Baits

[Sportsman]

I am intending to do some 24-48 hr sessions this year.Quarry will be Sturgeon, Cats and Carp.

The best attractor for sturgeon is Halibut Pellet so hook bait is likely to be 15mm or 25mm halibut pellet

The venues I will be fishing for cats don't allow fish bait, live or dead so it will either be pellet again - 2 or 3 25mm halibut pellets on a hair, large lumps of luncheon meat or baits like chicken liver. I am also thinking of making up some large (30-40mm) boilies with halibut pellet and liver. I can buy the pellet flour at reasonable cost but dried liver flour is expensive. Does anyone know if it is feasible to liquidise chicken livers and add them to the mix before boiling? What are they likely to boil up like?

For the carp I would prefer to use Tigers where allowed but it often isn't, so I need a bait that has quick attraction to work on the short sessions.

I am thinking of making up my own boiled baits but don't want to get into all of the faf about HNV baits. I read one site where the writer advised against baits that were too high in fat as they may raise the carp's cholesterol??

I just want something that will work quickly so I have two potential recipes. My base mix will be 50/50 Semolina and soy flour.

For fishy boilies that might also work for sturgeon and cats I was thinking 40% fish meal and 60% base mix with possibly some sardine oil or Monster crab flavour,

For the sweet boilies 80% base mix + 20% dried milk powder. Flavours would be either Scopex or Tutti Frutti and a few teaspoons of very sweet condensed milk.

For popups I was thinking the above mix around a 10mm polystyrene ball.

I have very little experience of using boilies as bait and none at all of making them so any advice from those that do will be very welcome, particularly with regard to flavours.

I also don't feel that perfectly spherical baits are necessary, or even a good idea. Is there a reason I don't know about for making boilies perfectly round? Mine will be a variety of sizes and shapes.

Does anyone else make their own and do you think they work better than shop bought?