Boilie making

[Anderoo]

To all you boilie makers - how do you make really hard hookbait boilies, like marbles? Special ingredients, boil for longer, etc.?

 

Also, is there a way to make shop-bought boilies - either shelf life or frozen - rock hard? I mean really rock hard, so they don't rehydrate and start to go soft.

Edited November 4, 2010 by Anderoo

[Dick Dastardly]

Egg Albumin incorporated in the base mix makes the boilly very hard.However if you have ready made baits you want to toughen up you have two options,the best of which will depend on both time available and the actual make up of the boilie.

 

First is to simply air dry them so they are totally dehydrated,(I wont go into details as I presume you know the procedure? if not say)

 

Second is quick and makes the ultimate"marble" but does destroy a lot of the smell/flavour and that's to micro wave them! To save having to drill out the baits later (you wont get a baiting needle through them and a proper drill is better than a bait one) I just impale mine on soaked cocktail sticks so you have a ready made and sealed hole. Also with 99% of base mixes this will result in the boilie floating.No problem though if you fish it popped up.

 

I only ever micro wave hook baits but with air drying or using egg albumin you can obviously use them as bottom baits or loose feed. I dont mind my loose fed baits breaking down/being broken down though as I think it helps with attracting.

 

Incidental nuked baits are kind of Ronnie and Reggie proof but the darn things still mess about with then and as they are popped up cause tangles so really doesn't sort that problem if that's what your looking for. Puts eels off though!

[tincatinca]

Many years ago, I mainly used to use Mistral Rosehip Isotonic boilies for my trips to France along with tigersand maize and they used to supply a bait soak which considerably hardened the boilies giving them a good resistance to Poisson Chats which were could be an absolute nightmare on some waters. Untreated boilies would be finish up like small dice cubes after a very short time but the treated ones held up quite well and even better when they were popped up. I do not know whether Mistral still do the bait soaks but may be worth looking into as an alternative to air drying.

[poledark]

Not really what you asked, but you could try Armamesh.

 

Den

[Anderoo]

Thanks everyone - good advice! It's not for avoiding crays actually, it's for next year's bream fishing. I had to give up on boilies this year because I didn't have anything that could survive 24hrs in water with the little roach nibbling away at it. The plastic worked but I still like to hedge my bets a bit, especially with several baits on the same spot. I'm also considering making my own bait, but whether or not that ends up happening we'll have to wait and see!

[Jack81]

Egg Albumin is supposed to do the job if you are making your own. I have found soaking in Mainline cell hookbait dip overnight seems to dehydrate and make cell freezer baits rock hard, I can't believe roach could nibble away at those. I had trouble getting a needle though them!

[Anderoo]

Thanks for that, looks like I have a few options to experiment with. The real test for me is not how hard they start off as, but how hard they are after 24 hours in water. I tried using air dried boilies last year but they rehydrated surprisingly quickly. It's OK if little fish aren't pecking away at them, but once the roach are a nuisance they don't last long.

 

There's nothing worse than reeling in after a blank night to find no bait on your hair

[tincatinca]

The plastic worked but I still like to hedge my bets a bit,

Now that I can equate to as my faith in plastic is very shallow

I do wonder though how effective treated maize would be as it is much harder and would be difficult for the Roach to decimate. The bait soak that I used to use was very good at resisting the Poisson Sh-ts and baits would be taken after several hours in the water. There was some damge to the boilies but nowhere near enough to remove the bait from the hair. Certainly popping the bait up of the bottom helped inasmuch as the little buggers could not get a good purchase. Whether or not it made any difference, the hook baits used to be soaking for several weeks befor we went. Like you, I find that air dried baits very quickly rehydrate.

[Anderoo]

I will look into these bait dips then, thanks. I guess they are oily and the oil displaces any moisture and prevents it getting back in?

 

I have every faith in the plastic, but with 2 or 3 baits on the same spot it makes sense to play the odds!

 

Another thought I had was just using trimmed down airball pop-ups, as these are quite 'spongy' in texture and less liable to be nibbled away?

[tincatinca]

I will look into these bait dips then, thanks. I guess they are oily and the oil displaces any moisture and prevents it getting back in?

 

I have every faith in the plastic, but with 2 or 3 baits on the same spot it makes sense to play the odds!

 

Another thought I had was just using trimmed down airball pop-ups, as these are quite 'spongy' in texture and less liable to be nibbled away?

 

Again, I have to stand up for the Mistral pop ups as they are by far and away the best I have ever used. In the past, I have had them in the water for nearly a week and they were still like corks which is a testement to their resistance to water.