Boilies explained and my thoughts...

I just want to talk about my thoughts on boilies; why I make them the way I do, their versatility and how to get the best from the range as I tend to do things a little different to most companies. I will start by talking about why boilies were first made and introduced into our lakes and rivers. Things have changed massively since the dawn of the boilie but where the boilie has developed and changed, along with the waters we fish and how we fish, the thought process and ideas have not caught up, mainly due to financial and business profit margins but that’s a subject for another day.

In the beginning the whole reason for boilies being made was to help avoid the attention of nuisance fish. Giving us, the angler, the opportunity to single out our intended quarry but the carp scene has totally changed since the early days of the boilie, as have the ingredients available. When we first started to use boilies the quality of the bait did not really matter, as it was more about deterring nuisance species than feeding the carp, most fisheries were not dominated by carp like they are today, they were predominantly mixed fisheries having every variety, size and species of fish with a handful of carp mixed in. The boilie was born to give us a fighting chance to single out the few carp that inhabited these waters. We also used boilies differently, minimal bait was the norm, a handful of bait, not bucket full like we do these days. Back then we did use only small quantities of bait on waters full of Roach, you could get away with fewer baits, it did not matter they were rock hard and did not break down. They stopped the smaller fish and gave us the opportunity and time needed to hopefully catch our intended quarry. Also, the bait degrading and going rotten on the bottom of the lake was not an issue, it was used in small quantities and the constant attention of the silver fish would eventually whittle those baits down. Back to the modern carp scene, the sheer quantity and lack of smaller fish in most waters today raises a big issue with baits that don’t break down due to cheap bulking agents. These baits are left uneaten on the bottom of the lake rotting and some eventually gassing up and floating to the surface, this has a massive effect on water quality and causes huge issues for fisheries. Many people think it does not happen on their water, believe me it does, seagulls diving on the surface pick these floating baits up, any bird life will normally clear most of these rotten baits up well before you even spot it but if you look carefully, you can normally spot the odd one which we think nothing of. Shelf-life boilies are normally the first thing to take the blame, so fisheries ban them, shelf-life boilies of old mostly. This is now a thing of the past more on this subject later. We make so many excuses why fish are not feeding, how often do we consider rotting bait? I believe a lot of the time it is down to rotting bait and the water quality that comes with this issue. This will have a massive effect on carps feeding activities causing algae blooms, oxygen crashes, the list goes on. Imagine for a minute you had a nice freshly prepared meal, and someone put it on top of a plate of rotting food, you may pick at it if you were hungry, but you would not devour the whole plate, just food for thought.

Moving on to the modern boilie; in my opinion there really is no reason why boilies should notbreak down and I am not talking about the soluble boilies that are all the rage at the moment. These are not a new concept, like most things they go full circle and now it’s the turn of the soluble. These baits are either boilies that have been rolled and not cooked essentially, or air-dried paste and they are the good version of soluble. You also have the cereal type, these absorb water, breaking apart like a ground bait. This again, is getting away from using quality ingredients and is only about turning a profit, although a lot better than a solid boilie that never breaks down. We, as anglers, should be helping fisheries maintain good water quality, happy fish = better growth rates = more fish on the bank. The carp still get exactly what they need and more, but this means using ingredients that are more expensive and in turn beneficial to the fish and fishery as a whole. But in such a competitive industry, rising costs and needing to undercut the competition means even though the array of quality ingredients is there and readily available, the quality of boilies is nowhere near where it should be. But on the flip side with so many high stocked venues and carp being swimming pigs they will just about eat anything, so does quality matter? How I see it, if we care about our quarry, the fishery, our fellow angler, and the future we should be considering what we throw in our waterways. Most baits will catch fish, but a good quality bait will catch more there is no question about that. It could mean just one extra fish a session or a handful of fish a season on a large low stocked venue, that could be the difference between a good year and an amazing year. One of those could be your target fish, a PB or an album full of carp! Drop a boilie in a glass of water and see what happens over a 24-hour period.

I briefly mentioned the word shelf life earlier, a word that divides opinion but really it is simple the word is a scapegoat and blamed for poor quality bait. Way back when, shelf life was horrendous, rock hard, no nutritional value dough balls that were more beneficial being used in a slingshot than being fed to fish but as I’ve said previously, they served their purpose by deterring the nuisance species. Moving forward to present times the term shelf life has somewhat disappeared and with good reason, the use of harsh preservatives has mostly disappeared, being replaced by a human food grade preservative that we all consume daily. This preservative is now odourless, tasteless, and most importantly harmless, this is the only difference between freezer bait and now newly termed stabilised boilies. Why the term stabilised? Because that’s what it is, the preservative used is a mould inhibiter, it won’t last forever like the shelf life of the past. If mixed at the correct levels during the making process, you should get 6 months, or more if you look after the bait properly. Moisture is your enemy! Mould needs water to grow and spread, so if you allow your bait to get wet or leave it in the bag to sweat it will go off quickly. If this happens and your bait gets wet either air dry it or chuck it in the freezer. You can also prevent moisture and prolong the life of your bait by glugging them in non-water-based liquids especially oils like salmon oil. This also works for freezer bait, by not allowing the air to get to the moisture within the bait you are slowing down the growth of mould, great tip for those long sessions. It is also a misconception that freezer bait is the best option as it can stay in a freezer indefinitely, just like food it degrades after time, again 3 to 6 months is recommended best before. If you have ever eaten food with freezer burn it’s horrible, bland, and tasteless and this is what is happening to your boilies over long periods of time. Top tip line your chest freezer with cardboard this will help prevent freezer burn keeping your bait in tip top condition. In summary, stabilised bait is just as good as freezer bait, even better if those boilies have been in a freezer for any length of time.

So finishing on my boilies, they will break down and I know some people will say how do I use them on a rig? There are so many options these days for hook baits there is no reason to use a feed boilie as a hook bait and that’s why I use the exact same mix in my hook baits using cork and hardeners to prevent them breaking down but keeping the leakage nutritional aspects intact. One of the many benefits of a bait that breaks down is the huge leakage rate, this is what attracts the fish to investigate your spot in the first place, if you have a bait that stays whole locking in all the attracters the fish will struggle to detect the spot and nutritional value until it decides to eat the bait. This is not the case with a bait with a high leakage rate as it breaks down, fish will always eat the highest nutritional bait first, it’s survival, no different to any animal if you gave a dog a choice between a steak or a bowl of dry dog food, guess which one they will eat first? Unlike humans where we might save the best for last, animals do not as if they did, it might not be there by the time they get round to it. Further to this when I produce my baits, they are only cooked for a minute to ensure that a minimal amount of the nutritional value of the ingredients is lost in the cooking process. I spoke about versatility earlier with a bait that breaks down and there are a few ways you can alter the time your bait takes to break down, one way is to air dry the bait, the harder the bait the longer it will take the water to penetrate. As mentioned above oils and liquids will also increase this time. The SLP breaks down quicker than the INVASION due to the make up of the bait, meaning they are perfect to be used together. It also means when you bait up after a quiet night, you’re not piling new boilies on top of old whole boilies, therefore you are creating a unique baiting situation each and every time you introduce bait. This makes for a very versatile bait, your options are endless, only stifled by your imagination. I have always believed if you do the same as everyone else, you catch the same as everyone else, being different is one of my biggest edges.

Just remember this is me rambling and is my opinion, many will disagree for various reasons mainly financial but all I will say is think outside the box and your fishing, especially your photo album will flourish!

Until next time ramble over Leigh