Glug glug glug

[elmoputney]

What are your thoughts on glugs, liquids, oils etc and glugging these days? 

I am starting to think most people will be using them in spod mixes or on there baits in one way or another, but does that mean they are overused and it could almost be an edge to not glug these days? Or by not glugging am I just making it harder for the fish to locate my bait and making them less attractive? 

Also are there times of the year when glugs are more important? And times to leave them alone, 

One thing I noticed last year was I got sucked right in and used glug a lot, but I'm not sure it really enhanced my fishing, would be interested to hear your thoughts? 

 

[oscsha]

Do you need them ,no . Alot of all these add ons are marketing .

I use hydro's , liver , squid and fish but my thinking here is the food signal that they are giving off , I do leave some hookers soaking in hydro's aswell does it give them an edge I don't know for me its more about confidence .

Glugging for the sake of it in the latest must have will just lead you down the path of swapping and changing every 5 minutes.

Just my thoughts but pick a decent fishmeal add one type of decent food signal soak/glug , Pick one spod mix and again if it will give you confidence then add a liquid.

Fish are caught on every water every year by some using every add on going while others are caught using a simple approach.

Get your head around what you feel confident in and stick with it .

I also think this word 'edge' is over used . 

[greekskii]

I always like a bit of something extra on my baits or hookbaits. It's a confidence thing and I only use something I know adds to the bait not just for the sake of it. 

Squid brand fish sauce, maggi seasoning & baileys are my go to glugs. I did get some shrimp liquid last year which was very good as glug but totally overpowering of everything else, smells like fertiliser it's that concentrated. Much better in a bait than on it to be honest so I'm swapping it for some liver powder with my bait man

[elmoputney]

Thanks guys 

54 minutes ago, oscsha said:

Do you need them ,no . Alot of all these add ons are marketing .

I use hydro's , liver , squid and fish but my thinking here is the food signal that they are giving off , I do leave some hookers soaking in hydro's aswell does it give them an edge I don't know for me its more about confidence .

Glugging for the sake of it in the latest must have will just lead you down the path of swapping and changing every 5 minutes.

Just my thoughts but pick a decent fishmeal add one type of decent food signal soak/glug , Pick one spod mix and again if it will give you confidence then add a liquid.

Fish are caught on every water every year by some using every add on going while others are caught using a simple approach.

Get your head around what you feel confident in and stick with it .

I also think this word 'edge' is over used . 

That makes sense I think edge perhaps isn't the right word but just wondered if less might be more, but yes confidence in the bait is what I want to achieve this year, I'm looking at retro baits and I'm thinking Shropshire gold could be the one for me, sounds like a lovely foodbait but still at a decent price, but just wondering whether I should add something else to it also ? It is another new bait lol but the last one I was using whilst I really liked it, getting it delivered was the issue, sometimes taking up to 5 weeks, which is no good for me 

I did use a couple of hydros last year a dna one and also the sticky squid ink one which I quite liked, do you use the retro bait glugs Oscsha? 

59 minutes ago, greekskii said:

I always like a bit of something extra on my baits or hookbaits. It's a confidence thing and I only use something I know adds to the bait not just for the sake of it. 

Squid brand fish sauce, maggi seasoning & baileys are my go to glugs. I did get some shrimp liquid last year which was very good as glug but totally overpowering of everything else, smells like fertiliser it's that concentrated. Much better in a bait than on it to be honest so I'm swapping it for some liver powder with my bait man

I think I can see why you like the Maggi seasoning it looks really salty, and doesn't cost the earth which I like I did try using a garlic infused oil last year, I actually caught a couple using that, so maybe I could try and create my own blend, 🤔

I really want to find a solid bait and stick with it this year I did keep changing my mind last year, this year I want to start and finish on the same bait knowing it works by the end of it 😀

[oscsha]

I use retro baits , still doing well on Shropshire gold  , I also use the meaty garlic  ,tried the essential 5 but not had any real luck with that one the crab is meant to be good. If you go with his pop ups I'd say go for the 14mm the 12mm snails look good but my tub wern't all that buoyant .

BAF have one litre each of hydro squid,liver and fish for £30 delivered at the moment ,soak your baits in any of those and you'll have a decent bait .

Retro do all the glugs , dips etc but I've not tried them . 

[yonny]

3 hours ago, elmoputney said:

What are your thoughts on glugs, liquids, oils etc and glugging these days? 

I think some glugs are a complete waste of time i.e. glycerine with flavour added.

