Make your hookbait stand out

From fishing single hookbaits to hookbaits fished over large amounts of feed - there is one fundamental reason why it can be such a good idea to make that hookbait standout with boosted attraction and increased visual stimulus? The fish will find them easier and more quickly - which ultimately means more bites, more often!

These tactics work particularly well on well-stocked waters where the carp are competing for food. As well as times when action is slow or the fish show hesitation in feeding – such as late winter/early spring. Because ‘standout’ hookbaits can still promote takes through fish curiosity – even when positioned on a baited spot with umpteen other similar looking baits. And if the fish are in a feeding mood, this scenario of fishing a heavily baited spot is again one where you want the fish to pick-up the hookbait sooner rather than later.

There are a number of simple ways to make your hookbait standout – each method working better on different venues on different days. So it’s worth varying them to find out what works best.

1 Tip it with a colour

Savoury food source boilies are, in the main, usually of a subtle colour – dark browns or paler biscuit colours. They may be packed with tasty aromas and attractors but the visual stimulus is low. So adding a bright, hi-viz bait like plastic corn or a mini pop-up can transform the hookbait to one that the carp see straight away and can home in on!

2 Go white

There are stacks of bright, highly visual hookbait colours to choose from and every angler will have their favourites – but one colour that crops-up time and time again, especially amongst the pros is white. Not only do these bait standout well, but they also resemble baits that have been in the water a while to become ‘washed out’ and most probably a safe bait to eat. And so an added element that can cause the wariest of carp to slip-up.

3 Use a flavour dip

Flavoured dips and hookbait glugs are a great way of massively increasing the attraction of your all important hookbait. Best of all it’s dead easy - simply dip your hookbait in the glug just before you cast out. Hookbaits can also be kept in a dip or glug, indefinitely over time – so the bait absorbs a much higher level of flavour for a prolonged release of attraction in water.

4 Use a different shape

It’s not just the use of bright or contrasting colours that can make your hookbait stand out from the feed – the shape of the hookbait can also make a difference. Round baits are the most common used and therefore the shape seen most by the carp. So trying a piece of broken boilie on the Hair or a dumbell can provoke curiosity within the carp to pick-up and investigate the bait.

5 Pop it up

Without doubt one of the most effective ways of making your hookbait stand out above the rest of the bait is to do that quite literally and pop it up! With a feed of food items scattered over your baited spot, a pop-up just screams ‘come and get me’ to the fish - and because the hookbait is sat up off the lakebed in plain view to the fish, it is often the first to be taken. It’s a great trick and one you should give a try.

Finally, the one we’ve kept to ourselves until now…

This is a huge tip that has proved very successful over the last few years for many anglers in the know. Instead of tipping your hookbait with a bright colour, say red or yellow, try tipping it with something black, such as Enterprise Tackle’s fake sweetcorn or simply some black rig foam. This has proved to be very successful over the last few years on harder venues and also on lakes where the carp have wised up to fluorescent tippers and pop-ups. It is an awesome edge; give it a go!