Breaking down boilie success

NASH E-ZINE AUTUMN 2016

BREAKING DOWN BOILIE SUCCESS When is a boilie not a boilie to a carp? Oli reveals the results he’s had when applying boilies differently to everyone else in the edge.

The iconic Woodcarving, a fish that has seen it all caught twice less than a rod length from the bank over flaked boilie

T

his season has been one of my best in terms of captures from the margins, and I can partly attribute that to swapping my usual approach of baiting with micro pellet and small particle for flaked boilie, mixing the Key and TG. There is no doubt in my mind that the boilie, applied correctly has provoked a better feeding response from the fish, and as a result I have actually caught more.

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“Simply by crumbing them or using flake you can engineer a completely different response to exactly the same bait…”

I have never been a massive boilie user which I guess makes me a little unusual in the modern carp scene that relies so heavily on them.

Much of my carp fishing is done right in the edge and those round balls that we use so much out in the lake simply are not as effective as pellet and particle for this type of fishing. Well, that isn’t strictly true – it is how you apply them that is critical to whether they work or not.

It is a conversation that I have had many times this year with anglers, based on my observations of very experienced fish in clear water, watching how carp react to bait.

Sure, boilies are convenient and versatile, but in order to truly unlock that versatility we need to look at how we apply them.

BREAKING DOWN BOILIE SUCCESS - OLI DAVIES My heart sinks every time I poke my head over to check a spot and I see a pile of boilies in the edge. Why? Because in my experience that spot will then be useless for at least a couple of days. You see, for some reason carp very often regard this baiting pattern with suspicion and avoid it. So not only will they not eat the bait that has been put there but they won’t even go near it. Often it is birds, not fish, that eventually clear up the boilies. Baiting the margins with whole boilies isn’t just not doing the person baiting any favours, it is also harming the chances of others who might want to fish that spot in the days following. I certainly wouldn’t waste my time fishing a spot where I could see someone else’s whole boilies.

Even if the carp do eventually eat those baits, the feeding situation created isn’t one that leads to many captures.

Another flake-induced capture, the Little Leather at 38lb plus

BOILIES NOT THE PROBLEM

I love fishing under the rod tip where I can see the carp feed

The ironic thing is it is not the boilies themselves that are the problem – it is the way they are presented.

Simply by crumbing them or using flake you can engineer a completely different response to exactly the same bait, a response not only on a par with particle baits but actually often better. After all, we go to great lengths to make our boilies extremely attractive and palatable.

As a result, not a lot of this highly attractive bait is needed to entice the fish to feed. Just five crumbed boilies, instead of spooking the fish will keep them feeding until every last particle has gone, and as a result the spot will become cleaner for presenting a hook bait on. The longer and more vigorously that the fish feed on a spot while you have a bait on it then the more chance you have of getting a pick up. And all this can be achieved using less bait.

Win win surely?

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NASH E-ZINE AUTUMN 2016

Often it's the older and wiser fish that fall to a subtle trap.

Horton's Sid is around 50 years old

“Just five crumbed boilies, instead of spooking the fish will keep them feeding until every last bit has gone…”

There are many good boilies out there full of attraction and ingredients that fish enjoy eating. By breaking them up this attraction is released far more readily into the water.

using washed out baits would be the answer?

INSTANT ACTION

What really makes them easier to hook is actually getting them feeding. If they won’t feed on the bait you have put in then how can you catch them? More importantly when fishing a busy lake it is pretty selfish to ruin good spots with poor baiting. If everyone plays the game and applies their bait thoughtfully then everybody benefits; spots are kept clean and visited regularly and everyone gets more chances.

Having watched very pressured fish eat flaked boilie regularly within a few seconds of it being in the water I am inclined to disagree. They obviously find it instantly attractive and palatable. Perhaps the success that washed out baits can have actually proves that it often takes time for those round balls to be viewed with enough confidence that the fish actually eat them. Have boilies blown? Of course not, but certainly the traditional application of them is viewed with suspicion by wary and pressured carp in clear water margin spots, and perhaps we need to consider more how we apply them to achieve the best results.

Some might argue that it is the flavour itself, or levels of flavour that is repelling the fish from eating the baits straight away and that perhaps

When particle fishing hook bait choice is endless – after all often there will often be upwards of 20 different types of food item in

When I point this out to anglers I often get a strange look. Surely you want the fish moving between picking up baits… Won’t that make them easier to hook…?

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the mix to keep the fish guessing which one might have a hook in it, and all those different sized particles make it harder for a carp to distinguish easily when one is heavier than another. When fishing over crumbed and flaked boilie, again there are lots of different sized particles, just less variety of textures and tastes.

DOUBLE TROUBLE Something that has worked for me well in both situations is using a double bait rather than just one, whether it be two tigers, peanuts or maple peas. The same applies to boilie hookbaits – I much prefer two 10mm boilies to one 15mm one. I can’t say for sure why it works better, but I’m sure the shape makes it behave more randomly when sucked in and makes it harder for the fish to eject than a single round ball. Of course no rig is perfect and I have watched fish eject this setup, but I have also watched many of them nail themselves too, so I think

cutting edge NASHBAIT’S unique Flake is produced from rolled boilies taken through a cutting and milling process to create a blend of irregular 1-2mm flakes and crumb that settles lightly over weed and silt, spreading a stimulating food signal through the swim. Even the smallest quantities encourage intensive and prolonged feeding.

Available in: The Key® Frozen, The Key® Stabilised, TG Active Frozen and Shelf Life, 4G Squid Frozen and Shelf Life.

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BREAKING DOWN BOILIE SUCCESS - OLI DAVIES we just have to accept that there is no one rig or bait combination that will hook everything all the time. Once you do accept this it becomes much more about finding the fish and getting them feeding confidently, and sticking to a presentation that you have confidence in.

Groucho at 30lb caught on 2 10mm TG

“…I’m sure the shape makes it behave more randomly when sucked in and makes it harder for the fish to eject.”

A hook bait doesn’t necessarily have to match the freebies, I have caught most of my fish this year using TG Active hook baits but fishing over The

Key Flake, and I’m not the first angler to use these two baits successfully in combination. There is obviously something in them combined that the fish really like.

Don't be afraid to mix and match freebies and hook biat options

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Far more important than rigs and hook baits however is actually creating that feeding situation that will give us a chance of a pickup in the first place, and that is done more effectively by applying our bait correctly. So next time you are tempted to put boilies straight out the bag on a spot in the edge, try crumbling a few instead.

It is still your bait, but you have just instantly unlocked so much more of its potential!

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