New John Baker video

[Julian Griffiths]

Ok so maybe a really daft question. If John isn't a fan of pellets, when Barbel fishing, is he feeding any free offerings or just fishing single hook baits? Barbel videos always seem to show heavy feeding either with pellets or a ground bait approach.

Maybe just throwing out a few boilies into the swim?

And then when it comes to paste, I've only tried it once, some ready made Dynamite baits stuff but found it came off as soon as my bait hit the water. Is home made stuff tougher or did I just do something wrong?

If you follow his instructions to the letter, his baits are easy to make & stay on the hook, I'm currently fishing a single bit of paste in a river & catching!

I've gone through a couple of his receipes & finally settled on a flavour blend that's really working for me at the moment. I need to see how it performs in the colder months though, & figure out how much to increase it by... Parts of 1ml!

 

[Jim Brook]

I’ve used his bio shellfish base mix with the Bombay spice powder added but with no “flavour” ( label ) included and still caught fish Proving that a good quality base mix is all that’s needed really? But I still have more confidence using his chicken tikka flavour because I think it smells nice

 

[Stephen Baker 2]

I’ve used his bio shellfish base mix with the Bombay spice powder added but with no “flavour” ( label ) included and still caught fish Proving that a good quality base mix is all that’s needed really? But I still have more confidence using his chicken tikka flavour because I think it smells nice

Got to agree with you about the chicken tikka smelling nice, funnily enough my wife doesn’t agree… mind you I have got previous with Solar “ squid and Octopus “ ruining all her food in the freezer back in the 90’s sometime

 

[Jim Brook]

Got to agree with you about the chicken tikka smelling nice, funnily enough my wife doesn’t agree… mind you I have got previous with Solar “ squid and Octopus “ ruining all her food in the freezer back in the 90’s sometime

Did I he same thing with the Lone angler “ocean pride” that I’d liberally coated meat with and then placed in my mother’s big chest freezer only to find that the bag I’d used had a big split in it! Any food that wasn’t sealed in plastic was tainted and had to be binned! And that was the end of putting any form of bait in whatsoever! Even a crusty loaf would be looked upon with suspicion!

 

[Gavin Burt]

JBs book is really good too and well worth a read.

I’ve used his Taste F2 and SuperMilk to good effect along with his flavours.

I fished the Meuse in France this summer and struggled to catch. I remembered I had some Ala Salar liquid with me and a couple of the squirts of that and I had a Barbel on the bank almost immediately.

While we’re on the subject of bait making there’s an excellent podcast called “The Carp Chronicles Podcas” that specifically talks about making bait and the nutritional values / attractants / way flavours work etc… JB appears on one of the episodes (and he’s also on the Korda podcast too).

The guy (Sam) who runs the above podcast also does some great baits on his “Optibaits” website. His GLM powder is excellent.

 

[Richard Parsons]

Ok so I want to make some of my own baits from JB so what should I buy?

If I went with F2 just for example, can't I just buy the base mix and make everything, including hook baits from that? Or have I got to buy the separate hook bait mix also?

That's what I do. The hookbait mix is just a bit of a gimmick and (unsurprisingly) more expensive. Before they came along the normal basemix was fine for hook bait. It still is.

Keep paste in a sealable plastic food-type bag.

 

[Julian Griffiths]

That's what I do. The hookbait mix is just a bit of a gimmick and (unsurprisingly) more expensive. Before they came along the normal basemix was fine for hook bait. It still is.

Keep paste in a sealable plastic food-type bag.

Just sieve it. No need for hook bait mix purchase!

 

[Alex Fowers]

I’d only buy the hookbait mix if you require hard hookbaits as it has egg albumin add to it. Maybe worth considering if crayfish are present and whittling hookbaits down.

 

[Julian Griffiths]

I’d only buy the hookbait mix if you require hard hookbaits as it has egg albumin add to it. Maybe worth considering if crayfish are present and whittling hookbaits down.

A mate of mine keeps his boilies on the hair rig for as long as it lasts, they end up like bullets and still catches on them. Never tried that myself personally

 

[Gavin Burt]

That's what I do. The hookbait mix is just a bit of a gimmick and (unsurprisingly) more expensive. Before they came along the normal basemix was fine for hook bait. It still is.

Keep paste in a sealable plastic food-type bag.

The hookbait mix will likely produce a harder bait and have a tad more flavour / attractant to it.

 

[Chris Belcher]

I've been using his F2 basemix cut with supermilk and am religiously trying the 'no hemp / no pellet' freebie approach with little success atm - however I'm persevering! So easy to roll, even 10-12mms. Currently on his go-to Ala Salar Masala / Plum combo but have invested in some Barbel Search 4 / TM2 Butterscotch as an alternative for the cooler months . . .

Def no need for the hard hookers in terms of barbel baits (I have rolled a one egg mix cut with the hardener) other than increased flavour levels but the baits not out there for long enough to justify IMO. I steam my baits rather than boil and they're more than resilient enough - the paste is the same (as others have mentioned) - even a thin layer will provide a coating that lasts an age and much longer than shelf-life alternatives . . .I'm actually now thinking whether I'm going to steam baits at all going forward (as per this vid) and simply use rolled baits as airdried paste balls / barrels etc