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Making Own Bait

Its not easy producing a good boilie and getting the key things right - digestibility (not too rich), attraction (effectiveness), rollability and texture - but there is something people miss -

if you are hand rolling small amounts, you do not have the same concerns about rollability as somebody putting the paste through machinery and can get away with sometimes better recipes in my opinion POTENTIALLY - (I'm not an expert I am only just making my own fully in the past year, a bit overdue)
hand rolling certainly gives you easier scope to play with textures ;)

I don't believe in using masses anyway - don't get me wrong I keep some old favourite fantastic readymades and like JB, but entirely making your own is (indeed like Ian kinda said as well):
much more fun..

I absolutely grilled AI for many hours and found it useful*, as base mixes are closely guarded trade secrets -

*I gathered a quite good framework of what basemixes should be about from decades of little snippets of info all over the place anyway, and talking directly to experienced individuals to get little bites of info here and there(!)

I'll tell you who is brilliant to talk to by email - Steve Mitchell of CCMoore-

I quite like JB but I foumnd him a bit too vague and he misled me on something which led to quite a hefty amount of wasted money, I didn't mind that as wasting cash is a big realistic part of the journey of a proper thinking angler who is willing to experiment -
anyway although I rate him highly and keep a mix on the go and bought up lots of a not too distant discontinued flavour, I'm personally steering away from him a bit and don't follow his 'shopfront' anymore
 
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Afternoon all,

Barbel will eat almost anything you put Infront of them as will carp.

Over a long term, baiting campaign will a highly nutritious, well balanced bait have a better effect, I'd say so yes.

On a normal day, just going fishing will it make a difference, doubtful.

Over the course of a season will a good quality freezer bait outfish a good quality shelf life bait, unlikely IMO.

Bait manufacturing has come a hell of a long way in the last 20-30 years and the difference between shelf life and freezer can be minimal depending upon which brand you prefer.

Barbel will eat processed meat from a tin, carp will eat manufactured bread and dog biscuits all day on occasions. Both of which will outfish EVERY high protein, high quality freezer bait on their day.

I've not used freezer baits for years. The only reason my catch rates have dropped is I have less time than I used to and there are less barbel than there used to be.

I Would be confident that if I put ANY boilie Infront of a hungry/feeding barbel and presented it well it would get eaten.

Thanks

Lewis
 
Lewis Baldwin said:
Afternoon all,

Barbel will eat almost anything you put Infront of them as will carp.

Over a long term, baiting campaign will a highly nutritious, well balanced bait have a better effect, I'd say so yes.

On a normal day, just going fishing will it make a difference, doubtful.

Over the course of a season will a good quality freezer bait outfish a good quality shelf life bait, unlikely IMO.

Bait manufacturing has come a hell of a long way in the last 20-30 years and the difference between shelf life and freezer can be minimal depending upon which brand you prefer.

Barbel will eat processed meat from a tin, carp will eat manufactured bread and dog biscuits all day on occasions. Both of which will outfish EVERY high protein, high quality freezer bait on their day.

I've not used freezer baits for years. The only reason my catch rates have dropped is I have less time than I used to and there are less barbel than there used to be.

I Would be confident that if I put ANY boilie Infront of a hungry/feeding barbel and presented it well it would get eaten.

Thanks

Lewis
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I don’t agree barbel or carp will eat anything you put in front of them , on some rare days maybe , but usually they’ll have a preference for certain baits on certain days which is probably linked to time of year as well , ask any match man and the baits they use depends on time of year . And they change their baits all the time .

Which is were pre baiting with a good HNV bait comes into its own , you condition them to prefer that food source over others wether it’s buried in silt or not , that’s just there dinner plate and completely normal to them .
Fishing with shelf life baits (boilies) is very hit n miss in my experience, some days they work well , some they don’t , I suspect on an average over the year it will be just average to what everyone else’s catches on that stretch or lake.
Get them going on a decent bait they want all the time and the fishing is easy , especially the more free safe food you can give them , ie no lines rigs etc in the water , just good quality bait .
I’ve witnessed this a few times for both barbel and carp , not so easy on day ticket venues, so it’s definitely venue dependent.
 
Couple of points to add..

Can feeding fish discriminate between shelf-lives or freezer baits? I think this is highly unlikely.

What impact do preservatives have on fish? As far as I know, this is the unknown. But we do know, or are at least standing to better understand the impact that preservatives have on the human gut flora and the benefits of eating fresh food. Are other organisms likely to be any different?

So yes fish will probably eat anything put in front them (within reason) but knowing what we know or rather knowing what we don't know, if we are embarking on longer baiting campaigns (for want of a better description) don't we have a responsibility to use baits that are less likely to be harmful? I've stopped using high oil baits for that very reason.

And it's not just the fish, its a wider environment, all those inverts and microbes that feed on what the fish excrete out will be impacted by what the fish are consuming.
 
If your buying frozen bait from a tackle shop its also likely its preserved aswell.

Bait is boiled, air dried to reduce moisture as much as possible, frozen, dispatched, probably defrosted during transit and then frozen again at the tackle shop. It could be 4-5 days after boiling that it reaches the tackle shop freezer.

