Carpfishing in Canada

Carpfishing in Canada

Hamilton, Lake Ontario, boilie caught carp.

05/17/99 23:00

How to make Boilies

Boilies ,which are like  hard doughballs, were invented to overcome difficulties with  conventional baits. Boilies are mixed with eggs & boiled in water from 1-4 mins, depending on hardness & bait type.     They can be made from countless different ingredients , mostly powdered. Basically they are composed from 3 different types of ingredients, firstly a 'bulk' ingredient ,which is the main constituent , like corn meal or linseed meal ,meat & bonemeal etc ,then an attractive smell & taste ingredient (like trout pellets or ground cat biscuits) ,thirdly a binding agent ,like gluten flour or farina (potato flour).  These are all thoroughly mixed together as dry a mix. Then     the eggs are cracked into a mixing bowl & the flavours  & enhancers mixed into the eggs. Then the powdered  ingredients are slowly added ,untill the whole mess resembles  a stiff cake mix. If it is sticking to your hands you can try  smearing butter or oil on them or drying the mix out with  soya flour.When the giant ball is of correct consistency ,then its best to break it up into equal portions 1/3 or 1/4's, then you can roll it into a 1/2'' sausage & cut into 1/2''  sized chunks. Then comes the fun part of rolling into ball's  & boiling them.

Here are some recipes from my diary :

#1 catfood boilies

6oz ground catfood e.g  purina ,whiskas(dried biscuit type)

2oz wheat gluten

2oz buttermilk powder

1/2oz-1oz de-bittered brewer's yeast

1 ts MSG ( monosodium glutamate)

1ts (concentrated) flavour essence

2 ts soya oil or olive oil (or any other)

METHOD

Grind the cat biscuits until fairly fine powder (like sugar granule size) mix all  the powders together thoroughly. Crack 4 eggs in a bowl add flavour essence, & oil. Slowly mix in the powder a little     at a time untill you get a firmish ball of dough like consistency. DONT make it too dry as the mix will become very difficult to roll into balls . You can either tear off  similar chunks & roll onto balls or get methodical & roll into even diameter 'sausages' ,then cut into even size chunks & roll into balls. They can be made bouyant by either rolling 'polyballs' into the baits or oven baking them (make 1/2 size) for 10-15 mins. Another good way is to cook them in a MW oven, it only takes 1 min or so, they may blow up considerably with  this method so try 1 first ! Get your pan boiling & then drop 40 baits or so into a wire chip basket or collander. Boil the baits until they pop to the surface, or boil for 1.5 mins , then allow to cool & then check hardness . If baits are soft then increase boiling time. Drain the basket & tip the baits onto a tea towel or mesh tray . The air should be allowed to get under them to make sure they dry out evenly .  Leave them to harden overnight .They are then ready to use or  freeze as required.

# 2Trout pellet boilies

10 oz trout pellets

3oz buttermilk powder

3oz cornmeal

2 oz wheat gluten powder

3 ts olive oil

10-15 drops of Orange Oil     or Anise or Geranium(aromatherapy)

3-4 eggs

METHOD

As above but requires a slightly longer boil time 2 -2.5 mins.

#3 Carbo bait

4.5 oz cornmeal

3oz soya flour

3 oz semolina (durum flour)

3 oz coffee whitener or buttermilk powder

1 oz sugar

2 oz chocolate powder

2-3 ts scopex or any flavour essence

2 ts olive oil (or other) & 10 drops     Geranium oil or Black pepper.

2 ts MSG or ground fennel or cinnamon     powder

METHOD

Use only 3-4 eggs :boil time about 2- 2.5 mins. This type of bait leaks flavour very quickly. After 2 hrs or so there will be little smell left. Generally you should ambush roving fish with these baits. Good for the day trip type session. This mix will end up brown which may not be working in your favour, if you want a highly visible bait (good on a low pressure or lightly fished water) then leave out the chocolate powder & substitute with more semolina.  The bait will be a yellow colour & will harden slightly     better. You can use other powders too & put in other     flavourings, things like 'Nesquick' & kids drink crystals will work too. Lots of experimenting to be done ! remember boilies are sometimes not instant , but at other places they  do work instantly. I think the reason for this is the  available natural food supply. Many fish are roving 'oppertunistic' feeders , others get pre-occupied on small & abundant  aquatic fauna ; in my experiance these fish are much harder  to catch. It all adds to the fun though , if fishing were that easy we would soon get bored & do something else ,but just when you think you have it all worked out , you'll be  left perplexed & bedazzled . Carp are truly the 'Queen of  the rivers; a stately , a good, and a very subtle fish' (Isaak  Walton).

Millet Boilies

(Click for recipe)

Well,- - there are a few recipes to get you started , of course when you make baits it is wise to keep good records of what is in them , because sod's law says that when you eventually score heavy with a good bait you'll inevitably have lost the entire list of secret ingredients & end up digging the whole house over to find that  elusive scrap of cigarette paper which you hurriedly scribbled on ! All the boiled baits are freezable & will keep for several months this way . If you have the room you could make up several week's worth, & forget for a period this sometimes tedious job. In the UK now ,you simply get someone else to do it! Give em a try it might be just the ticket on your water.  Oh --- a note on prebaiting , boilies can be an aquired taste, if you have a chance, throw in 3-4  lbs over a period of 2-3 days ,this will give them a fair chance to work . If its a 'rich' natural food water, dont expect them to work immediately . Likely it will take several day's or even longer, but if you are looking to get that special 'whacker', this type of bait could in the long term provide the answer.

Happy baitmaking & tite lines ;- - - -  Carpsava

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