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Boilie size

J

Jonathan Jones

Senior Member
I went to the tackle shop today for few items and to try some new boilies" Talk about a big kid in a sweet shop :D

I got some CC Moore Pacific Tuna" have noticed few good fish in angling papers falling to these last few months"

But did not notice id picked up 18mm and not 10 mm I wonted"
Would it be better to trim the size down for the hook bait??

and would you still wrap paste around 18mm for barbell

whot do you think is best boilie size is for barbel fishing guys ??
 
To be honest Jonathan I don't think there is a best size for Barbel . If they are on the feed they will have it small or large . Even an average , say 7lb Barbel can easily snaffle a piece of spam the size of a matchbox so they have no problem in getting large baits down their necks . Go with your 18mm + your paste wrap, if they are present in your swim and feeding I am sure they will polish it off with no worries :)
 
Don't worry about bait size and especially when the water is coloured or at night; per above ref to large spam baits, I regularly catch Barbel using 1/4 or a 1/3 of a large tin of spam on the hook and even a 3lb Chub can take that size of bait!

If the river is low and clear and you are fishing over particals and or small pellets, then yes, try trimming it down and feed a few chopped boillies too.
 
In my view most of the time smaller baits work best and even cutting a 10mm in half and back to backing works better than a 10mm boilie,but there are exceptions.If the fish have been eating 18mm as free offerings for a while,if there are lots of Bream in the river and if the water is coloured. But strange things happen,i once saw an angler catch 3 barbel in an hour on upper benyons using 3 x 18mm pellets on a hair during the day,probably because nobody else had ever done it,we can always learn.
 
Neil Blood said:
Don't worry about bait size and especially when the water is coloured or at night; per above ref to large spam baits, I regularly catch Barbel using 1/4 or a 1/3 of a large tin of spam on the hook and even a 3lb Chub can take that size of bait!

If the river is low and clear and you are fishing over particals and or small pellets, then yes, try trimming it down and feed a few chopped boillies too.
Click to expand...

I don't really think meat matters too much when it comes to size:eek: I find it is just the opposite to pellet and boilies when considering size, a half tin of meat can trigger a response I guess, when the fish might consider effort vs reward. I do use largish chunks of meat but never a half tin or or qtr size, not really cricket is it? :)
 
I often use double 18mm baits with size 4/5 hooks on some of the more tidal areas of the Trent, but do tend to fish predominantly evening or overnight sessions. Many of my better fish have come in low, clear summer cons.
 
I've started to use Boilies this season for the first time in angling. I too have been using CC Moore Pacific Tuna with the matching glug. I buy 15mm and 18mm and if needed i just trim them down to the size i need. You can trim down but not trim up. The trimmings, i add to the paste or mix them into the ground bait or just as loose feed. So nothing is wasted.
 
Top stuff guys for the info :)

no need to worry about size of bait being to big under most conditions"

Do barbel go on site when going along river bed most of time in normal river conditions or mostly on smell/touch ?

and if going on site! surely a bigger boilie/bait would be Snaffled up before a smaller bait :confused:
 
Hi men ,

I'd either trim a few to barrel shaped hookbaits , but just as good just cut them in half fish them back to back butterfly style . I use an ice crusher perchased off eBay for £9 , to chop up loads of round baits into odd shapes ( ridge monkey do a larger , more expensive version that sits on a bucket) , stick the resulting chops in a pva bag ;) . Also grind some down in a liquidiser into a powder , add to eggs for a paste ;).

Hatter
 
I've caught all of my barbel this year either on 18mm boilies or 14 mm Sonubaits pellets and generally the Trent has been low and clear as have most rivers.
 
I have caught barbel on 2x 20mm baits and on a single grain of corn. There is no one size of bait that you can use in all conditions. It depends on water temp, water colour, size of fish that you are after and how pressured the fish are. i generally use 18mm boilies as i don't like to be annoyed by small fish ( although i caught roach on a 40mm bait this season). What i would say is use a 18mm boilie and you can make it smaller or add in numbers to have a bigger bait. Tight lines. Paul.
 
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