Homemade Boilie

Hi, So I am looking to start making my own boilies, I was reading a lot of recipes and I was wondering how people got the right amount of eggs, if I used, 5oz Semolina, 3oz Soya Flour, how many eggs would I use Thanks.

fishermandan said:

Hi, So I am looking to start making my own boilies, I was reading a lot of recipes and I was wondering how people got the right amount of eggs, if I used, 5oz Semolina, 3oz Soya Flour, how many eggs would I use Thanks.

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I don't use eggs. But if you do then its a simple case of adding the dry powders and ingredients to the liquids to form a dough similar to the consistency of playdough which include beaten eggs, flavours, colours and oils. You can never accurately state with certainty how many eggs you will require due to the fact that no two eggs are the same size or weight.

So.... one MEDIUM (average) size egg (as a trial one-egg-mix without any additional liquids added) will produce 60 x 15mm boilies or 80 x 12mm boilies and will require around 100g of base mix.

Good luck.

I typed "simple boilie recipes" into Google and couldn't believe how many ingredients people put into their boilies. It's like rocket science and I haven't heard of half the stuff they use

Fishermandan - For many years I used to make my own boilies. The basic mix was 5oz semolina (coarse), 2oz potatostarch (farina), 3oz soya flour. Mix with 3 medium eggs (must be fresh) and powdered or liquid colouring and flavouring. When rolling if the mix is too dry add more water if too wet add more boilie mix, then boil for 3 minutes, allow to dry then freeze. I know lots of people suggest boiling for less time but with this mix if it is not boiled for long enough the boilie will disintegrate in mid air if a throwing stick is used and it will soften too much over night.

I used to mix a plastic dustbin of dry boilie mix, buy dozens of eggs at a time, roll thousands of boilies and boil them in a Baby Burco, then freeze. My poor wife was so patient.

Don't bother with HNV or high protein mixes, too many different boilies are going in our waters for the fish to be able to recognise a "good" bait and anyway the HNV route is nonsense.

However; be warned, there are better baits for carp than boilies, try tiger nuts over wheat!!! Luckily I have now seen the light and mainly try to catch big roach!

I admire people who have the time, ability and patience to make their own boilies. There must be some advantage I suppose. It is probably financial? Or
maybe its the belief that theirs will be superior? I can understand the satisfaction of catching on homemades just like homemade floats etc. though.

If its just financial there are some alternative bargains out there. I bought some Tuti Fruti at Aldi (DONT LAUGH COS THEY CATCH) at a price you couldn't make them for. They probably come from the same maker as as your tackle shop ones? Go Outdoors were knocking boilies out at half price a month or so ago.
On the "superior" theme, I doubt it as commercial made boilies seem to catch well.

I await the incoming flak from the boilie makersmg:

Hi, thanks for the help, I was reading about it a lot, and a lot of people freeze their boilies, do you have to freeze them or is it optional, so the Soya Flour,Semolina, Eggs, is just the base and then add Colour, Flavor

I make my own purely because I don't find the locally available ones to be inspiring. I haven't a clue about the science involved and don't particularly subscribe to the HNV route. But then again, I am an afternoon angler and don't mount 72 hour or 7 day wars of attrition. Or make money out of angling.

The aim of a boilie for me is the purely historic one, ie. to avoid the attention of smaller fish such as bream and roach. If I didn't need to avoid bream and roach I would just use a stack of maize grains as that has given me the best results over the last two years. I've tried the type of boilies the locals favour - Tuti-Fruit and Strawberry and even glugged them in strawberry food flavouring. Maize catches more fish where I go.

Based on what I have learned about the carp and barbel over here I aim to make something that will be readily accepted by fish that don't see many angler's baits. And given that I use seed and micro pellets as loose feed and groundbait my boilies reflect that. So instead of using semolina and soya as a binder I use a mixture of ground hempseed and coarse maize flour with a touch of sunflower oil and paprika. Paprika is one of the attractants found in Robin Red. That makes a boilie that is basically a lump of the stuff I'm loose feeding with a bit extra flavour. I can wrap that in a paste made from the same ingredients and ground pellets. The paste will last about ten or fifteen minutes leaving a loose pile of what the boilie is made from.

For barbel I add some salmon cat food into the binder mix to give a boilie with the texture similar to luncheon meat and wrap those with a paste made from the same ingredients plus some blue cheese to hold it together better in running water.

I'll make a batch of each up and let them dry for 2 or 3 days. Then I freeze them in batches and any left over after a session get crumbled up into the next session's groundbait.

nicepix...interesting about your observation about French fish that havn't seen anglers bait. I fished a side stream cum overflow stretch joining the Rhone just South of Avingnon and couldn't get a touch on meat for the barbel. Then I tried good old sweetcorn. It was like magic. Plenty of barbel although not large. Chub and those "silver crucians".

peterjg said:

Don't bother with HNV or high protein mixes, too many different boilies are going in our waters for the fish to be able to recognise a "good" bait and anyway the HNV route is nonsense.

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Have you ever considered the reason why fish sometimes eat natural and real-food baits over inferior man made rubbish? Not all boilies are alike, the reason why I don't boil or put eggs in my mixes for example.

john step said:

nicepix...interesting about your observation about French fish that havn't seen anglers bait. I fished a side stream cum overflow stretch joining the Rhone just South of Avingnon and couldn't get a touch on meat for the barbel. Then I tried good old sweetcorn. It was like magic. Plenty of barbel although not large. Chub and those "silver crucians".

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When we lived at the rented cottage I used to walk past a small farm lake containing a load of carp and roach that only I ever fished for. When the Chasse put in some duck feeders carp up to around 10lb would beach themselves to get at the maize grains on the bank.

