Overflavouring boilies

[Chris Thomson]

Hi, just been following a thread on a carp forum about overflavouring bait albeit pop ups and was wondering if there was any mileage for us barbel anglers.The common theme is that in there pop up mix ie one egg they add anything up to 70ml although 20ml seems the norm, bearing in mind we have a current to allow any attractors to spread downstream its got my grey matter going. Its a single hookbait approach the idea being that this massive overflavouring of a single bait does attract and therefore needs no other freebies, solar squid and octopus, butyric acid, and scopex seem popular and although it flies in the face of the accepted theory that fish can detect minute amounts this alternative approach seems to be successful and its something i might play around with and see for myself if theres any mileage in this approach, thought id share this to see if anyone had tried it for barbel and it worked or wether others are interested

 

[Ricky Middleton]

Ive had a lot of success using a single hookbait approach, normaly glugged in chilli infused rape seed oil, cut down there options, but I guess its whether the population of fish is there in the first place

 

[Mark Swaby]

Overflavouring boiles can work well short term,but will not last long,and you will stop catching far quicker than on low flavoured baits.I look at that as a good thing if you can only fish a water for a short time and want maximum gain.If its your home water then you will have to keep changing to keep constantly catching after what could be a fab start.About 12 years ago i was fishing the Kennet at colthrope ,at the time it had some massive fish but was thought of as a graveyard to most anglers.Using normal methods and fishing carefully i would catch on most visits but sometimes it would be after most had gone home.I changed my bait to a homemade boilie,my missus called it DD(dog dirt) it stunk so badly.My thought was give it 6 weeks of hard fishing and feeding whilst the pressure was off the section, i also did not want any recaptures.Over that time i caught all of the big fish,including the kennet record fish (she was caught over 19lb the week after i caught her).There was only one more big fish for me to catch on the section and that fish was a bit of a myth,having not been out for over 2 years.My confidence was so high i arrived one Sunday morning and joked with Paul Smythe, the bailiff, over the phone, ' i will get her today i have caught all the others'.After catching some smaller barbel in the weirpool i moved down to the backwater and 10 minutes later caught the elusive fish,(later confirmed with Paul)1 oz under 15lb.I firmly believe with a lesser smelling bait i might have recaptured one of the other easier caught big fish that day,instead of that elusive fish,all the others were avoiding the stinky DD bait.There is nearly always more greedy fish in the shoal and these fish can sometimes make it difficult to catch the others, by overflavouring you can catch these once and avoid them again,that's my thought,but that might not always be the case.

 

[Derek Funcks]

Overflavouring boiles can work well short term,but will not last long,and you will stop catching far quicker than on low flavoured baits.I look at that as a good thing if you can only fish a water for a short time and want maximum gain.If its your home water then you will have to keep changing to keep constantly catching after what could be a fab start.About 12 years ago i was fishing the Kennet at colthrope ,at the time it had some massive fish but was thought of as a graveyard to most anglers.Using normal methods and fishing carefully i would catch on most visits but sometimes it would be after most had gone home.I changed my bait to a homemade boilie,my missus called it DD(dog dirt) it stunk so badly.My thought was give it 6 weeks of hard fishing and feeding whilst the pressure was off the section, i also did not want any recaptures.Over that time i caught all of the big fish,including the kennet record fish (she was caught over 19lb the week after i caught her).There was only one more big fish for me to catch on the section and that fish was a bit of a myth,having not been out for over 2 years.My confidence was so high i arrived one Sunday morning and joked with Paul Smythe, the bailiff, over the phone, ' i will get her today i have caught all the others'.After catching some smaller barbel in the weirpool i moved down to the backwater and 10 minutes later caught the elusive fish,(later confirmed with Paul)1 oz under 15lb.I firmly believe with a lesser smelling bait i might have recaptured one of the other easier caught big fish that day,instead of that elusive fish,all the others were avoiding the stinky DD bait.There is nearly always more greedy fish in the shoal and these fish can sometimes make it difficult to catch the others, by overflavouring you can catch these once and avoid them again,that's my thought,but that might not always be the case.

Fantastic theory Mark, and makes a lot of sense. Where do you buy the DD flavouring from. Or do you just collect it in the street.

