'Homemade' is a funny word as it can imply 'simple or basic', but when applied to making carp or catfish bait, the subject certainly deserves far more explanation for optimum results and catches!

Bait really has a single end function; to get the fishing hook into the carp's mouth, so giving the opportunity for it to be hooked! To achieve this, the bait needs either:

• To emit a recognizable carp food signal, or stimulate carp curiosity.
• Be representative of, or a mimic of a natural food source.

Carp are curious and will examine any new potential food item they come across. Whether paste / dough or boilies, it needs to be resilient enough to be put on the hook or 'hair', for it to withstand the fishes' attention and enter the mouth.

'Boilie' baits are the more scientifically proven kind that have evolved from the days of the 'Specials' baits. These were often based on ground - up dog, cat, fish foods and farm animal foods in pellet, biscuit and tinned form. They were bound together with eggs, and fished as pastes. In the 1950 to the early 1970's these were often fished 'free lined' with big hooks, with no weight, and individual baits could be the size of an orange, in order to deter bait-whittling smaller fish!

Other common 'kitchen' type ingredients were also incorporated to enhance paste effectiveness like minced tinned fish, curry powder, bottled condiment sources, yeast powders, milk powders, grated cheese, salt and pepper, herbs, yeast extract, cake baking flavours, whole - wheat flour, corn flour, bird foods, ground fish meal pellets, and animal / pet food pellets, beans, peas, seeds, and many food oils have been used; many of which have proved themselves. Many, in original or extract form, are still used in baits today.

Baits were originally boiled to allow them to be thrown much further out into the water, as carp moved out in response to increased angling pressure and tackle improvements. The fact that nearly every other fish that swims with carp can eat boilies, has shown that the 'hard skinned boilie idea didn't really work. In fact many species, like big roach, tench, bream, catfish etc, seem to use boilies as part of their staple diets and their improved growth rates can attest to this fact.

The ideal 'average' size established for boilies used to be a recommended 15 millimeters in diameter, although today highly pressured waters often see better results on much smaller sizes and some do very well on even 35 millimeter ones as have done in the UK and France.

If you were an average carp angler, fishing in around 1980 in the UK, then you were most likely still experimenting with many of these ingredients, to give you an 'edge' over those pesky carp! However, there were an advanced minority, who kept the latest bait and rig secret developments private among themselves, and pockets of carp anglers developed different edges and formulas which could totally out - fish the old 'specials'.

This was because they were based upon, and maximized, scientifically proven data, on the carp dietary preference mechanism! Understanding the scientifically proven carp data, on the carp's dietary preference mechanism and baits designed on this basis, resulted in more highly nutritionally balanced baits. So giving carp the maximum energy and dietary requirements, for the least cost in effort!

The real missing ingredient, for very many carp anglers, even today, is in understanding why a carp eats any of these carp boilie foods at all! And why carp can actually prefer some baits to the exclusion of all the rest!

This is an important area I feel, that has been neglected, leaving many modern carp anglers with less understanding of the baits available to him and how best to choose how and when to use them, because this can be a very important 'edge' in itself! Also I feel it is as important to really understand why your shop-bought bait catches and doesn't catch in different circumstances, seasonal and weather conditions, and different at types of waters.

Of course it is not vital to know, or understand these things to catch carp. But only the most exceptional outstanding anglers catch big carp consistently, using a normal number of fishing hours to achieve this. Compared to the 'average' majority, who are usually those having taken up carp fishing in the last 5 to 15 years or so and often to struggle to maintain big fish catches consistency all year round unlike much more experienced and 'bait wise' anglers.

So I feel it is important to help explain how to become more satisfied and consistent in your carp fishing, because these days it can be a large sacrifice, both in time and money, to pursue this sport. I believe, especially newer carp anglers, need impartial guidance when it comes to the importance of bait (often a complete afterthought!), when frequently thousands of pounds have been spent on carp fishing tackle!

