Why white pop-ups are so good

For a number of years now I have had a fascination with white hook baits. They simply work and like all scenarios in fishing, confidence is key to success. No matter what bait I am fishing over, a white hook bait will be placed over it.

Even back in the day when I was doing a lot of fishing with the maggots. I favoured white maggots. I suppose it was different to others, but I felt that it was much more visual then a mixed patch of maggots.

No matter what bait you use, it tends to wash out to a pale colour. Even the Krill that is a rich, red colour, after a few hours it loses its colour and suddenly a white is no so blatantly different to the freebies. Baits such as Manilla however, go pretty much a light pale to white in hours.

Dave is a very mobile angler and is not blessed with much time to fish.

Light leads enable him to get the rods out quietly.

My fishing differs to many, often involving very short sessions and opportunist angling needs to come in. I don’t know when I will be fishing from one day to the next. Sometimes I can have as little as three hours fishing time, which makes every second precious.

Having something bright and smelly on the end will ultimately give me a better chance of a quick bite. I don’t fish over a lot of bait and don’t have time to session or ‘big hit’ fish. I am looking for one bite at a time and using white hook baits helps me with this.

I know that fashion has been to use pinks and yellow when fishing for a bite a time, but I think this is so overdone. With white, it is bright and visual, but doesn’t carry the sense of danger its rivals do.

The Chod Rig works brilliantly for presenting a hook bait over most bottoms.

Check it before you cast it out, making sure you have enough weight to sink it.

More often than not, I will fish with Chod Rigs too. Again, they work hand in hand with my mobile approach, allowing me to find the fish and present a rig on them without causing too much disturbance. I couple this arrangement with small leads too, which go in softly and wont cause too much disturbance.

As far as hook baits go, I am looking for something that is buoyant and will keep that buoyancy too. I like a 16mm pop up for this reason and vary the flavour depending on where I am fishing and the time of year.

The Signatures have worked wonders for me all winter and their fruity aroma is something that I would favour in the colder months. The Krill Whites are a whole new pop-up and absolutely stink. They pump of so much smell it will certainly help pull the carp down to the hook bait. In the warmer months, these really do come in to their own.

Dave's fishing is simple and refined and places his confidence in two tubs of pop-ups.

Most baits wash out to a pale colour once in the water, especially the Manilla.

I would often match the hook bait to what it is that I am fishing, but not always. I only really like to do it if I know the fish are feeding heavily on the bait that I am using. For example, if I knew the fish were feeding hard on the Krill, I would use a Krill white, the same too with Manilla. If however, the fish were not playing ball and I just wanted to try and snatch a pick up, I would use Signatures and maybe try a krill depending on the time of year.

It makes my life so much easier having faith in a couple of pop-ups. I often see people with bags and bags of hook baits and it weighs them down and adds confusion. Stick to something that you are confident and your fishing will be so much easier.

Dave doesn't fish over a lot of bait, often just a few pouch fulls to keep the carp grubbing.

Give the baits a little boost with some spray.

There are ways that you can boost your hook baits further if needs be. I don’t tend to glug them as such, unless I am using some Hemp oil in the winter and CAP-OIL in the summer. I tend to give them a little spray, both before I take the hook baits out the tub and before I cast them out.

The sprays are highly attractive and will give that bait an extra boost, but with it being such a thin liquid, you wont suffer any reductions in the buoyancy of the bait. An actual bait glug will do this and given time, will reduce the buoyancy of the hook bait.

Dave has caught some of the most highly-sought-after carp in the land on white hook baits.