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Recommend me a Boilie

Stephen Crowhurst

Stephen Crowhurst

Senior Member
Last few seasons I've been using little 10mm source boilies, I've had some level of success on them and found them a convenient alternative to drilled pellet. I've also tried some other things such as krill boilies which I've found I literally can't catch a cold on, even suicidal Closed Season puddle pigs wouldn't touch them, so there for the bin.
Been looking at CC Mores Pacific Tuna. Any recommendations for a Boilie that gives you confidence, will be doing mostly low light work this season in clear water, so scent is a probably a big plus. Not expecting your top secret recipes and tactics here, just a friendly suggestion. Lost a bit of confidence in the source ones.
 
Morning,
Got to be honest i am a big fan of the Source in the 14mm size had a number of fish on them so i will be using them this year again. I will also be looking at the range of halibut boiles i think Dynamite make them as a good friend has had a few good fish on those. I think its very much a try a few and then settle with the one that seems to catch or at least have a measure of intrest shown in them from the fish. Oh i did try CC Moore xxl (?) and didnt catch a thing on them but thats proberly down to my inabilitys than the bait itself.
 
Source 14mm for me. Either on both rods, or one on boilie one on meat.
 
I love these threads - even if 'Source' is always the clear winner in terms of the number of users.

Steven - towards the back end of last season (not the best time to be trialling a new bait) I had some success on West Country Baits' No. 2 boilies. They also do a barbel dumbell, which I've heard is good. I have no connection to the company other than as a user (just so you know :)).

I had a few goes with Quest Baits' Rahja Spice but didn't catch, though also caught a couple of one of their crab boilies (can't remember the exact name).

And I'm sure there are many more that are worth a try. My mantra is just to try something no-one else is using.
 
Stephen, imo any fishmeal based boilies will bring results,if you mean The Krill from sticky baits they caught me my pb last season and are superb.Boilies are my only hookbait these days and favour 20 ml,I only use pellets baitdropped over the top.Every new boilie I do try I always get the glug or dip to match and leave to soak for a few days,weeks, months.No faith whatsoever using pellets or meat as hookbaits on the river I fish.Good luck mate.
 
Try DNA baits Secret 7 boilies, and surround with their matching paste if you want even more smell when the river is in flood. Worked for me last year.
 
Hi men,

Agreed , DNA have some products that barbel anglers should look at ;) . If you want to just pick a bag of bait up from a shop , then sticky baits krill would be a good shout .


Hatter
 
Sticky krill been spot on for me. a few pals of mine done very well last season on them aswell. But to be honest the source as been around a lot longer so time will tell best to get a boilie stick with them and stick with them stick with them.
 
How odd, it actually was sticky baits krill I found so bad. I literally couldn't buy a take on them, and have never caught on them. A recent experiment on a well stocked lake I had some wafted ones and was happily blanking, a switch to bread or standard dog biscuits and I was in all afternoon. Just shows how different things can be for the individual.
 
If there was a magic boilie for barbel we'd all be giving you the same answer Stephen. ( well maybe!!) :D
Because I get to fish a lot nowadays I wasn't afraid to experiment with different boilies throughout last season just to see if there were any particular preferences.
The answer to that was ,... definitely,.. but they all caught barbel to a lesser degree, so it's worth ringing the changes until you find a winner for your particular venues.
Be aware that some boilies will blow quicker than others, .. even with lardy chub if they get hit too hard.
If you were to ask me what have been my favourites over the years, ... I would say the gifts that kept on giving were Trigga, ... the original Dynamite halibuts (before they changed them), ...Cell and Ocean Fresh cranberry shellfish. ( long gone)
All of those would just keep on keeping on.
It's human nature to continue using a particular bait if you've caught with it, but don't be afraid to try something completely different.
I have also used SB krill, but with only partial success as the frigging eels just loved 'em!
I probably fished boilies more than any other bait last season when going off the tip, but imho, hemp and casters still reign supreme if you can afford them and can find the fish of course!

Tight lines for this season.
 
Some great I nformative as always there Dave. I recall some similar advice in a book by the late Mr Miles, to paraphrase; The distinctive nature of some baits while initially successful can become a red flag. There's no magic I know but there is a lot of snake oil, so thank you (everyone) for your suggestions for a good quality bait. I suppose what would be sensible is to buy something productive that's not sold locally, reducing the blow factor to an extent. Fishing a bait that's already blown by everyone else is a probably a poor tactic, although the converse can be true I suppose as a commonly used bait may allow you to benefit from others "prebaiting and conditioning".
 
In my experience, it's rather difficult to make a totally sound recommendation. In the past, I've used DNA B1, a specific barbel bait (sadly discontinued) developed when they were based in Thirsk and the Swale was their local river. It went really well on the Swale, but didn't really fly as well on the Trent. I've seen similar inconsistencies between rivers with garlic Spam. I believe that few unnatural baits are likely to come close to being universal.
 
Chris Jones said:
In my experience, it's rather difficult to make a totally sound recommendation. In the past, I've used DNA B1, a specific barbel bait (sadly discontinued) developed when they were based in Thirsk and the Swale was their local river. It went really well on the Swale, but didn't really fly as well on the Trent. I've seen similar inconsistencies between rivers with garlic Spam. I believe that few unnatural baits are likely to come close to being universal.
Click to expand...

Very valid points there Chris,... that's why I was careful to include " for your particular venues " in my last post.
I was talking to a well known angler a short while back who said that the bait that was doing the business for him on the Stour wouldn't buy him a bite on the B. Avon.
So many if's and but's of course, .. but interesting.
 
Autumn winter a favorite was pellet wrapped in source paste.
 
How true with regard to boilies that work on some waters but not on others, that's why I steer clear of boilies in the main, they tend to be too selective, but if I had to use just one it would be the source. I prefer in the summer to use 8mm hallibut on the hook and 2/3 mm in the feeder. Or a big lump of Spam when it gets towards dusk.
 
cc moores odyssey works fine all year round as a paste or a boilie or chops
incidently speaking about krill, my dog loves it but was completely ignored
by my carp in my pond both large and small fish, tastes much much too salty
but they go crazy with tiny halibot or halips pellets:)
 
Give three rivers rolling a call, Glynn Gomersall, he used to make all of the original J Bakers bait and knows a thing or two about barbel bait.
 
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