Hydro's I rate big time.

Oils I don't use. It's clear that carp like to eat food with oils applied but there is that school of thought that carp don't have the receptors to detect oil until it's literally being eaten. I already have confidence the carp will eat my bait once found with or without oil. My main concern is providing the attraction to help them find my bait in the first place. Some say that oils lift particles of your bait and chosen attractors up through the water column which provides that attraction but imo there is a risk that oils can potentially 'lock-up' a bait, preventing your attractors (e.g. hydro's) from being released, making your bait less effective. What I can say is this: since I stopped using oil a few years ago my results have not suffered.

[greekskii]

56 minutes ago, elmoputney said:

Thanks guys 

That makes sense I think edge perhaps isn't the right word but just wondered if less might be more, but yes confidence in the bait is what I want to achieve this year, I'm looking at retro baits and I'm thinking Shropshire gold could be the one for me, sounds like a lovely foodbait but still at a decent price, but just wondering whether I should add something else to it also ? It is another new bait lol but the last one I was using whilst I really liked it, getting it delivered was the issue, sometimes taking up to 5 weeks, which is no good for me 

I did use a couple of hydros last year a dna one and also the sticky squid ink one which I quite liked, do you use the retro bait glugs Oscsha? 

I think I can see why you like the Maggi seasoning it looks really salty, and doesn't cost the earth which I like I did try using a garlic infused oil last year, I actually caught a couple using that, so maybe I could try and create my own blend, 🤔

I really want to find a solid bait and stick with it this year I did keep changing my mind last year, this year I want to start and finish on the same bait knowing it works by the end of it 😀

both the maggi and squid brand fish sauce have high salt content. I found when using the fish sauce heavily (it's just 77% anchovy extract, 20% salt & 3% sugar) it actually preserved the baits longer on the bank once absorbed. Maggi is mainly because it is a savoury liquid based on hydrolysed wheat proteins which means there is a fair bit of MSG & DI in it. MSG is sodium and glutamate (a naturally occurring amino acid), a taste enhancer. Hydrolysed Wheat is basically MSG (or glutamic acid) so the same thing as you can buy from DNA baits and others as a glug, however in Maggi it's in another form, thinned and combined with savoury flavourings and salt & sugar. 

I also like to powder my hookbaits sometimes, a cheap bag of spirulina from Aldi's health food section, liver powder & cocoa powder have all worked for me in the past. 

Another incredible glug is marmite, either direct dip a hookbait or thin with warm water to make a glug. 

 

 

[oscsha]

ssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhh don't tell em about  marmite lol

[oscsha]

@elmoputney - no not tried the retro glugs , I'm on my last bottle of original LT30 that I sometimes glug my hook baits in . 

[Ginger9991]

I have never really paid to much attention to oils and glug's outside of the goo really but over the last year i have started to play around a bit more, from urban i tend to add a decent amount of the nutcracker liquid and leave it to soak for a day or 2 then on the day i add some of the red spicy flavouring. On the 2 waters i fished last year i caught really well and consistently, Would i have caught as many with them? Who knows but if i am catching with them iam not going to stop using them....Also the liquid tastes nice and the red spicy flavoring is just mashed up chilli's, Its hot and great on chips!

[bluelabel]

I've tried a lot of glugs, flavours, potions, mixes, my own thoughts are, that if they give you confidence... go for it... Marmite is one that still manages to pull a fish in occasionally, I have a fridge full of the things and I rarely use them... I goo up pellets for feeder work but rarely use them nowadays for carping....

[...]

I use Manilla Pop Ups and Wafters, every other day a give them a few squirts of Manilla Bait Spray.

Now I've started to use Stix Mix and this made up of Manilla 2mm Pellets, Manilla Powder all mixed in Manilla Cloudy Liquid...fished with a boosted Manilla Wafter.

When I start to Spod this year (Spod Mix already bought) I will be adding Manilla Pellets, Boilies and the Cloudy Liquid also.

(Think I love Manilla??) 

[framey]

I like it too but I can’t buy a bite on it lol

[...]

Just now, framey said:

I like it too but I can’t buy a bite on it lol

I do t think I'll ever change...it 1 fish so far this year and 2 fish since September...😁😁

[elmoputney]

Great stuff thanks for the replies all, it would appear from the responses that hydros might be the way forward, but maybe add a little powder to make them more user friendly  😁

I do like the sound of Maggi and marmite though,, I want to try and avoid making it too fishy though as there are moggies in them there waters,

[emmcee]

Ive only used hydros.  Be that krill, salmon, shrimp and a shore crab one. I've used them all and no one is any better than the other. I've blended them also. The only thing I noticed over a few seasons were the results were better in the spring time using these glugs.  And it's not just the hookbaits that were glugged,  all my bait would have been glugged (boilies I mean). 

