Homemade pop-ups don't smell that strong?!

[jgreener]

Hi All,

I've started making my own homemade pop ups as I wanted to start a commercial business in special pop ups down in the South. 

I first purchased the Rod Hutchinson range liquids, these smelt great but as soon as I made a mix, the flavour appeared to go completely. I even added around 10ml of flavour for a 1 egg mix, instead of the 5ml per 6 eggs as suggested. This is a considerably a lot more than it suggests with no great results.

I have then tried the DT baits liquids which smell even stronger and more 'syrupy' but once boiled they still smell very weak.. (10mm's boiled for 1 min) I have air died them and potted them.

I am just puzzled to how they do this commercially as pop ups out of a pot are round and stink. Are there any hidden tricks I should be doing which aren't in all the videos online?

I am also finding it hard to keep the boilies perfectly round once they go into the water. After I have boiled them they appear to misshapen slightly and loose that lovely round look. I know customers are fussy and I am too, so a perfect round boilie with a strong smell is what people want. 

Hope you guys can help me out.

Cheers,

J

 

[elmoputney]

I don't wish to be rude but surely you need to know how to make decent pop ups before you start a specialist commercial hook bait business, 

To make them perfectly round they probably use a boilie rolling machine, and to make them smell nice they probably boost the flavours once they are boiled with a booster liquid, or roll them and boil them unflavoured and add the flavours afterwards 

 

Edited December 16, 2020 by elmoputney

[Golden Paws]

I'm not a bait expert by a long way (I buy them) but to expect to get the same sort of kick from a bottle and the same from the boile is optimistic as you have diluted the flavour right down by adding the dry ingredients. What smells weak to you is probably still overpowering to a carp and I'd stick to the recommended doses. Existing bait manufacturers know their product and what works best and they want you to have success and buy again.

As Elmo said, you can buy bait rolling tables, something like this;

https://gardnertackle.co.uk/product/rolaball-baitmasters-giant-size/

that should take the strain out of it. Good luck.

[Carpmaster]

20 hours ago, elmoputney said:

I don't wish to be rude but surely you need to know how to make decent pop ups before you start a specialist commercial hook bait business, 

To make them perfectly round they probably use a boilie rolling machine, and to make them smell nice they probably boost the flavours once they are boiled with a booster liquid, or roll them and boil them unflavoured and add the flavours afterwards 

 

I air dry mine unflavoured then add boosters an flavour after ain’t had no problem 

[elmoputney]

3 minutes ago, Carpmaster said:

I air dry mine unflavoured then add boosters an flavour after ain’t had no problem 

If I could be bothered to make my own that's probably how I would do it to 😂

[greekskii]

On 16/12/2020 at 11:57, jgreener said:

Hi All,

I've started making my own homemade pop ups as I wanted to start a commercial business in special pop ups down in the South. 

I first purchased the Rod Hutchinson range liquids, these smelt great but as soon as I made a mix, the flavour appeared to go completely. I even added around 10ml of flavour for a 1 egg mix, instead of the 5ml per 6 eggs as suggested. This is a considerably a lot more than it suggests with no great results.

I have then tried the DT baits liquids which smell even stronger and more 'syrupy' but once boiled they still smell very weak.. (10mm's boiled for 1 min) I have air died them and potted them.

I am just puzzled to how they do this commercially as pop ups out of a pot are round and stink. Are there any hidden tricks I should be doing which aren't in all the videos online?

I am also finding it hard to keep the boilies perfectly round once they go into the water. After I have boiled them they appear to misshapen slightly and loose that lovely round look. I know customers are fussy and I am too, so a perfect round boilie with a strong smell is what people want. 

Hope you guys can help me out.

Cheers,

J

 

Firstly the misshapen baits, you're likely boiling on too fast a boil. It only needs to be on a light simmer. I do 14mm baits for 3 mins on a light simmer and it never damages them. 

Secondly the smell, it will wash out on cooking, maybe more so if I am correct with the above issue. (Too high and it also knocks out the dye a bit too FYI). 10ml per 1 egg is all I use and I can get it coming through after 24hrs in the lake still. I air dry for a week, put them in a bag, coat them with flavour, air dry again for a week and repeat once more. I'll then pot them up and add a couple sprays of flavour (or mix of flavours) and give them a shake. A few days and it should be absorbed and you'll have very over flavoured and smelly baits. It soon washes out to a good level though. 

