MAKE YOUR HOOKBAITS STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD
Get busy in the kitchen, reap the rewards on the bank…
ONE OF the old traditions that I still like to uphold every spring is making my own boilies.
This is very much a lost art these days, with most people preferring to choose from the massive array of offerings available on tackle shop shelves. There are definite advantages to doing a little DIY in the bait department, though, especially when it comes to hookbaits, which can be tweaked to bring you more bites and improve the efficiency of your rigs.
With boilies being so popular these days, being able to offer the fish something a little bit different can be a huge advantage. Perhaps you want to make some customised popups or wafters? Maybe a pot of bright hookbaits that stand out against your darker feed baits are what’s needed? Or, simpler still, you might simply want to try a different-shaped boilie? These are all easily achievable.
SIMPLE SOLUTIONS
There’s a real art to blending raw ingredients to produce a great boilie, so it’s best to use the boilie-making packs that most bait companies produce to complement their readymade baits. These contain the dry mix, plus the blended liquid additives that you need to replicate your favourite bait. All you need to add are eggs, which act as a binder when the baits are boiled. Then get tweaking!
One of the things I like to change is the shape of the baits. One of my favourites is to make pellet-shaped hookbaits. These stand out better on the bottom than a single small, round bait, and once a fish picks them up they’re harder to eject.
Another good tip is to make a few hookbaits in different sizes. If you’re using 15mm boilies, try a really big 25mm hookbait to attract the carp’s attention. Alternatively, try making some tiny hookbaits that are perfect use on the Method feeder for smaller species.
Fish seem to much prefer soft baits to hard ones. Homemade baits tend to be much softer than readymades, which is one of the most important reasons I make my own.
FURTHER TWEAKS
Don’t try to make too many baits at once. Start off with one egg as a trial because this will still make quite a substantial number of baits, and certainly plenty of hookbaits. A 1kg bag of mix requires around a dozen eggs to make it all, so there’s plenty of opportunity to experiment.
Why not try changing the colour of some of the baits by adding powdered dyes, or boosting the smell of your hookbaits by doubling the amount of flavour used? It can all have a big effect.
You can try experimenting with other additives too, but keep in mind that the base mix will have been formulated very carefully, so don’t add too much of anything new.
WAFTERS
One of my favourite hookbaits is a wafter. The buoyancy of these baits offsets the weight of the hook, so they’re easy for fish to pick up and tend to give good hookholds as the rig shoots back further into the mouth.
To make your own wafters you’ll need some powdered pop-up mix. A small tub of this goes a long way, as we’re only using it for hookbaits, so it’s well worth the investment if you want to make your own hookbaits.
“Being able to offer something a bit different can be a huge advantage”