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The effectiveness of glugged boilies in flood

P

Paul Cahill

Senior Member
I suspect like most of you, I have a pot of permanently glugged boilies which I use regularly for hookbait. In flood conditions I tend to use two of these on the hair, and I do catch fish. But I am really unsure as to how effective the scent trail actually is of the oil: on retrieval, even after a few minutes, the outer crust of the boilie is washed out. When you remove the boilie you can see that the inner part of the boilie still contains oil.

I tend to assume that the scent trail reduces significantly after the first few minutes, and that I should be changing baits extremely regularly. But I am unsure as to whether the oil would still be leaching out from the centre of the boilie and through the washed-out core. If that is the case then the bait is effective for much longer of course.

I know, better to be safe than sorry, and I do err on the side on caution with frequent changes.

Thoughts? Would a paste wrap be more effective than my oily boilies?
 
Hi Paul

I tend to find glugging the boilies then wrapping them in a paste and glugging them again will hold the oil for longer....

but even then I find in flooded conditions that I am rebaiting and recasting every half an hour to ensure the maximum scent trail is created.

I always sniff my baits when they come back in to see whats left!
 
I have often wondered about the effectiveness of glugged boilies and do wonder if the practise gives more confidence to the anglers than a scent trail to the fish, given how quickly it washes off. Nothing wrong with that of course, but a barbels natural food doesn't carry anything like that level of scent and I feel they will pick up the smell of unglugged baits just as well. I think it was Fred Crouch who questioned whether barbel actually had a sense of smell at all. I think we can safely assume they do. A fish that is very happy feeding in darkness and murky conditions cannot rely on sight alone. Also, their love of garlic is well documented!
But confidence in bait is all important, and worth a thread on it's own :)
 
In a flood i found just breaking a boilie in two and fishing back to back did the trick, no need for gluggs or pastes...
 
Hi Paul,

I find that pellets work better than boilees for hookbaits. Pellets start to melt slowly, well halibut pellets do, so you have constant scent as the pellet melts. Boilees tend to lock up especially in the winter months. Barbel like all cyprinids loose a lot of their sensual perception during the colder months as their bodies begin to shut down in colder water. That's when really strong baits come into their own.

Regards,

Lee.
 
As always Lee, you do talk a lot of sense, I always find that boilie fishing drops off as the winter settles in its just that I didnt know the answer.
 
Lee Fletcher said:
Hi Paul,

I find that pellets work better than boilees for hookbaits. Pellets start to melt slowly, well halibut pellets do, so you have constant scent as the pellet melts. Boilees tend to lock up especially in the winter months. Barbel like all cyprinids loose a lot of their sensual perception during the colder months as their bodies begin to shut down in colder water. That's when really strong baits come into their own.

Regards,

Lee.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Personally I've always used boilies in high water conditions, but that's food for thought. It would be interesting to experiment on the attraction levels of breaking down pellets compared to oily boilies.

When fishing over feed in lower water conditions I'm happiest with a boilie cut down to pellet size, as your loose feed brings the fish in and the boilie is just another mouthful.
 
Paul Cahill said:
I suspect like most of you, I have a pot of permanently glugged boilies which I use regularly for hookbait. In flood conditions I tend to use two of these on the hair, and I do catch fish. But I am really unsure as to how effective the scent trail actually is of the oil: on retrieval, even after a few minutes, the outer crust of the boilie is washed out. When you remove the boilie you can see that the inner part of the boilie still contains oil.

I tend to assume that the scent trail reduces significantly after the first few minutes, and that I should be changing baits extremely regularly. But I am unsure as to whether the oil would still be leaching out from the centre of the boilie and through the washed-out core. If that is the case then the bait is effective for much longer of course.

I know, better to be safe than sorry, and I do err on the side on caution with frequent changes.

Thoughts? Would a paste wrap be more effective than my oily boilies?
Click to expand...

Hi Paul
Good thread this one..
Interesting to read the comments already posted, we all have our own 'tried and tested' method it would seem!

Personally I stop using pellets once the water temps dip down to the early 50's as I believe they become less effective due the the oils being locked in because of the colder water temps. I can only assume that this might be the case with oily boilies too? I've also read and heard loads that Barbel really struggle to digest pellets once winter sets in as they're naturally less active and therefore don't need to eat so much (that's if you're feeding them of course).

Barbel love boilies and are probably quite happy to eat them all year round given the oppertunity! However may be they need 'tweaking' for the floods and the winter periods? If you're making your own try increasing the flavour levels slightly and boiling them for a shorter period of time, that way the flavours will 'escape' easier and for longer and you won't need to change the baits so frequently and therefore keep casting which will reduce your chances of catching..

But for me it's paste and a really good quality one at that with may be a few lightly boiled 'chops' (they don't tend to roll away like a round boilie can) as freebies. The thing with pastes are that they are always 'melting' and therefore creating a decent scent trail.

I think it's fair to say that most methods will work given a 'fair' trail but some will work better than others when applied at the right times and in the right way.

