boilie making virgin

[Ginger9991]

Hi gents,

Long time no speak! so i need to make some pop ups, im still with Urban Baits so i have brought some base mix, Will add a little bit of neat nutcracker flavouring, I have brought some cork balls..... But my questions is around eggs, I have seen people mention egg albumin, Should be i be using this as well as eggs? Whats it for.....and just wondering what the boil time is roughly? Thanks guys

[salokcinnodrog]

Good to see you back.

 

If you have the base mix, that should be right as it stands. Just mix with your eggs and boil. The boiling time is probably 1 and a ½ minutes, maybe 2 minutes.

 

You don't or shouldn't need egg albumen. However, if you want harder hookbaits, you may want or need to add some to a single egg mix for hookbaits.

[ouchthathurt]

Hi mate, I make all my own pop ups using the same basemix as my bottom baits, wrapping it around a cork ball. I make mine up in one egg mixes, (minus the yolk) adding slightly more flavour than I would in my bottom baits. I also add a sachet of egg white powder from the supermarket baking isle - egg albumin. When rolling, I only make enough boilie paste to do a handful of cork balls at a time, to prevent the paste from drying out too much, which makes rolling a pain. I make sure that the paste fully wraps the cork ball with no gaps, cracks or visible joins, as when it boils and drys out, they will crack and break up. I also drop each one in a glass of water once I’ve rolled them to check their buoyancy. With the egg albumin, a 1:30 - 2min boil (you’ll have to see what works best for your basemix) makes them harden right up. I then air dry them somewhere warm for a few days (the airing cupboard!) so they dry out, then pop them in an air tight container, I’ve had pop ups like this last all season, in fact I’ve got a tub I made in 2021 and they still catch just as well as when they were first made. I have added a few mls of salmon oil into the tub and shook it about so the baits took on an oily sheen, when they absorbed the oil, they have still remained hard enough to sit out for 24hrs, I change mine every 10-12hrs though, just to ensure the bait is ok and not come off or anything, as they will take on water and the paste skin will swell, especially if the paste wasn’t tightly wrapped around the cork ball in the first place. I tie mine on to a spinner rig using dental floss, sticking a baiting needle is a no no for me as it often pushes a bit of cork through which leaves a large hole that water will get into and cause the paste to break down quicker. Dental floss doesn’t break the boiled paste skin so the bait lasts longer - that’s my take on it anyway.