 

[Chris Thomson]

Oh i have no doubt on the longevity of the actual individual attractors used especially on low stock stretches but for an individual on limited time with no means of prebaiting an area on the stretch hes on i can see it being a productive method i just think that you have to be very aware of the short timespan you might have and be prepared to chop and change attractors , an interesting theory that im going to put out test the remaining season and see what happens

 

[Derek Funcks]

Oh i have no doubt on the longevity of the actual individual attractors used especially on low stock stretches but for an individual on limited time with no means of prebaiting an area on the stretch hes on i can see it being a productive method i just think that you have to be very aware of the short timespan you might have and be prepared to chop and change attractors , an interesting theory that im going to put out test the remaining season and see what happens

Good luck Chris, and please send me your results.

 

[Stephen Crowhurst]

Tony Miles has a chapter on this in his book Elite Barbel. The suggestions he makes are very similar to those proposals by Mark.
The suggestion is that over flavoured baits taste bitter and have low nutritional value. So whilst the attraction factor is there and they will take one out of curiosity they don't enjoy them as such. The distinctive flavour can then create a red flag.
So on that basis it's certainly worth a punt with careful application.

 

[Darren Hawen]

Tony Miles has a chapter on this in his book Elite Barbel. The suggestions he makes are very similar to those proposals by Mark.
The suggestion is that over flavoured baits taste bitter and have low nutritional value. So whilst the attraction factor is there and they will take one out of curiosity they don't enjoy them as such. The distinctive flavour can then create a red flag.
So on that basis it's certainly worth a punt with careful application.

The only problem with doing it is that you might ruin someone else's fishing if they're using the same bait/flavour. Unlikely but possible, and they'd never know what the problem was/is regarding their wonderbait not catching.

 

[Mark Swaby]

Derek, there was no artificial flavouring,but you could smell it from 10 paces even inside a sealed plastic bag in a bucket,the flies loved it.The bait was based on predigested fishmeal ,robin red and a few other ingredients,one i cannot get anymore,ultra high protein and was an absolute b*****d to roll, so i used to make chops.My local tackle shop said bring some in, so i brought 4 baits to the shop.Steve who runs it, smelt the bait pulled a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp and said it smelt like sh1t. He would not let me put it in the bin.Those 4 baits sat outside the shop for over 2 weeks,even the local dogs would not eat it.Tony miles theory (thanks Tony) was exactly why i went down the route i did.But i did exactly opposite to what he advised for other reasons. The bait i used was really effective and i believe the fish really liked it,i caught tench,carp,chub and a lot of barbel on the bait in only a small amount of time from a very difficult water with no recaptures,it did exactly what i wanted it to do.

 

[Jonathan Jones]

iv just started using boilies this season! Do find them a lot of money really" when catapulting in swim or when you got 2 lines your fishing!
Is making your own a lot better? and will a home made boilies outfish a shop bought boilies as fish have never had the home made flavouring before!

 

[Mark Swaby]

Making your own can be messy and a lot of hassel but can be really worth it.Saying that i changed some of the ingredients on this mix to mellow it down,with a high quality milk protein and totally blew it.The new boilie caught but was nothing like the original.Quality shop bought boilies are usually consistently good, you could make your own and be wasting your money, time and not catch.But its something that adds to your fishing experience,catching well on your own design is very satisfiying

 

[Neil Smart]

Making your own is very easy, have a look at the Crave system. What I have been doing is using the solution as a glug to intensify the flavour, obviously you can roll to any size you prefer, so keep a few different sizes with the glug in your jar. If you want to pre bait an area, no need to use a lot, just a couple hand fulls at a time. The Severn old boys say doing this you have a good chance of catching on the third night!!
It's all about giving them some 'treats' without over feeding them.

 

[Jonathan Jones]

Are making your own boilies only best for the special occasions when fishing for single bigger barbel on smaller rivers!
And would it be worth making boilies and pre baiting for middle severn where heavy stock of barbel"

 

[David Gauntlett]

If you are using Mark's method, i.e natural flavours only, then it is very difficult to over flavour to the extent that fish will find it unpalatable. It's when you use artificial flavours that the problem arises. In that instance, it's fine to get the fish onto your bait by using standard flavour levels, then save the cost of feeding by using a single over flavoured hook bait only.

That method again will work for some time, but not infinitely. I assume the odd hook bait that comes off and is then found and consumed is enough to put the fish off forever

It's a bit like standard attractor baits which have rubbish low protein/low quality ingredients and rely entirely on their over flavouring to catch. They will catch for a limited period, but because uneducated novice anglers use them as feed as well, the fish soon recognise them for what they are, and they will 'blow', as the old chestnut has it.

Such is life in the fast lane

Cheers, Dave.