have shelf - life boilies had their day?

[Tony U]

I am open minded on this; I have been completely outfished by Sue on one of our club waters, when I was using my own freshly made and frozen Boilies and she was using some three year old rock hard, shelf life ones, she found in the shed and insisted on using.

I am also sure we have all sat there blanking whilst another angler is having it big time with some ancient Richworth Tutti Frutti's that they have had in their bag for a couple of months.

 

[ 17. August 2005, 12:26 PM: Message edited by: Tony U ]

[fantasticfisherman]

but if they were rock hard, doesn't that mean they would have lost a certain amount of smell, so the fish wouldnt be able to find them as easily?

 

[ 17. August 2005, 06:02 PM: Message edited by: fantasticfisherman ]

[fantasticfisherman]

RobStubbs:

Freezer baits are generally better quality than ready mades, but both will undoubtedly catch fish.  I use both but prefer frozens whenever possible.  Frozen baits will last pretty much forever in the freezer (well many months or even a year anyway).  Once out of the freezer some will mould up but 3 or 4 days is generally OK, just don't let them sweat in a closed plastic bag.  I used frozen baits for a whole week in France in May this year, just left them out in an old pillow case to keep them dry.  They caught from day 1 to day 7 equally well.

 

Rob.

and when you say to keep them dry, what do you mean?

[merlino bill]

i hope shelf life boilly's are good for a long time i have a rucksack half full do you know if they have a shelf limit. anybody PLEASE

[Julian]

Hi Merlino,

 

Shelf life boilies will last for years as they contain preservatives to prolong life and prevent mould. However, the effectivness of some ingredients may reduce after say 6-8 months. If yu intend to be keeping them for longer than that it helps to have a dip or glug to give them a bit of a kick.

 

Julian

[Common 40]

and when you say to keep them dry, what do you mean? [/QB]

 

The idea mate is to keep them dry from sweating as rob rightly says, a pillow case or air dry net is perfect, just keep them moving about every couple of hours

If they do start to turn speckly white, don't worry thats just the salt seeping out..I believe there at there best then, more flavour release contrary to belief

 

[ 18. August 2005, 01:11 PM: Message edited by: Common 40 ]

[Julian]

Oh, and just to add, I think shelf life baits are as popular as ever. I've just started a carp bait company and my shelf life baits outsell my fresh/frozen baits ten times over. I think many anglers prefer a bait that you don't have to mess around with too much.

 

Julian

[fantasticfisherman]

i dont know if they have a shelf limit, but thats part of the reason i started this topic, because shelf do get harder once opened, and i've always wanted to know if they lose their smell because i dont want to go fishing with a bait that has no smell. as where frozen boilies are fresh because they are frozen, they would not lose their smell because you just take a new batch out of the freezer every time you go fishing.(thats what i do anyway)

[jeepster]

once you've opened a pack of shelf life boilies, if you don't use them all in one session, put what you haven't used in a tupperware (or similar) container, they'll last for ages and ages and ages

[fantasticfisherman]

good idea, i might try that myself, but at the moment i keep them in the bag they come in and put elastic bands around it to keep it shut. can you still catch fish on shelf life boilies that have gone hard and only have a little bit of smell left? i've always thought that if a certain amount of smell is lost, then it would be harder to catch becuase thre fish cant smell them as well :confused: