Many of today’s carp anglers are looking for that little edge that will help them when things are a bit slow or something that will make their hook bait stand out from everything else. Well Mainline Baits released their ‘Hookbait Enhancement System’ about 2 years ago now after extensive research and a years field-testing and they do exactly that.

All of the Hookbait Enhancement bases include all the required attractors, sweeteners and enhancers that will help to boost the attraction level of all hookbaits, pellets and even groundbait mixes.

The neutral can be customised by adding about 5 ml of your chosen Profile Plus or 5-10ml of your chosen flavour from the standard range and mixed well by shaking. As the base includes everything else and is 100% water soluble, nothing else is required to create the soak or dip of your chosen flavour.

The Sweet/Fruit base has the most remarkable, sweet, rounded smell that I've ever come across or tasted and will enhance any thing that it is used with. Just try dipping your finger in this one and tasting it, I bet that you cannot resist doing it again. This one has been very successful during the colder months when used with attractor type baits and with anglers fishing abroad or in a match situation where they want an instant edge to their hookbait.

I've not had the courage to actually taste the Savoury/Fish one yet as it really is a very strong attractor and early results indicate that the fishmeal fans love it, especially the catfish anglers. Because all of the soaks are water soluble, the attractors will all enter into the water and so will not be too over powering for the fish. It has also found favour with the fishmeal fans as it gives a proven bait that new lease of life especially when the baits are coated with this whilst defrosting.

The Grange, Assasin-8PT10, NRG, Activ-8 and Activ-Maple-8 have all been made using the complete liquid additives that are used in the baits and again, these will help to boost attraction levels of hookbaits, pop-ups and pellets. Almost anything that you want to use can be 'over coated' with these soaks/dips because they are not water based and so will stay on the chosen bait for some time, not washing straight off as the bait hits the water.

I have had remarkable results with these soaks by leaving several hookbaits in the pots at all times and whilst field-testing these, I've discovered a couple of important things and little tricks that may help you.

The first thing is that if you leave your hookbaits in the pot, they go rock hard without altering the original appearance of the bait. I have then cut these baits in halve to see that the bait has been penetrated several millimetres by the soak so the attractors will be realised into the water for a long period of time.

If you need a rock hard bait for foreign fishing or where crayfish are a problem, drill the bait first and leave in the pot for about 2 weeks, if you tie the bait on, then drilling is not required. After about 2 weeks the baits will be as hard as you will ever need (and then some. I'm not joking they go as hard as stone) and they can then be air-dried until required. Once in water the attractors are released within about 10 minutes and due to the amount absorbed into the bait, the flavour release will continue for some time.

The second thing is that all of the bases do not react with pva very quickly, again due to them not being water based. A little trick that helped me during the winter months was to prepare the hookbait and a stringer and then dip the whole lot into the chosen Hookbait Enhancement System for about 30 seconds before casting. Also, I tried a mixture of crumbled baits, Hemp pellet and Response pellet mixed with some soak/dip and placed into a pva bag and again, I'm sure that this will help to catch bonus fish as it has for me during trials and ever since. Dave Lane and a few of the other Mainline lads use the soak/dip on its own in a small pva bag with just the hookbait.

Other possibilities include soaking Crumball, over-coating pellets or freebies before loose feeding and rubbing some into the braid, lead, tubing etc. prior to casting, especially in the winter. The possibilities are endless but one thing is for sure, these will definitely help to bank extra fish.

The Hookbait Enhancement System are all based on a heavy, viscous liquid that has all of the required additives to aid the attraction of any type of bait, either ready made or home made, sweet or savoury, fish or fruit. Due to Mainlines believes that one of the most important parts of a bait, flavour or additive is that it must be 100% water soluble, these fulfil this need and will give off the chosen smells for a long time whilst fishing.