Doesn't matter where I fish, maize or sweetcorn dependent on what size of fish I'm after are the most consistent hook baits. Even in areas that will never have been fished. As I said; I don't understand the science of boilie making and the reason for using semolina. But for me roughly ground maize or cornflour is going to be more attractive to fish such as carp and barbel and that is what I use to bulk out the boilie mix.

Like Chris says not all boilies are the same. I prefer using natural ingredients when I make boilies, which I've done off and on for 40 years. Currently I'm on again for barbel. I make them up in 10 oz batches of 12 mm which gives me enough for a session. Unlike Chris I do add, egg, one large one and only boil them for 1 1/2 minutes. But one of the ingredients I'm using is wet so comes out of the gun in a consistent soft manner.
The reason I only boil them for the length of time I do is they are softish, rather than being like cannonballs that would bust any rampards you cattied them at.
Being soft the sent ingredients leaks out much quicker. But because of it, you have to change the hooker more frequently about once an hour. But that's not a problem to me as I'm actively fishing not camping.

Hi, some good info here, but why do people freeze them and do you have to do it, if you have to freeze then how long before I go fishing do I need to get them out to unfreeze.

With egg in and soft as mine are, they'll go off if you don't freeze them. Defrosting takes about an hour. I pull them out of the freezer stick in my bait bucket, diver to the river 50 mins and they're defrosted and ready to go.

Most people incorporate eggs Tony as you know, its just the standard way of binding the ingredients together but it does tend to lock in the flavours because boiled eggs aren't soluble in water. Possibly okay if you want to sit it out in a bivvy for 3 days for that washed-out look without disturbing your presentation.... no thanks!

To answer Dan's question regards freezing;
It's done to 1. preserve freshness as Phil says 2. No need to rehydrate once defrosted 3. to draw in flavours using the freeze/thaw method.
There's a great difference of opinion as to which is best i.e. shelf life -v- frozen. I personally prefer shelf life (without any form of artificial preservatives), simply air dry to prevent mould growth, rehydrate with lake water or store in natural extracts indefinitely.

We do a standard one-egg-mix but my own personal favourite is the new Pristex MPB-500 which is a very high quality, all-year-round soluble Milk Protein Base mix and Paste (currently on trial by a handful of specialist anglers in the UK), its essentially prepared with water, a no-egg, no-oil, no-boil mix recipe with natural binding abilities.

There are other things that will effectively stick ingredients together to make a useful bait. Potato starch sold as Farina and corn flour for example. Corn flour is obtained from maize and every cook knows that it thickens cake mixtures and gravy wonderfully. If you boil ground maize grains in a little water it makes a very sticky porridge type substance that I'm sure could be used to bind boilies. That's something I'm experimenting with.

Also when you look at the properties of hemp seeds the protein content is quite high and easily digestible. And we know that it is readily accepted by many species of fish.

Regards Laguna's point about the egg binding and sealing the flavours in, I totally agree that this could be detrimental to what we are trying to achieve.

There's a biodegradable (edible) plastic made from corn starch and glycerine Clive. It does require high cooking temperatures though so maybe not suitable for boilies but can be shaped or cut into strips and takes on flavours when cooled. I'll see if I can find the recipe.

laguna said:

There's a biodegradable (edible) plastic made from corn starch and glycerine Clive. It does require high cooking temperatures though so maybe not suitable for boilies but can be shaped or cut into strips and takes on flavours when cooled. I'll see if I can find the recipe.

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Thanks, but I'm just looking at using simple maize starch to hold things together, made from ground maize cooked in milk or water and milk and then mixed with ground hemp and the flavouring before letting the finished product dry naturally. Might not work, but I will give it a go.

I don't bother with any base mix for my Boilies. Get a large bag of dog mixer biscuits, crush them up, add you flavour and eggs, so Simple. Freeze and defrost normal. The flavour holds in very well.

I crush down strawberries and add as a flavour, pineapple, orange, banana, you name it, they all work. But don't forget sweets, American hard gums, jelly Tots, fish love sweets.

I don't use bollies that much, rather use corn, maize, worms, maggots, snails, etc etc

Good tip that Ray with the doggy bickies and real fruit juices :w

BTW if anyone was ever contemplating making artificial flavours... buy a small bottle of vodka and stick in some gummy bears to extract the flavours.... probably wont catch but hey!

Ray Daywalker Clarke said:

I don't bother with any base mix for my Boilies. Get a large bag of dog mixer biscuits, crush them up, add you flavour and eggs, so Simple. Freeze and defrost normal. The flavour holds in very well.

I crush down strawberries and add as a flavour, pineapple, orange, banana, you name it, they all work. But don't forget sweets, American hard gums, jelly Tots, fish love sweets.

I don't use bollies that much, rather use corn, maize, worms, maggots, snails, etc etc

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I've been down that road Ray. Crushed Vitalin mixed with blended sweetcorn, eggs and I added aniseed to one batch and strawberry syrup from the cake aisle to another. Both caught and to be fair it is an easy way to make your own boilies.

I've said before that I don't subscribe to the HNV obsession. My own view and it is based on nothing more than a hunch, is that sugars rather than proteins are what bigger fish want. You might need steel to make the boiler, but once its made you need plenty of wood to run it and not much steel. That's my simplistic way of looking at things.

On the theme of the dog food; over here a lot of anglers use Frolic dog biscuits as carp bait and for catfish. The Frolic biscuits are fairly soft in composition and sink in their natural state. They are formed in a ring shape that is ideal for hair rigging one, two or three at a time and can be stuffed with paste inside the hole.