How to make the ultimate floater hookbait
A tried and tested successful tip from thinking angler, James Parry
My plastic corn hookbait sliver used on top of a floater, which I first showed in CARPology back in 2008, has started to become more common in recent years.
I have a dedicated floater kit which stays in the car all summer. I have always been massively in to my floater fishing, which now spans more than 30 years and I have got the set-up just right through years of constant improving. The hookbait is always a cut down Mainline Cell pop-up with an orange sliver on top. I have a 12ft 2.25lb TC through action rod; my reel is a 5000H Daiwa baboon, which to many would seem a bit large, however, the coils of line are wider compared to a traditional floater reel which helps cast more efficiently with a 10-gram float. Plus, during a protracted fight, they are more robust and up to the job.
A cut down Cell pop-up blends in perfectly to match the freebies
Another edge I have discovered is the use of stocking PVA. A PVA bag holding approximately 20 Mixers can be fired a long way compared to loose Mixers. It is far more accurate and is an unfamiliar sight and sound both to the gulls and carp. You will have 60 Mixers out on the surface with a tiny disturbance. I find three bags fired upwind of any surface cruising fish works a treat.
After a strong recommendation from a friend, I have switched over to in-line controllers and as a consequence, tangles, which ALWAYS happen at the worst possible time, are a thing of the past. Watch out for Granny Knots in the hooklink though, as somehow they occur in the hooklink, possibly when feathering the reel line on casting.
A 37lb 8oz surface-caught lump. I saw the Mixer at 70yds!
Reel line is 10lb Pro Clear, hooklink is Guru N-Gauge in 12lb which is incredible. Hooks are Kamasan B745 size 10. This set-up works very well and is up to landing very big carp.
With the little sliver of orange or yellow topping the hookbait, it can really be seen so easily, especially with yellow/amber Polaroids as they amplify those colours. Gone are the days of moving the hookbait to pick it out! My last floater-caught fish was 37lb 8oz and I could see my hookbait easily at 70yds as the take occurred and everything stood up to the brutal 20 minute battle that followed!
