SPECIES: SPECIMEN CARP EXPERT: Ian Russell

A carp angling guru who once owned his own bait company. So who better to reveal the secrets of boilie fishing to catch some real lumps?

BOILIES have caught more carp, from more waters, in the past 30 years than any other bait.

Boilie types

There are four main types of boilies – freezer baits, shelf-lifes, pop-ups and wafters. There’s a perception that freezer baits, which contain no preservatives, are superior to shelf-life baits. Nothing could be further from the truth. Shelfies are so good these days that there really is no advantage in using freezer baits. Shelf-life baits are much more convenient as they can be stored for weeks in their bag and they release an immediate flavour punch into the water, so they instantly start working.

Pop-ups and wafters

These boilies are purely for hookbaits. A pop-up over a scattering of boilies spread over a wide area is perfect, as it will stand out from the rest of the loosefeed. Conversely, if I was using a PVA bag of boilies, I wouldn’t use a pop-up because, in this tighter feed situation, the pop-up would obviously float above the rest of the loosefeed, spelling danger to feeding fish. I Also, if the water is very silty, a light hookbait – pop-up or wafter – will sit on top of the soft silt better than a heavier bottom bait ever could.

Colour choices

According to some scientists, carp can see colours at either end of the spectrum, while others conclude that, at a certain depth, they can only see shades of black or blue. I personally believe that no-one actually knows. I’ve caught carp at depths of 24ft on both brightly coloured and dark brown baits. It’s a question of confidence. If you’re confident with your bait choice, then stick with it. As to whether to use a hi-viz or a muted ‘food’ pop-up – one that matches the colour of the bottom baits – that depends on the venue I’m faced with. On a runs water a hi-viz pop-up is great, as I’m fishing for shoals of fish. In this scenario I want the bait to stand out and scream, ‘eat me!’ On less densely stocked waters a food-based pop-up is often better for these larger, more wary, fish. These carp, being bigger, have made their mistakes over the years, often on bright baits, so they approach them with greater caution.

Dips and glugs

A dip is essentially a bait booster. They are generally oil-based and are highly flavoured, making them ideal for quickly dipping your hookbait into prior to casting, or for soaking a hookbait for up to two hours. Due to the flavour levels used in boilie dips, they tend to be too strong to be used as a soak for your freebies. Glugs and food dips are primarily designed as a hookbait soak, and tend to come matched up to a particular recipe. These products have a higher food signal than a standard boilie dip. The main reason that food dips and glugs are used is so that your freebies can be soaked for longer.

Fishing with boilies

When fishing a day session on a runs water, I start by fishing a wafter hookbait over 30 bottom baits and gauge the rest of the session from there. For a 24-hour session on a busy water where I can’t move, I cast a single hookbait rig at showing fish. My second and third rod might have half a kilo of baits loosefed over an area the size of a tennis court, with the hookbait placed amid the loosefeed. I want the fish moving between single baits, so they don’t get spooked by the hookbait. This ought to be just another freebie as far as the carp are concerned.