Hook baits

Hook baits - that is what tempts carp

A hookbait must be exceptional to make the carp in the water go crazy about it.

Choosing the right hookbait is not easy, especially as it oscillates among a wide range of products. Apart from the colour or flavour it is worth to look into its quality and style of action in the water. A perfectly composed carp hookbait will work in all conditions.

If you would like to know the history of carp boilies, you would find out that this bait has revolutionised carp angling and one of the first companies which introduced them to the Polish market on a mass scale is Tandem Baits. We are currently the leader when it comes to carp bait production and, without dropping a beat, we create high quality boilies that simply work in the fishery.

Quality is a very important aspect of our business. That is why our baits are full of proven ingredients and attractors, which intensely act on the senses of fish. Our products are created in cooperation with ichthyologists and are based on many years of experience, not only in production, but also in the field.

What hook baits for carp you can find in Tandem Baits:

Floating baits, so called Pop-Up's.

These are two families of baits - Carp Food and SuperFeed. You will find unique flavours with a long-lasting aroma (our boilies work even after a dozen or so years and it is confirmed by carp anglers!) and a wide range of colours. Diversified sizes will help you adjust to any conditions. Our floating baits also have a 3D structure of the so-called pumice. This means that the attractors are washed out evenly with water penetration. The colour of the hookbait does not fade as it is washed out, so it remains extremely effective until the very end.

Among Tandem Baits Pop-Ups you will find:

• perfect lures for early spring and late autumn fishing such as the SuperFeed Diffusion Pop-Up

• fluoro pop-ups of intensive colour as well as washout versions, effective in every fishery e.g. SuperFeed Fluo Pop-Up

• baits for waters with high angling pressure and chimeric strikes, such as the SuperFeed Fluo Mini Pop-Up

• basic pop ups that work anywhere and anytime such as Carp Food Perfection Pop-Up

• baits for making snowmen, e.g. Carp Food Perfection Mini Pop-Up

Sinking baits

This is an equally wide range of flavours and colours, in which every carp angler will find something suitable for himself. Exquisite mixtures of ingredients, perfectly matched to the tastes of carp make our baits able to open the most difficult water. Among our sinking hookbaits you will find:

• hookbaits for waters with high fishing pressure and chimeric strikes, such as Carp Food Perfection Mini Hookers

• Baits enhanced with oil attractors, working well in the water, especially in the summer season, such as Carp Food Oil Hookers

• Boosted hookbaits, ready to use, working well on the bottom with an intensive smell, for example Carp Food Mini Boosted Hookers

• baits in the form of hook pellets, working well in the water, so called "stinkers" e.g. SuperFeed Hook Fatty Pellet

• Hookers, which are perfectly sinking boilies which work well in every fishery, for example Carp Food Perfection Hookers or Hookers Multi Mix

All our hookbaits can be found in full size and in mini versions.

What to consider when choosing a hookbait size?

Visibility

This is important, especially in murky water, the boilies will be easier for carp to see, but their colour also matters. If you are fishing in very murky water, choose bright fluo colours.

The size of hook you use

It's best to match the hook size to the size of the hookbait you're using. If you put a big boilie on the leader with a small hook, the bait may make it difficult for you to strike successfully. On the other hand, a large hook with a small bait can make your set poorly balanced.

You can assume that the bend of the hook should be 2-3 mm smaller than the hookbait, but as it happens in angling, there are no rigid rules.

Carp hookbait size

Choosing the right size of the hookbait is the subject of thousands of discussions and analyses of carp anglers, from which everyone draws different conclusions. There are no best solutions in this subject and no rules to follow.

Every carp angler, who has been fishing for some time, has experienced well hooked roach on 20mm boilies and big specimen fish on 12mm baits.

There are so many theories on this subject that the size of the hookbait is left to the imagination and inventiveness of the angler.

What colour bait is best for carp fishing?

There are probably countless shades of carp hookbaits. So if you are just starting your carp fishing adventure, you may get a headache when choosing the colour. We won't comfort you though - the best hookbait does not exist! Everything depends on tactics, conditions on the water and the fish itself. That is why it is worth equipping yourself with several different baits to be ready for anything.

It is said that bright, more expressive colours work better in the summer season. Earthy colours should be left for cooler days. This rule doesn't always work, but you can start with it to set tactics.

If your fishery has murky water, making visibility difficult, opt for more visible colours, such as fluo, which will help the fish locate the hookbait.

Always have baits in shades of yellow in your tackle box. This colour is best seen by carp and is most visible in deep water. It has to do with physics and colour filtration (i.e. colour fading) in the relevant parts of the water.

Basic hookbaits colours, obligatory in every carp box:

Yellow - very visible, even in deep water

Orange - well visible at medium depths

Pink - well visible and is very popular

Beige or brown - natural colours for shy (suspicious, old) fish and clear waters

What flavour of hookbait is best for carp fishing?

Ok, so you've chosen your boilie size and colour, now you need to decide what flavour to use!

As with colours, the flavour of the bait depends on several factors and there is no single rule to follow when deciding on a tactic.

In this case we can also take into account that fruity flavours work better in summer, while in colder periods carp are attracted to more "smelly" flavours. Of course, this is a rule of thumb that doesn't always hold true, so again, it would be a good idea to have your box filled with several different flavours.

What is a Pop-Up?

A Pop-Up is a floating bait. They come in the same colours, flavours, shapes and textures as regular boilies.

Pop-Up baits are more visible in the water than sinking baits, buried in silt or covered in weed. The Pop-Up, thanks to its properties, is nicely exposed by floating above the bottom, which attracts the fish passing by and mobilises them to strike.

Features of sinking baits

This is the type of hookbait that sinks to the bottom of the fishery together with the hook.

Sinking hookbaits, in fact, can be used practically in all conditions. In particular, you should opt for them when fish in the fishery are very wary, but also in places where fish are used to looking for food in the mud.

Snowmen

This is nothing else but a combination of a floating and sinking boilie, which together create a balanced type of bait, not lying on the bottom, but floating gently. An interesting form of presenting the bait, widely used by carp anglers.