This might sound a daft question, but I've recently bought some Dynamite Baits Squid & Octopus Pop-Ups in the hope of enticing my first catfish from a local water. Never having used these before, I don't know if they're supposed to be as hard as marbles - Is this "normal" for these baits, or should I leave them soaking in some sort of glug for a while to soften them up a bit?

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45 views and no replies! Come on, lads, somebody out there must have used pop-ups before and knows if they're *supposed* to be as solid as gob-stoppers? Or have I got to ask one of the superior-looking assistants in the tackle emporium where I bought them and look a right plonker?

Davy I started a thread about the lifespan of boilies etc and asked how long do they last but now one seems to know and as they have no sell/use by date on the packaging then who knows how old they are when you buy them. Have the pop ups you've bought got a sell by date on them ?

I don't really know, but the pop-up boilies I've used have been 'spongy', i.e. softish and full of tiny air bubbles. Even if they are hard, as long as they're bouyant and you can get a needle through them it shouldn't matter. Pop-up rigs won't give a fish enough time to find out whether it's soft or not.

PS soaking them in some glugs will harden rather than soften them...

They may well just be really old and dried out.

This post has been edited by Anderoo: May 7 2008, 03:10 PM

I don't think I have ever bought off the shelf floaters that were not like marbles, it seems the norm in the shops around me. I have never had any luck on rock hard boilies whether they are popups or not; especially if there the shelf life type; so I only use frozen or home made and make them soft enough to break fairly easily when squeezed hard.
However; a friend of mine swears by rock hard boilies that are like marbles, he catches quite a lot of Carp so they must work. But I still am more confident using softer boilies and NOT shelf life ones; and although he wont admit it they seem to catch more than my mates marbles.

This post has been edited by BoldBear: May 7 2008, 03:20 PM

Thanks for the replies - I won't waste any time glugging them then, in case I make things worse! I've got the day off tomorrow, so I'll be giving them a try. Apparently catfish are more likely to take a pop-up than a bottom bait, although I've only got the fishery manager's word for that...

To be honest, I've hardly ever used boilies at all, but I've never caught a catfish before so I'll try anything once.

Davy, halibut pellets (20mm) drilled and 5 or 6 on a stringer cats luv'em

Re the hardness of popups, they vary from one make to another. Some guys like them crushable so the fish gets a mouthful of goodness, others simply rely on the hair rig doing the job

Den

Could not agree more with Poledark, Halibutt pellets and more halibutt pellets lots of them, bait a spot up if you get chance and plenty of halibutt oil, I've had cats over 100lb in France all on halibutts.


Bankside

PS.......Also chop about 2kg of worms that should do you fine and good luck

Well, the fish (cats and carp alike) completely ignored the pop-ups! As soon as I switched baits to a 12mm pellet (not halibut, but very fishy nonetheless), I started getting bites and ended up with 5 carp to just over 9lb. Apparently, 10 cats have been caught from this lake over the last week, and they've all taken bunches of lobworms popped-up on a cork ball.

I really don't know why I bother with boilies (popped-up or otherwise) - I never seem to do any good with them.

Remember the main point of boilies is NOT to be eaten by fish! That's why they were invented. They are not likely to be especially attractive to carp, who given the choice would probably prefer a nice soft pellet, just inedible to roach and skimmers! So if you are fishing a water which doesn't have a problem with small fish, then why use them?