A Xmas gift

[OldBoy]

A mate of mine suggested I might like a pot of some 'wonder hookbaits' for a pressie.

When it turned out they were at least £20 a pot I had to say, are you joking, save your money, apparently they are 'cured' not in salt as I understand that is what used to be meant, but no they have gone through some sort of 'mystic process'.

Oh but they have been backed up by loads of big carp captures, well that's as maybe but I had to say save your money, get me something else instead.

Obviously a bit provocative, but what a waste of money for 99% of normal anglers?

Anyway, Happy Xmas to all 👍

[framey]

2 hours ago, OldBoy said:

A mate of mine suggested I might like a pot of some 'wonder hookbaits' for a pressie.

When it turned out they were at least £20 a pot I had to say, are you joking, save your money, apparently they are 'cured' not in salt as I understand that is what used to be meant, but no they have gone through some sort of 'mystic process'.

Oh but they have been backed up by loads of big carp captures, well that's as maybe but I had to say save your money, get me something else instead.

Obviously a bit provocative, but what a waste of money for 99% of normal anglers?

Anyway, Happy Xmas to all 👍

Are they his from the other forum ?

[kevtaylor]

On 13/12/2025 at 15:46, OldBoy said:

A mate of mine suggested I might like a pot of some 'wonder hookbaits' for a pressie.

When it turned out they were at least £20 a pot I had to say, are you joking, save your money, apparently they are 'cured' not in salt as I understand that is what used to be meant, but no they have gone through some sort of 'mystic process'.

Oh but they have been backed up by loads of big carp captures, well that's as maybe but I had to say save your money, get me something else instead.

Obviously a bit provocative, but what a waste of money for 99% of normal anglers?

Anyway, Happy Xmas to all 👍

I bought some special cured special special pop-ups cost 20 quid a pot, bought 2 types - both are in the garage along with many other pots of retired baits.

I now just go for Northern Specials for anything coloured or the matching brown baits for my freebies.

The special specials may have worked but I didn't like the look when they arrived - felt like a mug for paying it tbh

[OldBoy]

On 13/12/2025 at 18:35, framey said:

Are they his from the other forum ?

Plenty of similar hookbaits out there apparently, without the constant rants that guy gets away with on one of the many forums available out there 😂

[salokcinnodrog]

On 13/12/2025 at 15:46, OldBoy said:

A mate of mine suggested I might like a pot of some 'wonder hookbaits' for a pressie.

When it turned out they were at least £20 a pot I had to say, are you joking, save your money, apparently they are 'cured' not in salt as I understand that is what used to be meant, but no they have gone through some sort of 'mystic process'.

Oh but they have been backed up by loads of big carp captures, well that's as maybe but I had to say save your money, get me something else instead.

Obviously a bit provocative, but what a waste of money for 99% of normal anglers?

Anyway, Happy Xmas to all 👍

 

On 15/12/2025 at 10:50, kevtaylor said:

I bought some special cured special special pop-ups cost 20 quid a pot, bought 2 types - both are in the garage along with many other pots of retired baits.

I now just go for Northern Specials for anything coloured or the matching brown baits for my freebies.

The special specials may have worked but I didn't like the look when they arrived - felt like a mug for paying it tbh

Super special mega expensive hookbaits, I wonder how gullible we are? 

I used to keep on buying tubs of pop-ups; strawberry ice cream, cranberry, dairy cream, squid and octopus, tutti-frutti, monster crab, pineapple, and goodness knows how many others. 

The honest answer is I found that the majority of the time that I got takes on 3 of them: squid and octopus, monster crab and my own spiced garlic. Those 3 produced fish as single hookbaits or as the topper on a snowman setup, with other baits like the pineapple and the green zing, tutti-frutti producing occasionally. 

I can't forget one session over winter, for two days 4 takes came on high attract pop-ups, after that the bait that produced was only the food bait tipped with the spiced garlic, and I constantly kept a high attract bait on one rod.