Air dried baits

I have no experience of air drying boilies. Never felt the need , but for this summer building work means i lose my freezer.Has anyone got any tips or encouragement as i am suffering a bit of a confidence crisis.Many thanx in advance.

hello david....i use air dried baits.i didn't find any change in catch rate when i switched from frozens,they are both equally as good as each other.
the only real pitfalls with air drying are;

storage...beware of using plastic bags,they get condensation in,and your baits will go mouldy,many people,myself included,have fallen foul of this one!...mesh bags or hessian type sacks are ideal,anything that lets air in.

size and weight....once all the moisture is out of the baits,they lose a lot of weight and shrink,if you need to bait up at any kind of range,you could struggle.

hardness.....not for the fish to cope with!,for your poor boily needle,you will need a nutdrill to get your baits on the hair.

apart from those 3 minor things,they are superb,and not having to use the freezer for your bait is a major plus.i've used air dried baits up to 2 years old,and caught no problems,i reckon they will last indefinitely.
make the jump and use them with confidence david,i'm sure you'll have no problems

regards mark

Brilliant , thankyou Mark for the help. I am river fishing so distance is not an issue and hard baits may also deter the dreaded (when not fishing for them) Bream. My confidence can now resume at sky high

Yip...air drying is good. If u want to store them in a container, add either salt, or sugar in with the boilies...this will soak up any moisture.

I dry mine first on a kitchen towel, and then in an old keepnet or landing net. Works wonders!

Starmer sell air dried boilies, and they last ages.

If you want to re-hydrate them before you fish, a good way is to spray/soak them in a solution of betaine hydrochloride and water. This instantly re-vitalises them and also gives added attraction.Don't know if this makes any difference or not but the logic is there.

Cheers.
Jake.

Thanks guys.

I air dry my baits in the lttle mesh bags that come with washing powder tablets.
Gardner sell black versions for about ?5.

After air drying them for a couple of months, I then put them in a bait bucket with a load of trout pellets or rice to soak up any moisture created through sweating.
This bucket can then stay in the back of the van without any worries.

Rik..hang on..u use the little bags that come with washing powder??? This must be a new fangled thing....I never go near the kitchen..lol

How do you get 10 kilos of boillies in one of those?

Makes me laugh that anglers pay that sort of money for a string bag. The Bass bags used by Trout anglers are just as good, twice as big, and half the price..of..and a very fashionable green!..lol