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Shelve life , Frozen , Or roll your own ?

J

Joe Fletcher

No Longer a Member
I am looking for some help and advice and was wondering if it makes any difference when usuing boilies if they are shelve life , frozen or roll your own ?
I have looked in to trying out some new boilies . Having made the choice I can get them either shelve life , frozen or buy the base mix and roll them my self .

I assume the shelf life have some kind of preservative and that might affect the flavour ?

Ready made frozen has no preservative and I assume wont alter the flavour ? and are just like freshly rolled ?

Buy the base mix and roll your own and being able to change texture , add flavours or not to add flavours and I assume by being able to alter the content , texture and flavour from time to time , They will be less inclined to blow ?

Any advice and help would be most welcome :)
 
I'm considering a season on the shelf lifes so I can make up my own mind.

It's not like pellets haven't got preservatives in them of some sort is it? Has anyone caught on a pellet this year? Tinned meat must have a nice shelf like on it - suspect that'll catch a few over the winter floods.

I've always tried to use frozen, but suspect the difference in what the fish actually notice to be far less than the bait manufacturers or sponsored anglers would have you believe.
 
You'll find a lot of anglers use frozen or homemades thinking they've got an edge but then use dips and glugs that contain mostly preservative....

I've rolled my own for 30 yrs and happy to use preservative, the difference is at best negligible.

(the important bit is to KNOW that your bait is the best quality/most attractive possible then a little preservative wont make any difference - and that aint possible without doing it yourself)
 
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After years of being a frozen bait only man I've now come to the conclusion it really doesn't make that much difference and having lack of freezer space I've moved over to shelf life's.
 
IMO, rolling your own baits gives you the opportunity to add your own favourite bits and bobs to the mix and the ability to chop and change whenever you feel the need. Added to that, there is definitely a sense of satisfaction to be had when catching on your own baits.

Having said that though, I haven't rolled my own for a good while now and was happily using frozen baits for the last six or seven years of carp fishing.

Now, I buy a bag of shelfies as I know they will last a good few sessions and that the levels of preservatives used these days is negligible.
 
Shelf life is certainly far more practical!

Shelf life often seem quite dry and hard compared with frozen baits. This could be a bonus on some waters with crayfish and such but frozen baits in general seem to leak off a little more scent.

This season I have been using pastes made from shelf life boilies. Mill some down a handful or two of boilies into a powered and add egg. Mix into a stiff paste and wrap around the hook boilie. This way you have a solid hook bait and a nice scent trail leading to it :)

Stephen
 
Marty Mulcairn said:
You'll find a lot of anglers use frozen or homemades thinking they've got an edge but then use dips and glugs that contain mostly preservative....

I've rolled my own for 30 yrs and happy to use preservative, the difference is at best negligible.

(the important bit is to KNOW that your bait is the best quality/most attractive possible then a little preservative wont make any difference - and that aint possible without doing it yourself)
Click to expand...

SSshh! Its the elephant in the room for the frozen boilie brigade. Tell everyone how fresh is best, preservatives are evil and then tell them to glug the most important bait - the one on the hair - in a liquid that is loaded full of preservatives to the extent a bottle of the aforementioned glug won't go off in side a decade!:)
 
I use frozens as they tend to be softer and I prefer not to have preservatives in my baits. I'm sure in small quantities preservatives aren't really a problem though and I do keep a bag of shelf life's in the boot of my car. Rolling your own is messy and time consuming but can be rewarding. Depends how much free time you have I guess.

Nick C
 
Freezer bait for me depending on what bait it is but to be fair baits bait if fish are there and feeding they will take it :)
 
It really depends on what kind of feeding scenario your going for.

If I was prebaiting and wanted the fish to be coming to my feed regularly then Id make my own. Decent basemix, no chemicals or preservatives, or flavours. If your going to the effort of prebaiting with the view to bring fish to you then I think you might aswell use a decent bait without man made s-hite in there. Its pot noodle vs fresh steak to use a human food based analogy.

If you just want a hookbait to fish with say inconjunction with hemp/pellets then just go for a shelflife, pellet, meat whatever.