An introduction to the boilie ingredients: Boilies are usually made using dry mixture ingredients of either 500 grammes or 1 pound. Using a combination of natural and synthetic materials, bait may be bound together usually with eggs, to form dough balls or shapes. The most effective size and dimensions vary depending upon your fishing situation, and could be 8 to 30 millimeters plus. (Never underestimate how fish preferences alter over time and even at different times during a session!)

It pays to make different sizes, shapes, and densities boilies: this helps take away a 'danger' reference point, i.e., it stops the fish recognizing it and fools the carp into eating the hook bait with the hook (which is the point, isn't it?!)

Boilies have conventionally been and are often labeled in terms of the food group which forms the majority percentage of the bait, i.e.:

Milk protein (whole milk and it's derivatives)
Carrier carbohydrate (soya flour / semolina)
Bird foods (seed mixes, rearing foods and extracts, etc)
Fishmeal (ground trout pellets, oily fish meals, crustacean meals, seafood extracts, etc)
Meat meals (beef, poultry, pork flakes, hydrolyzed feather meal, etc)
And so on…

Of course, these labels are misleading to some folks these days because baits have become more complex. The benefits of mixing the nutrients of different food groups in the same bait mix, means there may be no single food group in any given bait!

So how do you choose which ingredients to use, which ratios of these to use and why? The first step is commonly practicality; can you put these things together into a dough or paste, to produce a boilie mix that will bind together and roll well? To produce a boilie from various ingredients without instructions on ratios of each ingredient takes some preliminary testing. So it is wise to start by using one large hen's egg (or similar), mixed with a small amount of any liquid ingredients, to confirm that your test dry ingredients when mixed actually bind and roll well into balls to make boiled baits. If not, add more egg, a small amount of vegetable oil or 'binding material'.

Ideally start by putting the carp's dietary needs first when making bait, and begin with the bulk 'whole protein food' content of ingredients at 25 % to 50 % of your preliminary 100 % dry mixture. Such examples used could be combinations of some of the following: caseins, lactalbumin, fish meals, meat meals, whey protein.

Usually you will require a binding material to hold the protein food together in the bait. This may require using dry binding ingredients like semolina, wheat gluten, wheat flour, soya flour etc for up to 50 % of the mix, necessary for many types of coarse bird food meals, shellfish meals, meat and fish meals. Different bait materials will alter this approximate ratio, but use the ratio that rolls first! and increase the protein content from there (Using eggs / egg powder to bind your bait, adds a great nutritional added profile as a complete protein food.)

Examples of binders:

Hen's eggs
Egg powder
Whey gel
Bread crumbs
Full fat 'yellow' semolina
Maize meal
Corn starch
Potato starch
White ground rice flour
Wheat flour
Wheat gluten
Potato gluten
Full fat soya flour
Ground seeds
Ground 'Sluis CLO'
Ground 'EMP'
Ground 'CeDe'
Ground 'Red band' pigeon seed mix
Beef gelatin based binding products

Some of the most effective attraction of your bait comes from the water soluble fraction of particular ingredients used. Ingredients with this characteristic content could constitute 10 % up to 30 % of the mix. Making a resilient practical boilie mix may require the addition or reduction of only one ingredient. Some of the best baits you will ever discover are made by this trial and error process. The solubility of ingredients is especially recommended if an ingredient has high protein value, such as sodium and calcium caseinates, calf milk replacers, whole milk powder, yeast powder, hydrolyzed fish and shellfish proteins etc...

Some are used at much lower levels, e.g. 0.2 % to 6 % ; e.g., hydrolyzed fish protein, hydrolyzed spirulina extract, squid extract, anchovy extract, green crab / lobster / scallop / shrimp / oyster / baby clam extracts, green lip mussel extract etc. These are also effective as most are extremely quickly and efficiently digested with immediate benefits that the carp can feel.

I prefer to fresh freeze baits, or 'air dry' them naturally, or preserve them in a flavour / amino acid / supplement compound, rather than using a chemical preservative in the bait like ascorbic acid.

