How to make white chocolate white boilies

ANGLER’S MAIL carp fishing columnist Colin Davidson shows you how to make his brilliant white chocolate pop-up boilies.

With high visibility and elevated levels of attraction these super strength pop-ups are difficult to ignore, bringing bites when other baits don’t stimulate the carp enough.

Fish them on the bottom, zig rig style at mid-water and upwards towards the surface.

1 Use Solar’s H20 pop-up mix which can be rolled and boiled hard when mixed with just water rather than eggs.

2 The equivalent of a one-egg mix makes sufficient pop-ups to last months. Take a clean mixing bowl or small bait bucket and measure out 35 ml of water using a volumetric measuring scoop. Use mineral water because it doesn’t contain any of the chemicals in tap water.

3 Rod Hutchinson’s original chocolate malt or CC Moore’s chocolate are devastating on any venue at any time of year. Add 15 ml of the chocolate malt to the water.

4 White baits are by far the most visible on a lake bed so it’s a better choice than yellow or pink. White dye is available from several companies, and is insoluble so your baits will always be bright white and won’t fade after casting out. A level teaspoon (5 ml) goes into the bowl with the flavour and water.

5 The dye won’t dissolve but if you whisk the water with a fork you will put it in suspension and end up with a white runny mess that stinks of chocolate malt – perfect. Now start adding pop-up mix. Two or three heaped tablespoons or larger will give you a good start. Mix the powder and liquid steadily, working it around the bowl or bucket, adding one spoon at a time when it is all mixed in.

6 As you add more mix you’ll start to form a ball of soft, squidgy dough that sticks to the fork but it’s still nowhere near ready to roll and will swallow a lot more powder yet. Keep sprinkling more pop-up mix into the bowl and work the ball of paste around the edges until you have a slightly stiffer paste that starts to stick to the fork. As you start to get to the ideal consistency you’ll notice the paste has cleaned all the mess from the side of the bowl as you have mixed it around.

7 To get the paste dead right you’ll have to get your hands in. Smear them with margarine and knead more small amounts of pop-up mix into the paste ball until you have a soft, pliable dough that doesn’t stick to your hands.

8 To stop your paste drying out while making baits you need to put the majority of the dough into a freezer bag and twist the top. Make sure your hands still have a light covering of margarine and pinch off small slugs of paste, then seal the bag again. Pluck a tiny bit away and roll it smoothly between your palms to form a ball. You’ll soon get a feel for how much to nick off to produce the size of pop-up you want. Finished baits are put on a tray or plate, also lightly smeared with margarine.

9 High attract pop-ups seem to work better when they are smaller so do not roll them beyond 14 mm. Don’t just roll round baits, you can roll long paste sausages and chop them up to produce dumbbell pop-ups.

10 Once all the baits are rolled and on a plate or tray they need to be boiled. Although a one-egg mix produces a lot of individual baits when rolled this small, they will all fit in a large pan to be boiled at the same time. Make sure the water is really boiling over rather than just steaming. If they have been rolled right they should just brush off the plate or tray with finger pressure without being damaged or distorted.

11 Once they go in to the pan start a timer – most mobile phones have this feature. Give them a 45-60 second sauna, stirring gently as they boil and then scoop them out using a draining spoon or a sieve. Because the quantity of bait in the pan is small and the water boiling hard even the shorter boiling time will give you nice, rubbery skinned baits. The pop-ups will be steaming, soft and swollen when you remove them.

12 Spoon the baits from the pan on to a doubled over clean towel. Spread them out so they aren’t touching each other and let them steam and cool down for a few minutes. Go back to them every five minutes and roll them gently around so all of the bait has a chance to cool down or you’ll get soggy spots where they have sat on the towel. Leave them for 30 minutes to cool then transfer them back to a clean plate or tray.

13 A 12-hour dry at room temperature produces baits that are nicely needle-friendly but dry enough to be potted without worrying about them spoiling – just be sure to look after them rather than letting them sit in bright sunshine where they will sweat up in the pot. You’ve now got your own pot of the very best carp sweets in town.

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HOW TO MAKE A ZIG RIG

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