I use both and think its down to application that makes the difference.
 
Ash Gould said:
It really depends on what kind of feeding scenario your going for.

If I was prebaiting and wanted the fish to be coming to my feed regularly then Id make my own. Decent basemix, no chemicals or preservatives, or flavours. If your going to the effort of prebaiting with the view to bring fish to you then I think you might aswell use a decent bait without man made s-hite in there. Its pot noodle vs fresh steak to use a human food based analogy.
If you just want a hookbait to fish with say inconjunction with hemp/pellets then just go for a shelflife, pellet, meat whatever.

I use both and think its down to application that makes the difference.
Click to expand...

thats a fair analogy Ash, but thats not to say fish always prefer a bait thats theoreticaly healthier/of higher quality ;)
 
Joe Fletcher said:
I am looking for some help and advice and was wondering if it makes any difference when usuing boilies if they are shelve life , frozen or roll your own ?
I have looked in to trying out some new boilies . Having made the choice I can get them either shelve life , frozen or buy the base mix and roll them my self .

I assume the shelf life have some kind of preservative and that might affect the flavour ?

Ready made frozen has no preservative and I assume wont alter the flavour ? and are just like freshly rolled ?

Buy the base mix and roll your own and being able to change texture , add flavours or not to add flavours and I assume by being able to alter the content , texture and flavour from time to time , They will be less inclined to blow ?

Any advice and help would be most welcome :)
Click to expand...


I've found that the boilies that people 'can smell before they see you' are very good. The frozen baits tend to stink which is obviously very good. I've found mainline to be incredibly smelly once thawed.
 
Years ago the 'Fresh is best' attitude had a lot more than merely a fear of preservatives damaging the fish driving it. Most people are aware that some of the additives in human grade food are bad for them, but that doesn't stop them eating it....so that theory doesn't stand up too well :D

The fact is that the majority of 'shelf life' boilies many years ago were a different bait altogether to decent quality fresh/frozen baits...effectively they were 'attractor' baits with masses of flavour and little in the way of food value. This had the double benefit for the manufacturers of making them cheaper to produce, and easier to preserve. Oh....and before I get pounced on for saying that...I am well aware that some of the frozen baits were guilty of this too, hence my use of the word 'quality' earlier :D

I have had leftover shelf life baits from two manufacturers, in large open top poly bags hanging on my garage wall for YEARS with no noticeable change whatsoever, until they started to disintegrate...from pure boredom I think :p Even the powder that remained after they fell apart smelled exactly the same as when the bag was newly opened, although of course it was nowhere near as strong :rolleyes: What I am saying is....at no time did they go rancid or unpleasant smelling, go mouldy, fungus, sweat....nothing.

However, I think things are a bit different now. I understand that there are some damned good shelf life baits available these days, using harmless preservatives. I have not used them myself (boilies are too expensive for an old fart like me :D) In fact, I recall Gary Bayes claiming some time back that he preferred some of their shelf life baits to the frozen. Of course you could say 'he would, wouldn't he', because he wants to sell them...but I think it may well be true now...in some cases :D

Cheers, Dave.
 
Trigga shelf life was/is regarded as a better bait than the freezer baits, particularly for big Chub. With limited time on the banks for me a boilie is just another attractor bait so shelf life baits suit my fishing. There's a big difference between an attractor bait and a long term food bait and you need to pick the one that suits your fishing.
 
Any one that makes there own boilies ever use Butyric Acid in there baits ?

I know years ago some people added it cheese paste with good results for Chub and was wondering if it is any good for barbel baits ;)

PM me if you prefere ;)
 
I've used frozen for the last few years, mainly for carp though admittedly, but I do wonder if they truly are best. Hung in an airdry bag from a tree. Any unused go back in the freezer. My freezer is at work, so any fumes will taint the baits.
Who knows how many times the bait has been defrosted and refrozen before I receive it anyway.
Too many variables, I will be trying shelfies next, I would be amazed if I noticed any difference in my catch rate. Who posted the "are barbel stupid" question anyway?.
 
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