[elmoputney]

I think the DNA pineapple and tutti fruiti ones sound quite Angler friendly,but will that mean they don't work as well? 😂

Also the active CSL sounds OK too 5ltrs for 30 quid at the minute on BAF anyone used this? or should I just go stinky and fish based 🤔

[elmoputney]

18 hours ago, oscsha said:

I use retro baits , still doing well on Shropshire gold  , I also use the meaty garlic  ,tried the essential 5 but not had any real luck with that one the crab is meant to be good. If you go with his pop ups I'd say go for the 14mm the 12mm snails look good but my tub wern't all that buoyant .

BAF have one litre each of hydro squid,liver and fish for £30 delivered at the moment ,soak your baits in any of those and you'll have a decent bait .

Retro do all the glugs , dips etc but I've not tried them . 

I did notice scanning the catch reports that the crab one seems to be a prolific fish catcher, I might try proper job pop ups this year, but I also have loads of others so may just get a match the hatch pop up as I don't think my pop up shelf will hold too many more 😊

[yonny]

Don't rule out the original hydro - liquid liver. One of my faves.

[salokcinnodrog]

The past year I stopped glugging my baits. They go out exactly as they came out of the bag or tub, and I'm sure I found a few fish on Alton that took plain straight hookbaits. In fact, I think the only reason I started glugging baits again was using wooden balls to combat crays and so did the same for any real bait.

 

I have caught on soaked and glugged baits, but don't think it is an essential all the time.

[yonny]

8 minutes ago, salokcinnodrog said:

I'm sure I found a few fish on Alton that took plain straight hookbaits.

I don't think glugs have anything to do with whether a bait will be taken by a carp. For me the role of glugs is to boost attraction i.e. help the carp find your bait.

A bait that is only taken once glugged is a bait that should be binned imo.

12 minutes ago, salokcinnodrog said:

I have caught on soaked and glugged baits, but don't think it is an essential all the time.

I agree they're not essential and I don't use any of them as much as I used to. Any old half decent bait in the right place will catch miles more than the finest heavily glugged bait in the wrong place.

[oscsha]

Same as Yonny i use glugs/hydro in the hope its more attractive to carp and is giving the bait a bit more pulling power . 

I don't believe there is any 'magic' bait glug etc and my thoughts are the same as Yonnies use a decent bait and get it in the right spot .Location is the no.1 .

[oscsha]

52 minutes ago, yonny said:

I don't think glugs have anything to do with whether a bait will be taken by a carp. For me the role of glugs is to boost attraction i.e. help the carp find your bait.

A bait that is only taken once glugged is a bait that should be binned imo.

I agree they're not essential and I don't use any of them as much as I used to. Any old half decent bait in the right place will catch miles more than the finest heavily glugged bait in the wrong place.

^^^^ this .

[elmoputney]

This is quite interesting stuff,I might try not using a glug to start with this year and build on that maybe try adding other attractors,and feed items as I go but only If feel I need to, I do agree you need to have faith in your bait and that must start from the bare boilie, this way as I tweak and change things I will learn more about what works and what doesn't, 

Just out of interest if you guys were prebaiting would you always glug your prebait to replicate the bait you would use if fishing, or use the liquid as a boost for the times you are fishing to encourage them along quicker? 

[yonny]

8 minutes ago, elmoputney said:

try adding other attractors,and feed items as I go but only If feel I need to

That's the key mate. Change when there is a need to change. A lot of anglers change for the sake of it, there's no point imo. When you observe something that indicates a need to change, that's when it's time to get funky.

11 minutes ago, elmoputney said:

if you guys were prebaiting would you always glug your prebait to replicate the bait you would use if fishing, or use the liquid as a boost for the times you are fishing to encourage them along quicker? 

I don't use glugs when I'm pre-baiting. The beauty of pre-baiting is that you can condition the carp to eat whatever is easiest for you to use. Assuming you've found somewhere the carp are prepared to feed you can use whatever you want be that something that's easy (boilies) or something that's cheap (corn, pellet etc). I can see no point is conditioning them to eat something that's both expensive and more time consuming.