Single Hook Baits

I make no apology for mentioning the old single hook baits as I guess their use has now accounted for millions of captures across the carp world.

I have been using them for 40 years now and am credited with the idea.

They are not as effective as they were back when I first used them as you can well imagine but incredibly they still keep tripping up carp everywhere time and time again, they will never stop working as if you think about it even a carp approaching a baited area will have to pick up one bait to start with and that in effect is only doing what a single is doing.

So unless carp stop eating boilies, which is not going to happen, carp will always fall to singles. When most anglers think of single hook baits they automatically think they must be brightly coloured over flavoured high attract types but to me this is just the tip of the iceberg let me explain A single item of food put in the right place is a blindingly simple approach.

So of course it makes sense to make it stand out both in both the visual aspect and attraction wise.

But after years of getting clonked by this type of hook bait don’t you think a more understated bait might be viewed with less suspicion? OK it might not stand out as much in the first instance but the trade-off might be worth it.

I realised this in 1982/3 when I was the first person to ever use white hook baits. Back then I worked with Duncan Kay at his bait factory in Wellingborough near Northampton.

Duncan asked me did I want anything for my own personal angling that he might be able to source.

I said I wanted white dye and bright fluorescent pink, he laughed and thought me a bit mad. But I explained how I had been using single hook baits that were quite visual and cleaning up I thought white and bright pink hook baits could take it to another level.

To my eternal gratitude Duncan obtained these two colours from a supplier in Germany. As soon as they arrived I got cracking and made the most glorious coloured hook baits with these unique dyes. Can you imagine having white singles when no one else in the world had any? I wasn’t to be disappointed.

When I tried them on Duncans Mid Northants syndicate lake for the first time I had 9 carp which I think blew Duncans mind, of course it eventually got out and my old mate Rod Hutchinson soon brought out Dayglow white dye in his Catchum range.

Very soon many anglers were using white singles particularly on my main water at that time Redesmere in Cheshire. But as amazing as the white was within 2 years bites on white singles had slowed down because of pressure.

So I added blue dye and made a pale blue single by adding the blue dye to the white, incredibly it was like throwing a switch and bites galore were forthcoming.

It was the same when I added green. But then get this jet black singles were also great and I was shocked at how quickly they worked, trouble is boys you can’t go in to the tackle shop and buy those can you.

You have to get off your arse and make your own. I mean just getting blue, green and black dyes to make these is not easy but well worth the effort. Then you need an open mind to use them.

They all work as the carp simply never see these colours and most certainly don’t associate them with danger.

Talking of singles carp won’t hesitate to pick up a single particle hook bait either, they never see this tactic ever. I had loads on single tiger nut hook baits blasted out in splendid isolation on two rods in 40 odd acres of water. They will find them don’t worry about that. I’ve also lost count of the hundreds of carp and some of them very big carp on single plastic corn hook baits, including 7 x 30s and a 40 in a single day once in early Spring

Suggested alternative single hook baits:

• Brazil nuts (cut in half)

• Tiger Nuts

• Peperami (the red spicy one)

• Sweet Lupins

• 20 ml Halibut pellet

• Lob worm

• Maggots - 20 on the rig

• Maize

• Plastic corn

• Peanuts