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Frozen boilies?

Steve Sorrell

Steve Sorrell

Senior Member
Just wondering how long you would keep boilies in the freezer for? :confused:
I bought a load of Glyn's finest at the beginning of last season and still have a few kilos left after getting sidetracked by the perch :rolleyes:

Definately don't want to throw them away in these tough times.....
 
ages, I've had some in the deep freeze for 2 years and more, they look and smell ok to me.
don't waste em.
 
Depends on the mix really. Some types of bait get very burned and end up floating!! Also it's a confidence thing, fishing with freezer burned bait, hmm!

Martin
 
Year old boilies - should not be an issue in the slightest. I'd be more bothered over location & careful, steady introduction of feed. As Dave outlined, break them up, use them as crumb or add them to a wet ground bait a day before use
 
almost all food thats frozen will deteriorate even when frozen rock hard
how long a frozen life it has depends on the type of food it is no matter if its bread, vegetables, meat, fish ect ect
 
Just as a point of interest. I don't store boilies long term in freezers anymore. Shaun Harrison of Quest baits put me right on this. Again it depends on the mix but buy your boilies freshly rolled then spread them out to air dry. Once completely dry then store in cardboard boxes (not plastic boxes). When you need some bait just re-hydrate with liquid. You can experiment with any sort of liquid, they really suck it in which creates a confidence thing (well in me anyway). I prefer to re-hydrate them with hemp juice but you can use your imagination. On hard Carp waters a lot of Anglers have found that the Carp leave beds of bait alone until the bait is "washed out" these fish are super wary and a good edge is to re-hydrate the bait using the lake water.

The best baits to dry out are ones with ingredients which have natural flavours. Attractants which are mostly based around liquid are not the best (if that makes sense) because they will go once the bait is dry. Also there are some baits with active type ingredients which would be rendered usless once dried.

I never have wasted bait now and can fine tune it when reintroducing the liquid. Hemp Juice is my fav, top edge :)

Martin
 
A lot of good advice here Steve. As said, ingredients do have a bearing on storage time. However, unless you know exactly what the ingredients are (unlikely, unless it's your own mix) AND are knowledgeable enough to understand which items effect the outcome, that information doesn't help a lot.

In that case, my thoughts when carping were these.

Don't try to keep the average boilie for much more than a year, and only that long if the bag has remained sealed as received from the supplier.

Check through the bag for freezer burn, and reject bags (at least as hookers) where the majority of baits are affected.

When thawing the baits in preparation for use, leave the bag sealed, giving it a good shake occasionally, so that any liquids forced out by freezing (often containing flavours etc.) are evenly reabsorbed.

When the bag is finally opened, allow the baits to stand for a while, then check that they still look, smell and break between your fingers exactly as they did when fresh.

If all those conditions are met, you won't go far wrong. It is a fact that boilies older than that, or not up to that standard may (and often do) still catch fish, but the results are not nearly as consistent in my experience....and that means those nagging doubts will start to sap your confidence in very short order if bites are not quickly forthcoming. NOT a recipe for a relaxing, fruitful days fishing :D

Cheers, Dave
 
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Boilies!!

They are the hard round things I see a lot of people using arn't they?:)

I must give them a go one day when I run out of Maggots!


Joking aside I have not used a Boilie for years and years (last year I did use a couple overnight at The V.A.C Carp match, in the end Dave Currell and I won it using a couple of gallons of maggots, with plastics on the hook), I tend to try all the other baits first, there are dozens and dozens, it is amazing just what Barbel will eat, if you give them a chance.

Happy close season lads.
 
David Gauntlett said:
A lot of good advice here Steve. As said, ingredients do have a bearing on storage time. However, unless you know exactly what the ingredients are (unlikely, unless it's your own mix) AND are knowledgeable enough to understand which items effect the outcome, that information doesn't help a lot.

In that case, my thoughts when carping were these.

Don't try to keep the average boilie for much more than a year, and only that long if the bag has remained sealed as received from the supplier.

Check through the bag for freezer burn, and reject bags (at least as hookers) where the majority of baits are affected.

When thawing the baits in preparation for use, leave the bag sealed, giving it a good shake occasionally, so that any liquids forced out by freezing (often containing flavours etc.) are evenly reabsorbed.

When the bag is finally opened, allow the baits to stand for a while, then check that they still look, smell and break between your fingers exactly as they did when fresh.

If all those conditions are met, you won't go far wrong. It is a fact that boilies older than that, or not up to that standard may (and often do) still catch fish, but the results are not nearly as consistent in my experience....and that means those nagging doubts will start to sap your confidence in very short order if bites are not quickly forthcoming. NOT a recipe for a relaxing, fruitful days fishing :D

Cheers, Dave
Click to expand...

Good advice as ever. My take on this is to use fresh bait within reason. It isn't worth saving a few quid on bait when you consider the cost of fuel in travelling to your chosen location. Why spoil days of fishing with either dud baits or baits that you have no confidence in. I would estimate that 12 months should be the limit for freezer baits. As the previous post mentioned, work on the same "shelf life" as any other food. All food will deteriorate over time.
 
as long as you don't keep defrosting and refreezing em, they then have a habit of breaking down, ok for crumb.
 
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