How to make special mixer hookbaits

Why bother?

With summer now in full flow, surface and floater fishing tactics can really come to the fore, in fact many target carp that can be tricky to fool with bottom bait rigs but are often absolute suckers (excuse the pun) for a Mixer off the top. That said, where carp have been pressured with surface methods before they can still show a huge amount of caution, especially to the hookbait, so in this scenario a hookbait edge can be just the ticket, for example, custom-made to create the perfect buoyancy? In this case, that’s where the hookbait sits on the water exactly the same as the free dog biscuits even though a hook is weighing it down. Or you could add the addition of some flavour to increase attraction and trigger a mouth-slurping reaction? Sounds good, eh? Well, here’s how you can create and incorporate both of these small edges for greater surface fishing effect!

The recipe

Production time: Approximately 90 minutes
Ingredients: 5ml Multi-Stim, 0.5ml Maple Ade, 2ml Scopex, Polaris Pop-Up Mix, Ground dog biscuits, One egg
Equipment: Mixing bowl, measuring syringe or pipette, fork, spoon(s), Krusha or food blender, saucepan and sieve or strainer
Ready-to-use in…: Five minutes of boiling (once dry)

1. Begin by grinding down some standard dog Mixer biscuits into small pieces and into a fine crumb like this.

2. Next, mix the crumb with Polaris Pop-Up Mix at a ratio of one-part dog biscuit to four-parts Polaris.

3. Blow some air into the bag, twist the top and give it a good shake until the contents are mixed evenly.

4. Crack the egg into the mixing bowl next before adding the flavours listed and lightly whisking together.

5. Add the dry mix a little at a time. Be careful not to add too much too soon, as this mix will dry quickly.

6. Notice how the addition of the Mixer biscuit crumb provides a colour matching that of the freebies.

7. Squeeze the hookbaits into cubic shapes about the size of a slightly swollen (safer looking) dog biscuit.

8. To give the hookbaits a little firmness, place in vigorously boiling water next for just 30 seconds like so.

9. Once boiled you can use the hookbaits straightaway or place on a towel to dry and harden before storing.