What's better? A critical bait or over-weighted pop-up?

Question: Critically-balanced baits, that is a bait that will just sink when it has broken the surface tension of the water have been acclaimed as catching out the wary, invective carp, and yet when a fish swims by, these ‘critical baits’ will fly up into the baited area, stopping at the point to where they are tied to the lead, in other words the length of the rig. Bearing this in mind, would you opt for a ‘critical bait’ over an ‘over-weighted pop-up’ which is not so blatantly in the face if disturbed by feeding fish?

Nigel Williams

“It sorts out the better fish”

“A critically-balanced bait has and will catch a lot of carp. I totally agree that it can account for some of the clever fish that ‘get away with it’. In the winter a balanced bait can be devastating; it can turn an odd beep into a bite. The downside for me is too much movement. If you’re fishing a highly stocked water the chances are you will be getting a lot of activity over your baited area. A balanced bait will be wafting all over the place. The hook point can pick up weed twigs leaves and all manor of bits and bobs. If you sharpen your hooks this movement over gravel is a sure way of turning the fine point over!

“Whereas an over-weighted pop-up has a lot less movement and is hopefully sat fishing well with the hook ready to do its job. I totally agree it can be blatant to some fish but it’s proven time and time again to sort out the better fish. In my experience the clever fish aren’t always the biggest ones! My choice is the over-weighted pop-up in the hope it sorts out the better fish.”

Ian Lewis

“I use this trick…”

“Critically-balanced baits have always featured in my armoury when fishing in the edge, doing my best to outwit even the most cautious of feeders for many years, and I can definitely say I’ve watched carp in close-quarters fly in on spots and thrash the spot with their pectoral fins, sending food items up off the bottom. Something I’ve done slightly different since last year is to bore out one-third of an 14mm I-Bait pop-up with a boilie drill, fashion the outer skin into a more ‘chop’-like appearance and then plug the bore hole with Critical Mass Putty until I end up with a bait that sits bolt upright but is pinned plumb to the deck by the weight of the hook and putty. I then add a large lump of putty an inch from the hook and rub putty into the weave of the supple Trickster Heavy Braid which I’ve found helps to keep the hookbait in position when a carp flanks or flicks on a spot.”

Shaun Harrison

“Balanced for small carp”

“I used to use them a lot, I caught a lot of fish on them, but now only ever use them when targeting relatively small, fun carp.
“As far as a big fish presentation goes, I can’t think of a more effective way of STOPPING A FISH TAKING A BAIT. It all comes down to the blind spot all carp have and the sheer bulk of body moving through the water. The larger the carp, the bigger the blind spot and more water they move. You only have to watch the largest fish trying to eat floaters. They often end up with them on their heads and/or missing them completely. The movement of water caused by them moving simply pushes the bait out the way from where they last saw them.

“Exactly the same happens underwater with critically-balanced baits. They don’t always manage to get hold of them. Brilliant small fish method though.”

Ian Chillcott

“It really doesn't matter"

“I have personally tried a bit of everything. After all, how can you have a constructive comment if you haven’t? I suppose the beginning of that process started on Horton in 1996, when Keith Jenkins and I experimented with microwaving hookbaits to various degrees to see how balanced we could make them. I very soon came to the conclusion that it really didn’t matter, and nothing that has happened ever since has made me change my mind. If your hookbait isn’t totally made up of plastic, then of course the buoyancy is going to be decreased on an hourly basis once immersed in water. If I cast out a critically-balanced hookbait and get a bite within an hour or so, then I have probably caught a carp on a critically-balanced hookbait. However, if a bite doesn’t come until about 20hrs later, then it will be nothing of the sort. I decided many, many moons ago it really doesn’t matter at all. The important thing is that you are confident in what you are doing, and that is probably the biggest part of the carp fishing equation.”