 

Also remember some flavours will linger more than others, and quality will vary. I have found catchitlabs, AA baits and some of the CCMoore flavours to be good quality. Sometimes it's a bit hit and miss but if you can get samples sent out then it saves on buying a big batch of dud flavour. 

[salokcinnodrog]

On 16/12/2020 at 11:57, jgreener said:

Hi All,

I've started making my own homemade pop ups as I wanted to start a commercial business in special pop ups down in the South. 

I first purchased the Rod Hutchinson range liquids, these smelt great but as soon as I made a mix, the flavour appeared to go completely. I even added around 10ml of flavour for a 1 egg mix, instead of the 5ml per 6 eggs as suggested. This is a considerably a lot more than it suggests with no great results.

I have then tried the DT baits liquids which smell even stronger and more 'syrupy' but once boiled they still smell very weak.. (10mm's boiled for 1 min) I have air died them and potted them.

I am just puzzled to how they do this commercially as pop ups out of a pot are round and stink. Are there any hidden tricks I should be doing which aren't in all the videos online?

I am also finding it hard to keep the boilies perfectly round once they go into the water. After I have boiled them they appear to misshapen slightly and loose that lovely round look. I know customers are fussy and I am too, so a perfect round boilie with a strong smell is what people want. 

Hope you guys can help me out.

Cheers,

J

 

A lot of flavour! 

With a 1 egg pop-up mix I add the same amount of flavour as recommended for 6 egg mix. So in your case use 5ml. 

When you work with a flavour you get 'nose blind', basically your sense of smell is overpowered and you no longer notice the smell. Exactly as your work or home, they have a smell that you don't notice, but others coming in do. (There is nothing like wet stinking dog smell, you only notice that for a while) 

 

To keep shape, roll them with a mix as dry as you can comfortably work, almost too dry. 

However if you are making the pop-up mix from scratch, then some ingredients do take on water and mishape them. I often have mishapes (which I am happy with myself) when I roll them. Don't boil too many at a time, keep them moving in the pan, as one side always sticks up out of the water. 

[framey]

2 hours ago, salokcinnodrog said:

A lot of flavour! 

With a 1 egg pop-up mix I add the same amount of flavour as recommended for 6 egg mix. So in your case use 5ml. 

When you work with a flavour you get 'nose blind', basically your sense of smell is overpowered and you no longer notice the smell. Exactly as your work or home, they have a smell that you don't notice, but others coming in do. (There is nothing like wet stinking dog smell, you only notice that for a while) 

 

To keep shape, roll them with a mix as dry as you can comfortably work, almost too dry. 

However if you are making the pop-up mix from scratch, then some ingredients do take on water and mishape them. I often have mishapes (which I am happy with myself) when I roll them. Don't boil too many at a time, keep them moving in the pan, as one side always sticks up out of the water. 

I think it was Jerry Hammond who messed up one of his mixes before and it was either doubled or trebled the recommended flavour levels and had his best hit ever on those hookbaits.

I can check out his book again to make sure if needed lol

 

 

Edited December 21, 2020 by framey

[elmoputney]

20 hours ago, framey said:

I think it was Jerry Hammond who messed up one of his mixes before and it was either doubled or trebled the recommended flavour levels and had his best hit ever on those hookbaits.

I can check out his book again to make sure if needed lol

 

 

I seem to recall Frank Warwick talking about this, he was lobbing singles much further than anyone else could and Pretending to be baiting up with normal boilies so no one sussed it 

[yonny]

20 hours ago, framey said:

I think it was Jerry Hammond who messed up one of his mixes before and it was either doubled or trebled the recommended flavour levels and had his best hit ever on those hookbaits.

For a period maybe 10 or 15 years ago I used to soak pop ups and plastics in neat Mainline Active Pineapple Activator. Obviously that stuff contained more than just flavour but it was intended to be used at 30 ml per kilo of basemix so was pretty blooming strong. I'd cast them out completely saturated, dripping in the stuff. Caught loads!

[framey]

15 minutes ago, yonny said:

For a period maybe 10 or 15 years ago I used to soak pop ups and plastics in neat Mainline Active Pineapple Activator. Obviously that stuff contained more than just flavour but it was intended to be used at 30 ml per kilo of basemix so was pretty blooming strong. I'd cast them out completely saturated, dripping in the stuff. Caught loads!

Episode 100 of the carp cast has been released (not sure how long ago) 

this is being discussed at the point I am listening to it now with Warwick Holmes Hughes and cundiff