Cork Wafters:
These cork-dust wafters are designed to counterbalance your hook, creating the ultimate balanced alternative hookbait.
They are available in 15mm round and 18mm round, as well as barrel-shaped hookbaits, the latter of which are sold as a mixed pot of small (12mm x 15mm) and large (14mm x 18mm) dumbbells.
Corker Pop-Ups:
We believe our food bait pop-ups are some of the best around. We spent a long time experimenting to create a pop-up that emits the exact same food signals as the free offerings you are using. Utilising cork granules/pop-up mix and a unique powder blend which includes all the goodies from the relevant base mix, we’ve created what we feel are the ultimate food-bait pop-ups. Why use a pop-up that is giving off different food signals to the bait you are using? Being a slightly more washed out colour than the matching bait, they will mimic your freebies perfectly once immersed in water.
They aren’t quite as buoyant as a true air ball pop-up due to the amount of soluble goodies we’ve crammed in, but you should expect a 15mm bait to stay up all night on a standard rig. If you require a longer time than this, we would suggest either corking them out or alternatively using the 18mm versions, which will stay buoyant for days.
Approx. 100gms per pot.
Liquid Food:
The same amino-liquid-based combinations used in the production of our freezer baits. Based around marine-extract proteins, liquid-meat extracts, vegetable extracts, spices and, where applicable, the same subtle flavours used in the relevant baits.
Superb as a bait soak (either hookbaits or boilies), or for adding to stick mixes or groundbaits. A useful tip is to cover some mid-protein carp pellets in this liquid and leave overnight to soak, giving you a perfectly matched pellet to your chosen boilie.
The Bug Liquid Food – Along with an old-school creamy, chocolate-malt flavour, this liquid food includes a superb poultry protein hydrolysate and a microscopic crustacean extract, making a free-amino attractor package to die for.
Liquid Bait Soak:
The matching Bait Soak is perfect for glugging hookbaits, mixing in with your preferred choice of pellets or groundbaits, adding to particles, or flavouring corn or maggots. It can even be used to harden your hookbaits if you have problems with crayfish or other nuisance species.
Another bonus is that it is PVA-friendly, so use it in your stick mixes or even straight into a solid PVA bag.
Its list of uses is only limited by your imagination!
Sold in a handy 250ml squeezy-top bottle.
4mm Pellets:
Based on a high-quality, low-oil 38% protein pellet, with the matching Liquid Food liberally applied to them during their manufacture.
We wanted to make sure that they spelt ‘food’ to carp in the same way our freezer baits do by emitting a varied release of attractive amino acids during their breakdown. This comes from not just the Liquid Food, but also the soluble, powdered attractors used in the coating process.
In testing these pellets evoked instant responses from carp (and also most coarse fish!) even in Arctic conditions. If you are using the DNA range of freezer or shelf-life boilies this season, you NEED to get on these. If you are not using our baits get on them anyway, as they will improve your catch rate alongside any boilie guaranteed!
Intense Booster:
A small bottle that packs a mighty punch!
The Intense Boosters really do live up to their name and allow your fluoro hookbaits to reach new levels of attraction.
They come in 15ml dropper-style bottles, as just half a dozen drops at a time is enough to keep your hookbaits smelling divine!
Just add, leave to dry add again and repeat as many times as required to make sure the guy in the next swim is left wondering what that incredible smell is.
Shelf Life Bait:
Work first started on The Bug in 2017, after EU legislation finally allowed the use of (PAP) Processed Animal Proteins from insects within aquaculture feed. This was something we had been desperately waiting for, as it opened a whole new world regarding sustainable protein sources that were now able to be used within the bait market.
We were then able to begin talks with a Black Soldier Fly meal producer that was producing the high quality of meal we were looking for. Although a relatively new biotech company at the time, their ethics and technical knowledge regarding the meal and its production were commendable and we felt confident we could work with them going forward.
Our chosen meal producer uses a very consistent substrate made up of spoils from the brewing industry. Through this method, you can control the fat content and protein levels of the finished product. Most insect meals available are high in fat (around 35-40% compared to, say, 10-15% in fishmeal), and although these are quite good fats, they are not quite the right type for aquaculture. This means they have a bit less alpha-linolenic acid (one of the omega 3 acids) as opposed to the more rounded profile of the omega 3s found in fishmeals. This is because of the primarily cereal-based substrate the larvae are fed on. We preferred our meal to be completely defatted, meaning we could control the amount of the nutritionally required omega 3s in the bait by adding oil to the mix at the production stage which, in turn, means we are using a meal higher in protein than others on the market, along with more nutritional fats.
Alongside the standard but quality functional ingredients that you will find in all our other baits, there are a few special inclusions worth mentioning. The first is both a powdered and liquid version of an extremely high-quality poultry meat hydrolysate. This is completely different to the current poultry liver hydrolysates that are quite widely used now in bait. Although these liver products are very good – indeed, we use them ourselves – these new meat hydrolysates offer a unique savoury taste profile to the bait that the fish are unlikely to have come across before. These hydrolysates are both incredibly soluble, containing almost 0% fat, which gives a fantastic free amino profile, stimulating both olfactory (smell) and gustatory (taste) receptors in all cyprinids. Alongside these, we have a lovely powdered fermented maize hydrolysate that also improves palatability, solubility and adds an incredible taste profile to the bait.
As with all our baits at DNA, we produce them using liquid foods that complement the base mix. This bait is no different, and along with the poultry protein hydrolysate mentioned earlier, we have a combination of a very palatable liquid maize extract and a sustainable microscopic crustacean extract that high in free amino acids. The latter we have been testing in the bait since formulation began, having first being introduced to the product in 2018 after being contacted directly out of the blue from a Norwegian fishing company who were looking at potential new markets. We had been searching for a more sustainable alternative to the now ubiquitous krill and fish proteins on the market to use as part of the liquid attractor package of this bait, and this fitted the bill perfectly!
Regarding the flavour profile of the bait, the most common comment from anybody who has been lucky enough to test it is: “Ooh... that doesn’t smell like I thought it would!” Understandable, I guess, for a bait primarily based around an insect meal, but we have smoothed the aroma of the bait out both with a creamy, powdered taste enhancer, along with a unique and proven flavour blend we have successfully used for years. This combination gives the bait an almost creamy, chocolate malt-type of aroma. If you’re brave enough to taste it, you’ll be greeted with a lovely nutty, creamy flavour that certainly isn’t expected.
The bait is unique in that although it is designed using cutting-edge ingredients, it still has that old-school feel to it that we know gives you, the angler, confidence that the carp will love it and, rest assured, they certainly do!
