Sunday 11 August 2013

Boilies For Carp


This will be my 99th piece for the North West Carp Blog and the first time I’ve ever given an opinion on the boilies I use for my carp fishing. This is mainly because I view boilies as too expensive. In today’s modern carp world it’s not uncommon to see so called top anglers recommending the use of hundreds of kilos of boilies as part of a baiting campaign, there is nothing wrong with this type of fishing, if you can manage to establish a good bait there’s no doubt you will bag up if you put the time, money and effort into this type of fishing. Lets be honest though, even with a heavy discount rate of £6 a kilo for frozen boilies, how many anglers can afford to buy their bait in these kind of quantities?, I know I can’t!. I can’t afford the time and the fuel running too and from a venue to prebait during the week either, so like most carp anglers, I have to pick a boilie and just make the best of it on the day.

Fortunately bait isn’t the be all and end all of catching carp, it’s only a very small part of a bigger picture, a sensible rig makes up the other small part and the other 99% is down to location, if you get that right I think you’ll catch no matter what bait you use. That’s not to say that some baits aren’t better than others. I only ever use boilies that have proven themselves as good catchers of carp, by doing so I can forget about my baits and concentrate my time and effort onto the important things like finding the fish.

So what boilies do I use and why?. Well I generally have a couple of proven ‘attractor’ baits and a proven food bait and I chop and change between them depending on the circumstances, if I’m fishing the same water week after week then I generally go with the food bait and if I’m chopping and changing waters I stick with the ‘attractor’ baits, during the winter virtually all my fishing is done with the latter. The following 3 boilies are the baits I’ve been using recently.

Nashbait Scopex Squid Red, A classic carp catcher!

Nash Scopex Squid
This is my food boilie, nashbait scopex squid has been a proven catcher of carp for many years now and I’ve witnessed this boilie dominate venues in the past, such has been the success of scopex squid I felt I really should be using it myself. I have a complete lack of freezer space at home and scopex squid is available in ready made form so it’s ideal for me. You might be surprised at me using the ready made boilies rather than frozen baits but nash scopex squid ready mades are the same as nash scopex squid frozen baits, the only difference is that they are air dried for longer and vacuum packed. Take a look at this video from Gary Bayes at nashbait, he explains about the baits and how readymade and frozen baits are actually the same (it kicks in at about 4 minutes after he explains about coloured boiles). For me personally this is a bonus, it means I can buy in bigger quanities without fear of my baits going off. I have to pay a bit more for the bait but with no freezer space available it’s a cost I’m willing to take on.


CCMoores Northern Specials
Gareth Fareham’s ‘Northern Specials’ from ccmoores are the first of my attractor baits, I carry the northern specials in a couple of different sizes and colours and in both pop ups and slow sinkers so I have something for every occaision. My results using ccmoores northern specials suggest they are truly exceptional carp baits and I must admit, I only started using them after witnessing some remarkable catches made by a handful of my mates who have really done the business with them over the last couple of years, so they have the great track record for catching carp that I look for in a boilie. The NS1’s have been very consistent for me so far and I’ve no doubt having a couple of tubs of these boilies in my rucksack is a good thing, when it comes down to it, I’d rather have them in my bag than be without them!.

CCMoores Northern Specials or 'NS1's', I wouldn't want to be without a tub of these!

Frank Warwick Fruit Special Pop Ups
My second attractor bait is Frank Warwicks fruit specials also known as ‘fruit smoothies’. I carry these in pop up and slow sinkers too. I first started using these baits when Frank launched his bait company a few years ago, his bait roller Paul Hatton put me onto them and I must admit he put me onto a real winner with these. I just used them as single hookbaits during my last few seasons of winter fishing and I could do no wrong with them, that first tub of pop ups brought me in the region of 50 winter doubles, quite a remarkable catch rate considering I never used a single freebie!.

Frank Warwick Fruit Special Pop Ups, carp love them and so do I!


A recent low 20 on a Frank Warwick Fruit Special Pop Up

Mainline Cell Boilies
Sadly Frank Warwick baits are no more so I've replaced Frank's fruit specials with Mainline Cell boilies, the cell has an excellent track record for catching which is all I ever want from a decent boilie, confidence in a bag.

So there we have it, these are the 3 boilies I carry with me today, I’m sure other baits will come and go and there will always be something that gets re-cycled every year, this is the nature of carp fishing and we’ve all been guilty of jumping on the latest band wagon when it comes to bait and boilies in particular. These 3 boilies have proven themselves time and again, so much so that any thoughts of my bait not being up to scratch have been completely eliminated, I’d take these 3 baits anywhere, anytime, which is great because it leaves me free to focus more of my energies on finding the carp in the first place. If I put any one of these boilies in the right place I just know it will go, if you can say that about your baits then you’re well on the way to catching, if you can’t, then give one of these boilies a try, I only use them myself because the carp like them so much!.
Tight Lines
Mark.

Shop for Boilies

Shop for Korda Tackle

Shop for Trakker Tackle

Shop for Fox International Tackle

Nothing beats Shimano for Reels

Add to Google Reader or Homepage