Electric Boilie Rolling Machines - worth the cost??

[Adam Francis]

I was looking into making some of my own boilies and wasn't keen of the faffing around that seemed to be involved with bait tables etc etc. I had a look online to see how much an electric bait rolling machine would be & was shocked to see the cheapest seemed to be £500+ with some well over a grand!

I wondered if anyone had any experience of any of these and if so what were they like. I would probably be prepared to pay around £350 for one which would seem a fair price to me but nothing seems to be available.

Any suggestions or advice?

 

[Mark Anderson]

Hi ,

Missed out £0 on the list

If it was a machine you just pored the basemix and liquids in and out popped baits then I would pay for one . As it is you can buy quality bait rolled for you or bait company ready rolled as good as you can do yourself . Admittedly making your own bait to your own recipe with the tweaks that makes it different to others can be an edge , but purely on a barbel fishing basis I dont use enough to warrant it . If I was just carp fishing I might change my mind , but as Iv got 20 kilos still in the freezer from last year perhaps not . Good question though .

Hatter

 

[Paul Hamer]

It would take too long to repay itself like Hatters has said, if your only barbel fishing. A kilo of bait can last me all season.

 

[Anthony Pearson]

Adam. once your machine has rolled your zillion boilies, they'll still need to be put in boiling water, timed, lifted out and dried which in itself is a faff. Are you planning a massive pre-season baiting campaign or are you thinking of a commercial venture?

 

[David Gauntlett]

Adam, they are expensive because the decent ones are very well made bits of kit, with fairly expensive components...but more importantly, they are catering to a small market. They are not really intended for anglers, they are intended for small/medium scale pro rollers.

One way you could afford them is to share ownership with fishing buddies, share the cost and take turns using them. Perhaps, if you have mates who fish the same waters, you could use it to roll enough bait for a baiting campaign, something like that. Failing that, you could roll other anglers bait for them, and charge for it, get your money back that way. Anglers who roll their own may well be fed up with the rolling bit, and be only too happy to pay a reasonable rate for you to do it for them. As Paul said, most barbel anglers don't use enough to make it worthwhile, but carp anglers may well be up for that, if you have any mates into that?

Cheers, Dave.

 

[Derek Funcks]

Adam, for the minimum price of the machine ( £ 250 ), which is the equivalent of about 15/18 kilo,s of boilies, which would last most barbel anglers a lifetime. Is it really worth the outlay ?

I've a nephew, who likes to roll his own, to his own recipe, he,s into carp fishing. He uses the manual rolling tables. He makes enough for himself, and a few friends. I asked him if he would consider buying an electric machine. His reply, " naaarrrggghhhh, there too expensive, unless your making enough to make a decent profit ". He rolls enough for his friends, to cover the cost of his own.

As said above, too much faffing about.

 

[John Walker]

why go to trouble of rolling them, most barbel fishing is done within 20 yards at most so why not just roll ut a few sausage shapes then chop em up after cooking them, also by doing so after cooking you get a mush better leakage rate from out the baits

 

[Adam Francis]

Thanks for all the replies.

All fair points. The main reason was mainly to experiment but considering, as a few members pointed out, how much a barbel angler uses even using some for tench it really doesn't seem worth it.

I'll stick to quality ready made bait

 

[Mark Anderson]

Hi men ,

Or get 4 of you to split the costs ?.

Hatter

 

[Andy Frances]

I'm with John.

If you sausage gun your mix into lengths that will fit into your sauce pan, boil them lightly so you have a nice soft pasty inner and hard outer skin (takes a little experimenting with the boiling time needed), you can then really quickly chop them into baits that are great to hair rig and that don't roll away quite as easily as boilies. If you get into a rhythm you can produce a load...

Cheers,

Andy F

 

[David Gauntlett]

I'm with John.

If you sausage gun your mix into lengths that will fit into your sauce pan, boil them lightly so you have a nice soft pasty inner and hard outer skin (takes a little experimenting with the boiling time needed), you can then really quickly chop them into baits that are great to hair rig and that don't roll away quite as easily as boilies. If you get into a rhythm you can produce a load...

Cheers,

Andy F

Agreed Andy...but don't try using them on cray infested waters

Cheers, Dave.