Jason Rider (A Bait) used to be the general manager at Nashbait and has written about this before.

If you want "fresh bait" either make it yourself or go to a supplier that only deals direct the public.... and start asking them questions!
 
Tommy Bee said:
Not really mate no, unless you count salt (which is essential for survival)
I don't do any convenience, processed foods (well almost none it depends where you are and what you're up to)

I don't touch sorbate, benzoate foods like pastries and shelf life cakes and very rarely have sodium nitrite either as I gave up piggys/salami type things etc (nor do I like wine)..
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But that's your lifestyle choice to exclude those types of food. Many people don't have the time or inclination to roll their own baits let alone put together a decent recipe. Convenience is the name of the game when it comes to shelf life and freezer bait. As mentioned the frozen bait from the tackle shop has probably been thawed and frozen many times before it gets there so is it really as fresh as we are meant to believe? I make my own bait (a super high quality fishmeal, with milks, liver, etc) but I've also used shelf life baits and still caught just as well. I guess I could forgo making my own but I like to tinker.
 
Brendon Mullins said:
If your buying frozen bait from a tackle shop its also likely its preserved aswell.

Bait is boiled, air dried to reduce moisture as much as possible, frozen, dispatched, probably defrosted during transit and then frozen again at the tackle shop. It could be 4-5 days after boiling that it reaches the tackle shop freezer.

Jason Rider (A Bait) used to be the general manager at Nashbait and has written about this before.

If you want "fresh bait" either make it yourself or go to a supplier that only deals direct the public.... and start asking them questions!
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Baitworks for me. Straight into the freezer when it arrives - great company to deal with.
 
I would love to make my own bait and genuinely understand the reason for using one mix or flavour over an another, rather than just buy a bag and a flavour and mix at home. If you spend any time reading up on the subject and listening to interviews, you understand there is a lot of science at play. I'd recommended listening to John Baker on the Carp Chronicles podcast (its on you tube) and there's also one he does on the Korda pod' too. You realise he's forgotten more on the subject than I know. It's a fascinating topic, but i don't have enough time as it is. And so, I'll probably just stick to my boilies pellets and spam and hope that's sufficient to catch a few.
 
Jon Elliott said:
I would love to make my own bait and genuinely understand the reason for using one mix or flavour over an another, rather than just buy a bag and a flavour and mix at home. If you spend any time reading up on the subject and listening to interviews, you understand there is a lot of science at play. I'd recommended listening to John Baker on the Carp Chronicles podcast (it's on you tube) and there's also one he does on the Korda pod' too. You realise he's forgotten more on the subject than I know. It's a fascinating topic, but i don't have enough time as it is. And so, I'll probably just stick to my boilies pellets and spam and hope that's sufficient to catch a few.
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And the C-stim liquid 😎
 
Baitworks is one company that consistently comes up with great reviews, I’d use them myself but they use DPD as a carrier and they have a terrible reputation around here , almost as bad as Evrie! And I couldn’t risk putting an order in with frozen bait .
So I’ll continue using West Yorkshire carp baits , just as good a bit cheaper and straight from his freezer in his garage to mine.
Also proves there are decent bait companies out there but also some duff ones that I won’t go near .
 
Kevin Brown said:
Baitworks is one company that consistently comes up with great reviews, I’d use them myself but they use DPD as a carrier and they have a terrible reputation around here , almost as bad as Evrie! And I couldn’t risk putting an order in with frozen bait .
So I’ll continue using West Yorkshire carp baits , just as good a bit cheaper and straight from his freezer in his garage to mine.
Also proves there are decent bait companies out there but also some duff ones that I won’t go near .
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I've never ever had a problem with delivery personally . Tracked delivery and times etc .. the bait comes in foil sealed bags also to keep it as fresh as possible .

I also believe if you had an issue with a delivery then Baitworks would go out of their way to rectify it .
 
Barry Peck said:
I've never ever had a problem with delivery personally . Tracked delivery and times etc .. the bait comes in foil sealed bags also to keep it as fresh as possible .

I also believe if you had an issue with a delivery then Baitworks would go out of their way to rectify it .
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If the parcel is on a transit sized van , the driver won’t come down our lane as he can’t turn round , despite Amazon drivers coming down here every day !
I’ve known them to be travelling around with my parcel for three days , I once tracked them on the app and followed him till he stopped and grabbed my parcel ! Only DPD do this every other carrier manage fine .
If I didn’t have my other bait supplier I’d risk it again , but I’m happy with my bait and supplier , plus I just message him and go pick it up .
 
Kevin Brown said:
Just ordered some of this in liquid and powder form
I’m wanting to use it in a stick mix for carp initially then barbel in the new season
Sounds the biz but doesn’t everything these bait companies push ? 🤣
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I add it to my pastes ... boilies and bags 🤣.. the liquid is very thick and my belief is it sends a good scent trail downstream on rivers .
I have confidence in it which is a bonus as i don't over think when using it . Which to me personally makes my fishing time more enjoyable .... I'm a terrible over thinker 🌞
 
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