Specialized Hookbaits

[greekskii]

18 hours ago, OldBoy said:

Anyway, just my personal view.... I don't need to say this to the long standing members on here, but no one will convince me a so called wonder bait will ever be replacement for location and hard work on any venue,

No one ever said it was? So not quite sure what your entire point is. 
 

also to answer point 2. The big common from a club pit has been caught on SHB multiple times over. It’s a club ticket. Plenty of day ticket and easily accessible venues amongst the catches. 

Can’t understand the point you are trying to make about venues tbh. Makes no odds on if they are effective or not. People might look at the fish and go “I’d love to catch that I’ll try get a ticket”. But no one goes “SHB is catching those fish, I’ll get a ticket so I can use it on that venue” 

[emmcee]

On 09/02/2026 at 11:33, elmoputney said:

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. 

When i first started out carp fishing i met a bloke on a lake i fished in the Colne valley. If I recall, it was before the hi viz hookbaits were all the rage was about but they were starting to appear more and more in the shops. Anyway,  this bloke was a margin fisher, made his own bait but all in pellet shape. His hookbait though was always a hi viz pellet so he could see it better in the margin. He'd catch a few fish but he saw that the hi viz hookbait would be ignored mostly when one or two carp were on his spot but readily taken when 3 or more were feeding. I think most would agree that carp are easier to catch when they are competing with each other. He wanted to catch though when they weren't competing.  One day i watched him bait a spot with his homemade pellet and slip in a hi viz one as well, the difference being the hi viz one was a freebie and his hookbait was a match the hatch (clever angling I thought to myself). His catch rate more or less  trebled by making that change.  When he couldn't get a margin swim he'd fish pva bags in open water and fill the bag with his pellet and one "decoy " hi viz pellet and he caught plenty. 

On a side note, I read in this thread about yellows for commons. Well, I nearly always fished yellows as my hi viz hookbait and nearly always caught mirrors. 

[crusian]

" On a side note, I read in this thread about yellows for commons. Well, I nearly always fished yellows as my hi viz hookbait and nearly always caught mirrors. "

Well that's blown that theory then , emmcee , Just don't tell Kev. as he's after a big Common ! .

😁

[OldBoy]

On 27/02/2024 at 17:00, framey said:

Who have thought little round balls can cause so much fuss….

Exactly right mate 👍

Posted Friday at 08:0

@greekskii

also to answer point 2. The big common from a club pit has been caught on SHB multiple times over. It’s a club ticket. Plenty of day ticket and easily accessible venues amongst the catches. 

Can’t understand the point you are trying to make about venues tbh. Makes no odds on if they are effective or not. People might look at the fish and go “I’d love to catch that I’ll try get a ticket”. But no one goes “SHB is catching those fish, I’ll get a ticket so I can use it on that venue” 

Can't be to bothered, honestly, but some of the captures were made from a couple of North Devon 'holes in the ground', and were very expensive venues, some from syndicate venues, a few from london club lakes which I give respect to.

Anyway, the point I was trying to make, obviously unsucessfully, is that the ' what rod, line, hook size etc newbies' will lap the catch reports up and no dought part with dosh for these 'wonder' baits ☹️

I get the feeling that so many new hookbait 'companies' will be popping up soon - no pun intended - it will be a war out there!

 

[greekskii]

1 hour ago, OldBoy said:

Anyway, the point I was trying to make, obviously unsucessfully, is that the ' what rod, line, hook size etc newbies' will lap the catch reports up and no dought part with dosh for these 'wonder' baits ☹️

Can’t stop it. At least they’ll get a good hookbait to use instead of rubbish. But Mark doesn’t push his baits apart from the other forum and posting catch reports on socials. He doesn’t need to. The baits do the talking. 

Can’t deny how good they are in the right hands, even in Mediocre hands to be fair. Think you’re the only one classing them as a “wonder” bait though so keep your point going. 

[salokcinnodrog]

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.

3 hours ago, OldBoy said:

Exactly right mate 👍

 

Posted Friday at 08:0

@greekskii

also to answer point 2. The big common from a club pit has been caught on SHB multiple times over. It’s a club ticket. Plenty of day ticket and easily accessible venues amongst the catches. 

Can’t understand the point you are trying to make about venues tbh. Makes no odds on if they are effective or not. People might look at the fish and go “I’d love to catch that I’ll try get a ticket”. But no one goes “SHB is catching those fish, I’ll get a ticket so I can use it on that venue” 

Can't be to bothered, honestly, but some of the captures were made from a couple of North Devon 'holes in the ground', and were very expensive venues, some from syndicate venues, a few from london club lakes which I give respect to.

Anyway, the point I was trying to make, obviously unsucessfully, is that the ' what rod, line, hook size etc newbies' will lap the catch reports up and no dought part with dosh for these 'wonder' baits ☹️

I get the feeling that so many new hookbait 'companies' will be popping up soon - no pun intended - it will be a war out there!

 

 

1 hour ago, greekskii said:

Can’t stop it. At least they’ll get a good hookbait to use instead of rubbish. But Mark doesn’t push his baits apart from the other forum and posting catch reports on socials. He doesn’t need to. The baits do the talking. 

Can’t deny how good they are in the right hands, even in Mediocre hands to be fair. Think you’re the only one classing them as a “wonder” bait though so keep your point going. 

 

[elmoputney]

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. 

[framey]

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

[yonny]

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. 🤣

[OldBoy]

12 minutes ago, framey said:

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

My biggest mirror, from Horseshoe lake, in the 90's came over a big bed of premier amino boilies, hook bait was a Hinders Strawberry pop up soaked for days in their glug, was it a wonder bait? Yes for me and others at the time it was.... 

Did it cost £20 0f course not 😀

[yonny]

4 minutes ago, OldBoy said:

hook bait was a Hinders Strawberry pop up soaked for days in their glug, was it a wonder bait? Yes for me and others at the time it was.... 

Did it cost £20 0f course not 😀

Hinders pop-ups are 7 quid and a bottle of their pop-up glug is a tenner so you're actually not far off after inflation.

[elmoputney]

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? 

[elmoputney]

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.