Making your own bait.

[Huanzhou Zhu]

Is one of the benefits of steaming rather than boiling that you lose less nutrients in the bait from steaming, a bit like when steaming vegetables rather than boiling them?

One thing about steaming is that the steam temperature is much higher than boiling water, plus longer cooking time, it could lost more nutrients in the process. Nutrabaits steam all of their baits at 90 degree, but it is hard to achieve at home.

On the other hand, the temperature and time is easier to control at home than steaming.

 

[Ian Murfin]

Huanzhou, sorry to be pedantic but that's not right, I'm a Process Engineer and know about this topic. Steam is not at a higher temp than boiling water. Pure water boils at 100 DegC at sea level, the steam leaving the water is at 100 Deg C and actually invisible at this point. It condenses in the cooler environment into a fine mist, i.e. what we commonly think of as steam and then cools further as it touches colder surfaces.

 

[Alex Constantinou]

Is it worth it ??

My Carp fishing friend is going to start making some hook baits for himself and it's got me thinking of having a go myself, but not really sure it's worth it though. I don't use many boilies a season. I'm already up to £100 in my basket on John Bakers website. Trouble is, I have to do things right, I can't just roll a few sausages out and cut them up on the worktop, I'll end up getting the whole kit, I know I will, I always do.

A bag of off the shelf boilies isn't that expensive, less work and more than enough for me for the season. I understand it must be magic to catch a fish on home made bait, but I can see myself becoming a little obsessive with it.

Is it worth it ??

I’ve been rolling my own bait for years, I’d say it’s worth it for the satisfaction of catching on your own creation!

It won’t offer you more ch advantage over some of the better quality off the shelf baits and in small batches it’s not much (if at all) cheaper. What it does do is give you scope to have something a bit different to what everyone else is using. Had some good results on low stock venues with this approach when everyone else struggled.

 

[Julian Griffiths]

I’ve been rolling my own bait for years, I’d say it’s worth it for the satisfaction of catching on your own creation!

It won’t offer you more ch advantage over some of the better quality off the shelf baits and in small batches it’s not much (if at all) cheaper. What it does do is give you scope to have something a bit different to what everyone else is using. Had some good results on low stock venues with this approach when everyone else struggled.

I totally agree. I actually enjoy the making process, the confidence it gives me whilst making them, and the results they've brought me. It's a faff without a doubt, but I do like the mindset that no one else is likely to be using what I've created.

 

[Damian Kimmins]

I’ve been rolling my own bait for years, I’d say it’s worth it for the satisfaction of catching on your own creation!

It won’t offer you more ch advantage over some of the better quality off the shelf baits and in small batches it’s not much (if at all) cheaper. What it does do is give you scope to have something a bit different to what everyone else is using. Had some good results on low stock venues with this approach when everyone else struggled.

Is it fair to say that seems a little contradictory? You can home produce something that no one else is on, but by virtue of the fact that you caught on it when on more readily available baits others failed, suggests that your product was superior in quality.
I would say that with every home produced base mix there is the ability to produce something of better quality than a shop bought bait.
We might talk about the knowledge that some bait producers have but none of them have been free of some utter rubbish they've produced over the years, which suggest that even the professionals go through a trial and error process the same as everyone else.

 

[Alex Constantinou]

Is it fair to say that seems a little contradictory? You can home produce something that no one else is on, but by virtue of the fact that you caught on it when on more readily available baits others failed, suggests that your product was superior in quality.
I would say that with every home produced base mix there is the ability to produce something of better quality than a shop bought bait.
We might talk about the knowledge that some bait producers have but none of them have been free of some utter rubbish they've produced over the years, which suggest that even the professionals go through a trial and error process the same as everyone else.

It all depends on how much you can invest in your mix and the quantities you buy in. If you’re working on a small scale it can be pricey, if you have the money to buy in bulk then economies of scale come in to play. Obviously if you’re on a tight budget then the recipe may not be on par with something off the shelf.

Baits commercially available can be fairly decent quality, though some are garbage. If money is not an issue then I’d say it’s possible to roll something that is superior to anything widely available off the shelf so to speak (at the very least on paper).

With the results on the mix in question, I put the success down to relatively low flavour levels, a decent recipe (with naturals in the venue accounted for) and application. If you introduce a good quality bait over a period of time it will get recognised as a preferential food source (in theory) and this is what I think stood me in good form.

The stretch in question is a private, low stock small river fished by a handful of people, I know the bait they were using and in this instance I think my mix was the better option. Though if you were to roll a “supermarket special” I’d say the commercially available bait would be the better choice.

All bait makers go through trial and error. I know a fish biologist and I specialise in aquatic ecology. I’ve learnt about fish nutrition (admittedly primarily carp) and behaviour on a scientific level and I’ve made mixes that looked amazing on paper but the results didn’t match my thoughts for one reason or another. Nobody knows it all and theory and practice don’t always align.

Fundamentally I don’t think there is an ultimate bait. All I do is roll something I have confidence in because I know it works and I enjoy bait making.