Happy Meals For Carp

Burgers. They aren’t just a few ounces of ground beef on a bun these days, are they? When you can add delectable goodies like cheese, bacon, Jalapenos, onion rings, extra burgers, more bacon – the whole image of a burger changes. We no longer think of them as a quick snack, they’re more of a full-blown indulgence these days and I’ve got the waistline to prove it!

So why is it, then, that we continue to just throw out boilies like they’re something just as indulgent? In the grand scheme of things, most boilies are like a humble burger, a bog standard 99p version, minus the salad. And yet we put our faith in them time after time. At most, some will add the equivalent of a sauce – a glug, for instance, or an oil of some variety. It’s a bit like ketchup or mayo on your burger – it improves it, but not by much. Why not add a plethora of garnishes? Why not load your hookbait up with ingredients that separate your meal from everyone elses?

The ‘meal in itself’ principle is something I’ve experimented with for a long time. My first 30lb+ carp came on the very set-up you’ll see in the images here, and so did my most recent one. The idea is simple: make your hookbait a meal for one – one hungry, and hopefully massive carp!

Initially I started using homemade pastes around boilies. Usually they matched the bait I was using, albeit they were pepped up with flavours and attractors – things that were probably in the boilie before it got boiled! The results were instant and side-by-side, the paste-wrapped baits would always produce first and usually better fish. At the time I was fishing a farm pool and its twenties were rare. And yet me and my friend Colin kept catching twenties on the paste-wraps.

One day, after flicking a bit of old paste in the edge, I noticed how much faster the naturals were feeding on the paste than the boilies. It made sense, I suppose. It was softer, more soluble and leaking out attraction instantly. The paste soon resembled a ball of hemp, a bit like one of those abandoned Kryston Bogey attempts I’m sure most of you have attempted at some point. It gave me an idea. I began to squeeze micro pellets, fishmeals and hemp into the paste to boost it further still. Suddenly, my hookbaits were a meal in themselves, a burger with all the trimmings and extra bacon! One quick dunk in some liquid food or glug and it was a carping Happy Meal, all that was missing was a Disney toy and a spotty teenager squeaking down a Tannoy.

The rigs I use with this are all about weight transference. You end up with a mighty heavy bait, so simple long Hairs or a bit of tubing around the bend and you’re laughing.

I’ve done further experimentations since and found the hemp-based Sonubaits Barbel & Carp Paste to be better than anything I can conjour up myself. It’s so oily and tastes like concentrated hemp. I’ve found other things that squeeze into the paste too – it opens up a whole new way of presenting carp with the things they love all in one go. Think of it as a PVA bag that doesn’t wash away at the first flick of a roach’s tail. If that doesn’t convince you, watch an episode of Man Vs Food and tell me burgers without the extras are just as good. Tight lines!
Mat Woods

Bait bushcraft

How to create ultimate burger…

1 Start off by wrapping a lump of Sonubaits Barbel & Carp Paste around a boilie.

2 Mat likes to tip his baits with an Avid Sight Stop so he makes sure this is on show.

3 With the paste wrapped around the boilie, Mat then adds micro pellets like so.

4 These are then pushed and worked into the paste like shown here. Right, step 5…

5 Next Mat adds the killer bait: hempseed. The seeds are pushed into the paste.

6 A quick glug and there you have it: one seriously packed with attraction hookbait.