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Dave heads the Suffolk based Mr Wriggles bait company where he constantly strives to devise effective new baits and flavours and improve on the well known ones.
He is affectionately known as Dave the Flave due to his love affair with baits and flavours and is a self-confessed flavour junky.
If you followed Part 1 of this two part series on making your own boilies you could have the paste in front of you and be ready to roll!
ROLLING
To keep the mix pliable and to help stop it drying out you caneither cover your hands with butter or margarine (carp love butterbaits) or you can smear your hands with a base oil such as fish oilor salmon.
This is also ideal for oiling your bait table to stop the boiliessticking.
If you are using a sausage gun then break the mix in half and rollout to a sausage.
If you are not using a gun a lot of the rolling tables now makethe top section with a sausage roller on the top side. All you do isto roll the mix by hand to an approximate size then turn the tabletop over and roll until the side guides are rubbing the worktop.
If you decide not to use a table just break pieces off and rollbetween the palms – an advantage to this method is the baits will endup all sizes, which can be very effective on a lot of waters.
But why make them all round anyway? – Cut them into pellets with aknife and as the edges are unsealed they tend to leak out flavour alot quicker than their round counterparts.
If you are using a gun don’t forget to check your nozzle size onthe gun before loading the sausage.
Once the baits have been rolled to the required size and shapethey are ready for boiling.
BOILING
An ideal piece of equipment for this is a chip pan with the meshcage insert, if you haven’t one of these then a metal colander thatfits inside a saucepan will do the job.
The most important part of this process is to make sure that thewater is actually boiling before you add the baits and after you dropthem in give them a good shake to make sure they are separated. Don’tput too many in at a time, as this will take the water off theboil.
Although many recipes will give you a boiling time, e.g. twominutes, do not panic too much, this is not an exact science. Thesimple rule being that the longer you boil your baits the harder theywill be when dry but don’t go too mad as you will also boil away theflavour. Some flavours on the market will not tolerate hightemperatures, so if you don’t need hard baits, don’t do it.
It is generally recommended that if you are making smaller baitsof 14 to16mm then around 50 to 60 seconds is about right and biggerbaits such as 18mm require about 90 seconds, anything bigger thanthis can be boiled for 2 to 3 minutes.
When I take the baits out, prior to putting them on the dryingtray for air drying I tip them onto a clean towel, fold the baits in,and gently roll them around to remove all excess water.
Even if you are freezing your baits I would still recommend you dothis and allow them to cool for a couple of hours first.
TIP
With the increased popularity of additives such as Betaine,anglers are finding more and more ways to offer them to the fish, onesuch way is to sprinkle neat Betaine over the baits whilst they arestill warm and as they cool the Betaine adheres to the bait ready forinstant release when used.
DRYING
You can buy proper drying trays at around a tenner each if youintend to do this regularly but if you make only the occasional mixyou can go for the cheap and cheerful version. One part is oftenfree, the other part can be bought from a charity shop or jumblesale.
The main piece is made up from the fruit boxes that you can obtainfrom your friendly market stall. These are light, compact and have awooden slat handle on each end. The next bit is some net curtain asthis will allow air to circulate and not create a wet spot at thebase of your boilies.
Simply cut the net curtain so it has a healthy overlap on allsides. Now use a stapler, or something similar, to attach it allround so that it hangs square inside the box without touching thebottom and sides. And there you have it, a drying tray that allowsair to circulate all round without the material absorbing all themoisture which causes mould. The good thing with these is that youcan stack them on top of each other. Do remember however that whenstoring them they must stand flat to stop the boilies crowding eachother, as this will hold moisture.
If your plan is to air-dry them so they are preserved all you needto do is move the boilies around on the net curtain or tray every dayso they dry even. Do this for about two weeks in a warm place such asan airing cupboard and you should notice that they get slightlysmaller as the moisture evaporates from the bait. There is oneadvantage/disadvantage of air-drying your baits, depending on yourrequirements. The longer they dry out the harder they get, until theyactually need drilling for the hair, this is excellent if you arefishing waters that hold various creatures that chew away at thebaits.
If you are going to freeze the boilies then the home made dryersI’ve described are also excellent to put the baits in after boilingto allow them to dry thoroughly before freezing.
TIP
Most bait dips/soaks on the market today actually make the baitsharder the longer they are in soak so this is another way ofhardening and flavouring the baits without over-boiling.
If you don’t want to over-flavour your baits by dipping anotherway to harden them is to put some in a bag of sugar for several days.This makes them harder than just air drying and has the added bonusof preserving them for a few weeks. There is a downside to thismethod though, as you use them your fingers will get very sticky andwill attract anything crawling or flying that has a sweet tooth!
FREEZING
If you are planning to freeze the baits, and you want toover-flavour a proportion of them for hookbaits, add a few ml of yourflavour (check the recommended dosage) to the bag, rub the bag wellbetween your hands to evenly spread it, drop in your baits, blow upthe bag, and give them a good shake. Now seal, label and freeze.
If you are just freezing them a very good tip to help stop freezerburn is to put a handful of rice in the bag, as this will draw anymoisture that finds its way into the bag and will help stop iceforming inside the bag.
STORAGE
Although ready-mades come in plastic bags this is certainly notthe way to store your home-mades. They are best stored in either acardboard box or mesh bag at home, and a paper bag for the bankside,so that any moisture residue is absorbed off the baits. Otherwisethey will most certainly go mouldy. A lot of angling companies nowoffer custom-made ventilated storage and dryings bags for your baitsnow to ensure they reach the waterside in top condition.
And now for a couple of recipes that have stood the test of timeand need no multitude of additives to make them effective. Someanglers sneer at mixes like this in these days of high protein mixesbut, nevertheless, they still continue to catch fish.
Mix 1
The first one contains just three main ingredients plus whateverflavours you wish to use. It consists simply of equal parts of Soyaflour, fine semolina and maize meal.
- Just crack three large eggs into a bowl and add your flavour at the rate of 1ml per egg.
- Mix into a stiff paste and then roll.
- Boil for around one and a half to two minutes.
Other easy ingredients you can add to the mix are things likeground cat or dog biscuit, trout pellet powder, or even a birdseedsuch as EMP which is readily available from pet shops.
Mix 2
This is using a shop bought 50/50 mix which are very cheap and cantake anything you want to add.
- 12oz of 50/50 boilie base mix
- 4oz ground Go-Cat or similar
- 5 large eggs
- Mix and roll as in other boilie mixes and boil as recommended above, depending on your bait size.
If you want to give the mix even more bite then adding a meat,fish or crab flavour can really get it going.
If I was asked what flavour I would recommend as an all rounder Iwould have to say Green Lipped Mussel. But then we all have our ownfavourites don’t we?
Don’t forget, if you don’t want to run around locating baseingredients, pop into your tackle shop and pick up one of the manytried and tested base mixes available and play!
To Round Off
Quite a few anglers now add crushed eggshells to their mixes. Thereasoning behind this is that carp actually like to crunch theirfood, just think about swan mussels for example and that’s where theeggshells come in to play. To crush their food carp have to pass thebait back to their pharyngeal teeth, which means the rig is takenfurther into the mouth than it would normally be, giving amuch-increased chance of hooking.
If this two-part series has even one of you taking another look inthe cupboards for some ingredients, or trotting off to your localtackle shop in search of a base mix to make your own baits, then itwill have proved its worth. And I’m sure Graham would love to see anyphotos of fish caught using your own mixes. I know I would.
That’s all till next time, when I will be looking at other ways touse or make baits. Tight lines and enjoy what you are doing, that’sthe main ingredient I recommend for fishing.