The trouble is the fair trail time, most anglers give up on their methods after 2 or 3 blanks and move on to the next best kept secret! :)

Regards Sean
 
My winter pellets get a light touch of good old monster crab. Flavour tends to stick around a fair bit!

Graham
 
Lee, are you fishing paste wrapped around a boilie or pellet or cork ball or just moulded around the hook ? Also do you make yours from a base mix or other ? I'm a novice on pastes so would welcome some tips ?
 
Dont think oily boilies would work to well in colder water conditions.
 
Dear Cliff,

I sometimes use boilees and often use paste as a wrap. I make my own boilees and paste and you can read how to make a very good fermented shrimp paste by going to my website.

Great pastes are extremely easy to make and you can get most of the ingredients from any good supermarket.

I tend to do most of my barbel fishing from autumn onwards now a days and especially come into my own in the depths of winter. I really love winter barbel fishing for two reasons. 1, There is hardly anyone else fishing for them in the areas I fish and 2, The fish are in magnificent condition at this time of the year.

There are however certain problems to over come in order to be successful during the winter months. Temperature plays a part but not nearly as critical as air pressure. I kid you not when I say that getting the air pressure equation right is crucial. Location, especially on big rivers like the Trent, is paramount. Trent barbel move to their wintering grounds come the colder weather so it pays to know where these locations are. Sure you will still find barbel hanging around the summer locations but the big girls tend to move when the first frosts arrive.

Then there is the question of bait choice during the colder months. My rule of thumb is the colder the river gets, the smellier the bait has to be in order to give the fishes smelling senses, which have now grown torpid, a good chance of locating your bait. Think of it like your hands growing very cold on a winters day Cliff and you start to loose the dexterity in your fingers? A similar thing happens to fishes senses in that they become dulled due to the cold as their senses start to shut down. Barbel do not hibernate as such akin to say how a tench does, but they do gather in often large numbers to lie close together in cold weather only venturing out of the group to feed for short periods. These fish will feed more often and for longer periods in low air pressure conditions. And the smellier the bait is, the easier they find it.

But there is something else to consider. Oil? Or water based smell and taste? Without question I always go for water based. Any oil base will rise and float away but a water base will leach and stay amongst the gravel and pebbles even when it has leached out of the hook bait. Plus a water based smell will waft along the bottom and that's exactly where the barbel are.

For general flood water fishing pellet is my first choice. I used to use worm a fair bit but there are so many big perch now in the Trent I tend not to use worm when seeking to target barbel.

Throughout the autumn and winter I will be writing about my fishing this season together with displaying the fish I catch with how to do pieces on winter barbel fishing, my number one winter barbel bait, and lots more. First article with fish and doubles I caught in the last two weeks to just over 12lb goes up shortly.

Regards,

Lee.
 
Lee Fletcher said:
Dear Cliff,

I sometimes use boilees and often use paste as a wrap. I make my own boilees and paste and you can read how to make a very good fermented shrimp paste by going to my website.

Great pastes are extremely easy to make and you can get most of the ingredients from any good supermarket.

I tend to do most of my barbel fishing from autumn onwards now a days and especially come into my own in the depths of winter. I really love winter barbel fishing for two reasons. 1, There is hardly anyone else fishing for them in the areas I fish and 2, The fish are in magnificent condition at this time of the year.

There are however certain problems to over come in order to be successful during the winter months. Temperature plays a part but not nearly as critical as air pressure. I kid you not when I say that getting the air pressure equation right is crucial. Location, especially on big rivers like the Trent, is paramount. Trent barbel move to their wintering grounds come the colder weather so it pays to know where these locations are. Sure you will still find barbel hanging around the summer locations but the big girls tend to move when the first frosts arrive.

Then there is the question of bait choice during the colder months. My rule of thumb is the colder the river gets, the smellier the bait has to be in order to give the fishes smelling senses, which have now grown torpid, a good chance of locating your bait. Think of it like your hands growing very cold on a winters day Cliff and you start to loose the dexterity in your fingers? A similar thing happens to fishes senses in that they become dulled due to the cold as their senses start to shut down. Barbel do not hibernate as such akin to say how a tench does, but they do gather in often large numbers to lie close together in cold weather only venturing out of the group to feed for short periods. These fish will feed more often and for longer periods in low air pressure conditions. And the smellier the bait is, the easier they find it.

But there is something else to consider. Oil? Or water based smell and taste? Without question I always go for water based. Any oil base will rise and float away but a water base will leach and stay amongst the gravel and pebbles even when it has leached out of the hook bait. Plus a water based smell will waft along the bottom and that's exactly where the barbel are.

For general flood water fishing pellet is my first choice. I used to use worm a fair bit but there are so many big perch now in the Trent I tend not to use worm when seeking to target barbel.

Throughout the autumn and winter I will be writing about my fishing this season together with displaying the fish I catch with how to do pieces on winter barbel fishing, my number one winter barbel bait, and lots more. First article with fish and doubles I caught in the last two weeks to just over 12lb goes up shortly.

Regards,

Lee.
Click to expand...

Great post Lee- some valuable insight there.
 
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