Carp require oils (essential fatty acids) but only in small amounts e.g., up to 5 % of your total dry mix. Oily fish meals and shellfish meals are already rich in these, as are flax seed, hemp seed, sesame seeds, salmon oil, cod liver oil, crustacean oil, etc. To meet minimum carp dietary requirements try adding perhaps around 1 milliliter to 3 milliliters of a good quality nutritional oil per egg, (maximum,) depending on oil level in the dry mix.

At times of year when water temperatures drop below 55 Fahrenheit / 13 Degrees Celsius, it's sensible to drop the oil levels used or use emulsified oil. It also pays to reduce some of your 'whole protein food' content and substitute it with e.g., 3 ounces of wheat germ; this is a proven method of improving the biological conversion of your bait inside the carp by making your bait more 'carp digestible'

Carp love to crunch food and in doing so send out all kinds of feeding signals to other carp, allowing attractive food particles to pass out of the gills.

Nutritional ingredients can be used for this effect, e.g. bird foods - 'Robin Red', 'Red Factor','Nectarblend', Ground 'Red Band' pigeon food, prepared ground mixed nuts and seeds; prepared tiger nuts and hempseed, millet, egg - biscuit myna - bird rearing food, niger seeds, 'RRR', ground birdseeds 'Ce De', 'PTX', ground insects, dried larvae, coarse kelp meal etc.

Also used are crushed oyster shell and eggshell. These also allow bait to release attractors faster, putting more out to attract carp quicker and more effectively, especially in lower water temperatures. They also help the fish to eat more bait by helping them pass it through their systems faster.

Test each individually because their properties vary. Use, e.g., 0.5 ounces per pound for shell through to e.g., 2 ounces per pound of course kelp meal, to e.g., 3 ounces per pound of 'Robin Red', ground birdseed e.g., 6 ounces per pound, up to 8 ounces per pound of 'Nectar Blend'.

Here are some examples of recognized 'nutritional' bird food ingredients:

'PTX'
'Robin Red'
'Red Factor'
'Nectar Blend'
'RRR' Spanish peppers
'Prosecto Insectivorous'
'Sluis' CLO
'Sluis'Universal
'Sluis' Mynhah bird food
'CeDe'
'EMP'
'Red Venom' carophyll red liquid pigment attractor (http:/www.ccmoore.com)

Other ingredients are used to change resilience, texture, attractor leak-off, e.g., milk powders, whole milk, 'Vitamealo' at, e.g., 4 ounces per pound), or in a very soluble bait to bind it 'tighter' e.g., whey gel at 3 ounces per pound, or make it harder, e.g. blood powder at e.g. 4 ounces per pound, egg albumin at e.g., 2 ounces per pound, whole egg powder at, e.g., 3 ounces per pound, or whey gel, e.g., 1 ounce per pound.

To avoid silt / to make baits more buoyant, include ingredients like sodium caseinate, e.g. 5 ounces per pound, or shrimp meal, e.g. 3 ounces per pound or krill meal at e.g., 3 ounces per pound.

Vitamins and minerals are great attractors too, being essential for carp health and growth. Many of the above extracts supply these, but they leach out of bait very fast. Adding black strap molasses, betaine hydrochloride to the mix and as liquid soak really help.

Other ingredients can be added in very low levels to enhance your bait, or give it an 'extra special attractive note' e.g., 1 teaspoon per pound, of powdered taste enhancer, sea salt, or sweeteners like sodium saccharin and fishing company proprietary brands liquid and powdered sweeteners with no 'chemical back taste'.

When you mix new ingredients together always test your mixture first. Try using one egg as a binder, to see if you have your ratios right for practical binding and rolling purposes. Always prepare your wet ingredients first and add dry ingredients to the wet ones gradually as you become accustomed to the ingredients you're using, this part will become simple!

You can refine your bait's 'nutritional profile' content, attraction properties and additional practical physical properties, as you become more familiar with getting a practical bait together; that works right for you and catches carp consistently! (Big ones preferably!You will soon find it's very easy to make all kinds of baits, and your secret bait armory will fill you with confidence and your photograph albums with big carp!