Recipe for success! Posted by Ali Hamidi

Monster Carp star Ali Hamidi reveals how you can give your approach a unique edge with the same custom hook baits he rolled to catch at the mighty Lac De Saint-Cassien...

One of the things I'm probably best known for is rolling my own hookbaits to come-up with some special little gems customised to my liking or needs, and having worked with Mainline Baits for a silly amount of time now, I'd have been a fool not too! After all they are without doubt the best in the business when it comes to sourcing the highest quality ingredients out there especially liquid flavours and additives. All coupled with the experience required to recognise and harness the potential of these carp attractants!

It seems a little strange to say this, but I guess I've been around long enough now to say 'back in the day' making hookbaits for me was a priceless edge when it came to fooling some of the most pressured carp around the UK. From busy day ticket venues such as Linear to targeting the huge carp of the Essex Manor, and very often with the added pressure of trying to achieve these results on camera. A situation when time is never on your side, you need to deliver the goods and you really do need every edge you can think of.

This type of fishing has led me to travel the world in search of carp and in some amazing locations, but generally in this same pressured scenario either having to make it happen for a camera crew, trying to trick wary or cautious carp or both! This really does teach you a lot of things, and how very often it can be one little change or tweak to your approach that can make all the difference. There's a lot of things that need to come together and your hookbait is obviously one of those vital elements.

In most cases, hookbaits straight off the shelf are more than adequate, but there are times where its nice to have something else in your armoury, and there's a huge amount of added satisfaction when looking down into the net holding your prize knowing it fell to a hookbait you made yourself. If one fish could perhaps epitomise everything I've talked about here, it would have to be the 42lb common I caught during our Monster Carp trip to the historic and mighty Lac de Saint-Cassien. I still cannot properly put into words the emotion and feelings I felt looking down into my net that day and seeing that fish it was simply amazing! Although I can tell you a part of that euphoria was some satisfaction that this carp had fallen to a hookbait I'd rolled myself! A special recipe of success to land a very special carp, and a recipe that I will now share with you...

HOW TO ROLL ALI'S CASSIEN CUSTOM HOOKBAITS

RECIPE: 30ml Essential Cell Activator, 45ml Multi-Stim, 10ml Juicy Fruit, 10ml Fruit tella, 10ml Raspberry Ripple, 15ml Sweet Ade, Essential Cell Base Mix (1/3), Polaris Pop-Up Mix (2/3) and 4 eggs

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