Particle power! Why Spooner loves his veg!

Like most anglers I guess, when I think of carp baits, one of the first to cross my mind will always be a boilie. Carp absolutely love these nutritional balls of food, but there are still occasions when another type of bait comes to the fore: particles!

The Power+ Particles Pulse mix contains lots items like maples and maize, that all make great hookbaits

Perfectly prepped

Again, just like boilies, the taste buds of the carp can be sent into a ravenous mode of alertness by particles. Why? Well as with boilies, particles can contain some serious levels of attraction by way of natural oils and sugars. They also contain an array of varying textures for the carp to enjoy. For these particle textures to be correct - and for the particles to be safe for them to eat - it’s of the utmost importance that the bait is prepared and cooked correctly. Fortunately, Mainline have removed any preparation worries by supplying the Power+ Particle range of mixes, all of which are infused with proven carp-pulling attractants like Mult-Stim and Cell.

Particles vary from micro-sized seeds such as hemp, through to larger pieces like maize and tiger nuts. All in all, they provide loads of bits and pieces to interest the fish and encourage them to feed. What’s more, with so many small items within a particle mix there’s no ‘easy feed’ for the carp and they often become preoccupied in finding every last morsel. As a consequence, they stay in the feeding zone longer, which dramatically increases your chances of a bite!

Matching hookbaits

When it comes to particles though, it’s not just about using them as feed or free offerings, as they also make brilliant hookbaits. Maples, maize, tiger nuts… they all make great hookbaits that subtly match your feed and sit unobtrusively within your baited spot. One of my personal favourites is the tiger nut - well two tiger nuts to be precise. Combined with the buoyancy of some cork, two tiger nuts become a critically-balanced hookbait that’s perfect for hooking fish that are feeding tight to particles on the deck. Best of all, this hookbait is dead easy to set-up, as I’ll show you here…

Hemp is probably where most anglers start with particles, but it doesn’t end there…

Particles come in lots of shapes, sizes and textures that can all be mixed together, and also flavoured

How to tie Spooner’s Balanced Tiger Nut Rig!

1. The first things you’ll need are a 6mm bait drill, cork sticks and some tiger nuts.

2. Start by drilling out one of the tiger nuts three-quarters of the way through like this.

3.Fit a cork stick into the hole and trim it to leave enough cork for a second tiger nut.

4. Repeat step 2 next, by drilling out another tiger nut ready to place on the protruding cork.

5. You should now have a hookbait that looks like this (two tigers with cork in-between).

6. Now begin to remove 7 to 8cm of coating from some Dark Matter and form a Hair-loop.

7. Carefully push a bait needle through the hookbait made earlier, ready to attach to the rig.

8. Thread the hookbait onto the hooklink/Hair like so, and secure in place with a bait stop.

9. The next step is to secure a size 4 Krank hook in place with a simple Knotless Knot.

10.Leave around a centimetre of exposed braid near the hook to give it some movement.

11.Thread on an anti-tangle sleeve and tie a Figure-Of-Eight Loop for hooklink attachment.

12. And that’s it! The hook weight should counter-balance the buoyancy of the hookbait

Spoon's top tip
Perfectly prepared and packed with attraction, Power+ Particles are also PVA-friendly, so you’re not limited to just spodding them out. You can use them in solid PVA bags or PVA mesh bags. Simply nick a bag onto the hook to present a small pile of particles around your hookbait!