What are boilies?
This is a good question and many American anglers are new to the concept. A boilie is basically a dough bait that has been designed for a specific fish, usually carp and then boilied to make it stand up to pesk fish, turtles, distance casting, crayfish etc. They are best fished on a hair rig, though they can be used in various ways. They can be prepared in different ways either through ingredients or cooking methods to make them "pop-ups" as well, which are boilies that float.
For this article we will focus on standard boilies. These are typically designed to be benificial to the carp. High in protien, high in carbohydrates, good nutrition, amino acids...basically fish food to not only attract fish but feed them and keep them coming back. Carp are notoriously curious and will pick up many things to try them. This accounts for many fish on the banks. Carp will only be fooled so many times on baits that offer nothing though, and in waters that are heavily fished a bait that offers true food source potential will keep them coming again and again to the hook.
To this end many boilie recipes include items most American fisherman have never dreamed of using. Let's be honest, most of us are satisfied with a bit of oatmeal, a bread ball or a can of corn. While these things will work, I would bet that a properly made boilie will catch carp in waters that others are having "slow days" using traditional methods. For instance, semolina flour, eggs, soy flour, hemp meal/seeds/oil, fish meal, fish oil, rice flour, birdseed, dry molasses, egg powder, the list goes on and on. For this article we are going to try a very simple, yet effective recipe.
:: Dog Food Boilie::
For the Dry mix, put 2 cups dry dog food in a blender or food processor and grind it to a powder.
Add to this 2 cups of flour, soy is a good choice due to its high protien. Semolina/corn/rice/white flours will also work. Do not use anything self- rising or with yeast as this will ruin your recipe.
Mix well in a bowl and set this aside for now.
For the Wet mix, put 2-4 eggs in a blender. The number of eggs does not matter, it only decides how big of a batch you will make. 4 eggs is usually enough for about 1 pound of dry mix and will produce about 2 pounds of boilies.
to this add 1 tsp oil per egg. Corn oil is fine for this, I like Hemp oil but it is much more expensive. I would avoid olive oil but grapeseed,soy,vegatable oils would be fine. ( 2 eggs = 2 tsp oil...4 eggs = 4 tsp oil )
Blend these until smooth. Pour into a seperate bowl.
Now this is the tricky part. Slowly add dry mix to your wet mix. Keep stirring as you do until you reach the consistancy of cooked oatmeal/cream of wheat. Let this mix sit for 5 minutes to allow the dry ingredients to soak up a bit of moisture. This will help keep them moist when rolling later, and I feel it helps prevent cracking during the drying phase.
After 5 minutes slowly add dry to the wet again until you feel you can handle it with your hands. You do not want to over dry your mix and it will just crumble when you try to roll balls then.
Once you have a good dough/paste you can begin rolling small balls in it. Think of the small marbles ( not the shooters ) or about the diameter of a penny. Roll out the whole batch then set aside while you bring a pot of water to boil.
Boil about 30 balls at a time for approx. 3 minutes. Remove from the boiling water and let air dry for 1-2 hours. After this time you can place in bags/jars/containers for storage. I recommend freezing until the night before fishing. These contain eggs and will mold over time.
As you can see this is a very simple recipe. If your like me your brain is already running with what to add. Remember that Carp like sweet and sour, with salty and spicy trailing that. A package of jello, some kool-aid, a few tablespoons of jelly, some sugar or maybe Maple Syrup..the list is endless. Try out some nice fruit flavors like strawberry or pineapple in the summer/fall..try subtle vanilla's or cinnamons in the spring/fall...Just add any dry ingrediants to the dry mix, wet ones to the eggs when you blend them and remember sometimes a little goes a long way!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooGV65Jijqo[/youtube] Part 1
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m6EEDywvz4[/youtube] Part 2
Last edited by bedlem on Fri Sep 11, 2009 8:55 am; edited 1 time in total
This is a good question and many American anglers are new to the concept. A boilie is basically a dough bait that has been designed for a specific fish, usually carp and then boilied to make it stand up to pesk fish, turtles, distance casting, crayfish etc. They are best fished on a hair rig, though they can be used in various ways. They can be prepared in different ways either through ingredients or cooking methods to make them "pop-ups" as well, which are boilies that float.
For this article we will focus on standard boilies. These are typically designed to be benificial to the carp. High in protien, high in carbohydrates, good nutrition, amino acids...basically fish food to not only attract fish but feed them and keep them coming back. Carp are notoriously curious and will pick up many things to try them. This accounts for many fish on the banks. Carp will only be fooled so many times on baits that offer nothing though, and in waters that are heavily fished a bait that offers true food source potential will keep them coming again and again to the hook.
To this end many boilie recipes include items most American fisherman have never dreamed of using. Let's be honest, most of us are satisfied with a bit of oatmeal, a bread ball or a can of corn. While these things will work, I would bet that a properly made boilie will catch carp in waters that others are having "slow days" using traditional methods. For instance, semolina flour, eggs, soy flour, hemp meal/seeds/oil, fish meal, fish oil, rice flour, birdseed, dry molasses, egg powder, the list goes on and on. For this article we are going to try a very simple, yet effective recipe.
:: Dog Food Boilie::
For the Dry mix, put 2 cups dry dog food in a blender or food processor and grind it to a powder.
Add to this 2 cups of flour, soy is a good choice due to its high protien. Semolina/corn/rice/white flours will also work. Do not use anything self- rising or with yeast as this will ruin your recipe.
Mix well in a bowl and set this aside for now.
For the Wet mix, put 2-4 eggs in a blender. The number of eggs does not matter, it only decides how big of a batch you will make. 4 eggs is usually enough for about 1 pound of dry mix and will produce about 2 pounds of boilies.
to this add 1 tsp oil per egg. Corn oil is fine for this, I like Hemp oil but it is much more expensive. I would avoid olive oil but grapeseed,soy,vegatable oils would be fine. ( 2 eggs = 2 tsp oil...4 eggs = 4 tsp oil )
Blend these until smooth. Pour into a seperate bowl.
Now this is the tricky part. Slowly add dry mix to your wet mix. Keep stirring as you do until you reach the consistancy of cooked oatmeal/cream of wheat. Let this mix sit for 5 minutes to allow the dry ingredients to soak up a bit of moisture. This will help keep them moist when rolling later, and I feel it helps prevent cracking during the drying phase.
After 5 minutes slowly add dry to the wet again until you feel you can handle it with your hands. You do not want to over dry your mix and it will just crumble when you try to roll balls then.
Once you have a good dough/paste you can begin rolling small balls in it. Think of the small marbles ( not the shooters ) or about the diameter of a penny. Roll out the whole batch then set aside while you bring a pot of water to boil.
Boil about 30 balls at a time for approx. 3 minutes. Remove from the boiling water and let air dry for 1-2 hours. After this time you can place in bags/jars/containers for storage. I recommend freezing until the night before fishing. These contain eggs and will mold over time.
As you can see this is a very simple recipe. If your like me your brain is already running with what to add. Remember that Carp like sweet and sour, with salty and spicy trailing that. A package of jello, some kool-aid, a few tablespoons of jelly, some sugar or maybe Maple Syrup..the list is endless. Try out some nice fruit flavors like strawberry or pineapple in the summer/fall..try subtle vanilla's or cinnamons in the spring/fall...Just add any dry ingrediants to the dry mix, wet ones to the eggs when you blend them and remember sometimes a little goes a long way!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooGV65Jijqo[/youtube] Part 1
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m6EEDywvz4[/youtube] Part 2
Last edited by bedlem on Fri Sep 11, 2009 8:55 am; edited 1 time in total
