of year that I'd use a bright, other lakes where I wouldn't dream of it. 🤷‍♂️

Surely he has seen thousands of carp spook off brights on camera.

I think that was his go to for a long time but the underwaters have definately made him question it a bit.But I can't speak for him. Thing is Kev without a camera we probably won't know half the times we get done or a carp won't take a bait. We can only go onthe ones we catch. (or not 😂) so the more you use a bright or match the hatch one the more you will catch on them 😬

Another thing I gleaned from a podcast was to change hookbait colour depending on whether you were targetting a mirror or common. Now when I look at my big common captures they have been on a yellow pop up. Maybe to catch the bigger mirrors I need a match the hatch or duller bait. The theory was that commons are more sight feeders than mirrors. Again Just a theory but I might use more match the hatch type hookbaits this year as I want to catch the big mirrors.

kevtaylor · February 9

14 minutes ago, yonny said:

I agree Elmo 👍

Something else that sticks with me is Elliot Grays description of what he wants his hookbait to achieve and that is to give the fish a choice of whether to take it or not. He makes his hookbaits a blatent pink pop up or wafter and by making it the most clearly visible highest attraction bait in the swim. The fish then has the choice. I can see these pop ups doing the same sort of job.

yonny · February 9

I've not used them myself, they do seem to catch some decent fish though if you look at the catch reports. Now I am making my own bait I know I will probably get into making up some "specials" with coatings and crusts etc at some point, and can see how the process they use makes them the price they are. They seem well thought out IMO and have learnt it's not usually the bait that is the reason for not catching it's usually location, application and procrastination are the main factors for blanking.

commonly · February 8

I should talk about my recent failure with pop ups 🤣they looked and smelt nice

I wanted to try and make some super buoyant match the hatch type pop ups, so I went with 50/50 mix of base mix and polaris, then added 10% cork granules, my flavour combo was banging btw 5ml scopex, 20 drops each of black pepper and bergamot essential oil. Very happy with that.

But they didn't really pop up that well and also after 12 hours in water they went soft like a pellet 🤣

I have since bought some AA Baits super buoyant fishmeal pop up mix and my next batch will use the same flavour combo

Do any of you add egg albumen into a pop up mix? I think my last mix needed it but I've gone off cork dust so will just be using the pop up mix next time(although I have read this mix can take up to 30% regular base mix and still pop up so will experiment)

Just as an FYI I've now made a couple of mixes of the AA Baits Tropaminamino boilies and now they are dried they are still quite soft and smell like a proper carp catcher,

I'm starting to really enjoy the process of baitmaking, need to get set up to upscale it a bit but I'm going to have bait no one else is using and that's exciting to me.

jh92 · February 4

1 hour ago, jh92 said:

Alright lads, bit of a different post from me.

I’ve been building an Android fishing journal app called AquaLedger. It lets you log your sessions properly — waters, swims, catches, photos, notes and stats — all stored offline on your phone (no accounts, no cloud).

One feature that’s been really handy for me is the built-in camera:

Take photos manually or

Set it to auto-take photos at intervals

Choose how often it shoots and how many photos it takes

Ideal for self-takes when you’re fishing on your own.

I’m at the stage where Google requires a small number of testers before the app can go public, so I’m looking for a few anglers on Android who wouldn’t mind helping out.

If you’re happy to test it, please send me a private message with the Gmail address linked to your Play Store, and I’ll add you to the tester list.

Cheers 👍

Sounds like it could be a great app. Love the sound of the photo part, I would say I'd test it but I don't get much time to fish or catch enough to make full use of it 🤣

jules007 · January 30

3 hours ago, jules007 said:

I really like the corus bait range and have had some good buys from NGT but now i have enough bait to last a good few sessions i have washed my hands of the whole outfit, i have found a similar bait that i can get and will start mixing it 50/50 as my stock runs down

Corus has sold /is selling its bait making set up, I saw it on fb the other day.

yonny · January 28

Had a little go at a 6 egg mix turned out alright I think, made 1.5kg, didn't use my boilie roller made some 15mm on a table and some pillows from the spare paste. Used my electric caulking gun today that made light work of the dough.

That's a bite.

crusian · January 28

2 hours ago, yonny said:

Leney descendants*

I'm talking about the real thing.... as in touch by the hands of Donald himself.

If its been touched by Donald I'm out.

January 27

Not sure these are the right size, but they have some to choose from

https://johnsonrosstackle.co.uk/1628-rings

Either that or email fox direct they might have a spare.

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