How many boilies?

[Thelad]

How many boilies do people tend to use while fishing?

The reason I’m asking is because while browsing the forums, I’m noticing people saying that they’re  throwing in kilograms of boilies per session, whereas a single kilo will probably last me around 4 months. Is this not the best idea or am I reading too much into it? 

[bluelabel]

I think carp anglers are rather formulaic in their approach... 3 rods out, 1 margin, 1 open water, 1 long... 30 to 50 baits around each and sit on it...  or all 3 rods on a baited spot...  seen it too often... do summat different... different bait, less of it (especially on day ticket, pressured waters) try a floatfished bait or a big worm or prawn... do summat different from the crowd... sorry if this sounds a bit negative, but I see too many lads get stuck in a groove... do the same old same old, and leave the sport... honestly... try something different or stay off the beaten track/ known swims... you may find your results skyrocket

Edited November 25, 2020 by bluelabel

[Carpbell_ll]

Depends a lot on fish stocks and water size, some of the anglers on here fish large waters so putting bait out to areas that they think a fish will feed in will help find the fish regularly. 

Then you have match/runs waters where if you don't put the bait out the fish will go and feed in a swim that is being baited heavy.

 

[Golden Paws]

Probably one of the most complex questions in Carp Fishing! On YouTube I've seen one bloke state that 8kg of boilies even in the winter is his standard offering (that's about £80 to you and me but he is sponsored!) whereas others will go for singles or a PVA bag and fish for one bite at a time.

When Carp are really on the munch, you can't feed them enough. I did read a few years back about one bloke who feed 5kg of boilies in an out of bounds area and 8 large Carp came in and cleaned him out in 5 minutes. Although he couldn't fish there, the confidence in his bait was off the scale and one thing less to worry about.

Carp and cold blooded and their feeding and digestion rate are controlled by a large degree by the water temperature. Just to confuse matters, high temperatures result in a lower oxygen content and this will diminish feeding.

The old adage of "when you've put it in, you can't take it out" is true and most anglers tend to put in an initial hit of bait, 10 spods is probably a good starting point and then add more if there get action or activity over the rods. A matchman will be feeding little and often to try to keep the fish competing and if you achieve that, you'll bag up.

At this time of year, crumbed or halved boilies will encourage the fish to have to work harder for food and will keep them in the area longer and is well worth a try. Also try whittling down a pop up so that it only rises off the bottom and matches the freebies and is another good approach. Good luck.

[elmoputney]

It really depends on the situation and Conditions a kilo wouldnt last me a session though even in winter it would probably be fed once I've finished if not used before,it's a tough one to gauge though sometimes, I'm more confident fishing over bait tbh, and I use it to get loads of attraction going into the spot, if I don't catch this session normally it helps farther along the line, too many anglers base there success on one trip, mine is based on a season or year these days, I already think its been a successful year for me but I have used quite a lot of bait, for me bait is confidence and confidence will catch you more carp 👍

[Thelad]

7 hours ago, bluelabel said:

try a floatfished bait or a big worm or prawn.

Cheers mate I’ll give it a go. 
 

51 minutes ago, Golden Paws said:

crumbed or halved boilies will encourage the fish to have to work harder for food and will keep them in the area longer and is well worth a try.

Alright, thanks for the reply, I’ll try it out soon. 
 

25 minutes ago, elmoputney said:

It really depends on the situation and Conditions a kilo wouldnt last me a session though even in winter it would probably be fed once I've finished if not used before,it's a tough one to gauge though sometimes, I'm more confident fishing over bait tbh, and I use it to get loads of attraction going into the spot, if I don't catch this session normally it helps farther along the line, too many anglers base there success on one trip, mine is based on a season or year these days, I already think its been a successful year for me but I have used quite a lot of bait, for me bait is confidence and confidence will catch you more carp 👍

Tbh, I probably would be going for this approach if money wasn’t so tight, but I think I’ll try what the others think, simply due to the far lower cost.
 

Thanks for the help guys.

[elmoputney]

1 hour ago, Thelad said:

Cheers mate I’ll give it a go. 
 

Alright, thanks for the reply, I’ll try it out soon. 
 

Tbh, I probably would be going for this approach if money wasn’t so tight, but I think I’ll try what the others think, simply due to the far lower cost.
 

Thanks for the help guys.

You dont have to just use boilies though to create an impact, there are lots of cheaper alternatives 

You could get 25kg of pellets and 4l of molasses delivered free from blakes baits for just over £40 or sacks of particles also, I don't have loads of disposable income each month but the boilies I use are £6.50 a kg so I sacrifice other stuff to try and have at least 10kg in stock all broken down into 1kg or 1/2kg bags and just take what I think I'll need, for the session and I will bulk it out with a bucket of pellets and particles if the time is right or I am prebaiting, its knowing when to feed heavily is the art, I don't always get this right 😂

[yonny]

11 hours ago, Thelad said:

How many boilies do people tend to use while fishing?

It depends completely on the angling situation. I'd add that this question can apply to any bait, not just boiled baits.

You need to bear in mind fish stocks, session length, time of year, conditions (temps, pressure, wind direction), form (of the lake/swim), substrate/topography (spot fishing vs. area fishing), etc. etc.

No one can give you a figure of how much to use. If they do, what they're really giving you is a figure that suits their own angling situation.

I will use anything from a couple of hookbaits to several kilos of freebies depending on the angling situation (in fact I've used tens of kilos a week in pre-bating situations). If you look hard enough the carp will tell you how much you need to be baiting. As a very general rule if activity levels are low then baiting levels should be lower. If activity is rife it's time to fill it in.

[Carpbell_ll]

At this time of year with the autumn we are having i will be surprised if the carp are eating more than a mouthful a day or out hunting for a feed, the little water i like has only done one fish this past few weeks due to it getting feed by fresh river water where as the next lake along that gets water from the little lake is still fishing ok-ish  if i get out again this year it will be zigs and singles. if i  was happy to use maggots i would go with a pva bag of maggots or chopped worm, i don't like to use bait that is still wriggling, but, i would put money on chopped worm being the best bait for this cold weather? 

[yonny]

10 minutes ago, Carpbell_ll said:

i don't like to use bait that is still wriggling, but, i would put money on chopped worm being the best bait for this cold weather? 

Maggots!

10 minutes ago, Carpbell_ll said:

At this time of year with the autumn we are having i will be surprised if the carp are eating more than a mouthful a day or out hunting for a feed

Dunno mate, I had 6 takes over a gallon of wrigglers last week.

Just this last week we have defo seen a drop in temps. It'll start getting tricky on a lot of waters around now imo. Of course, it's all water dependant. Some of them fish right through winter.

[Thelad]

7 hours ago, elmoputney said:

25kg of pellets and 4l of molasses delivered free from blakes baits

Cheers I’ll try that out, I’m a big fan of pva bags so the pellets will be useful for this as well!

6 hours ago, yonny said:

As a very general rule if activity levels are low then baiting levels should be lower. If activity is rife it's time to fill it in

Thanks for this, great tip which I’ll definitely be using for my fishing. 

[fishingaddict]

Not an exact number. Depends on your lake, session length, stock size etc...

If you are going to use larger quantities then put them in 1-2 days before you fish if you can. Then start of with 7-10 baits per rod and add a little and often and work your way into your session. 

In winter use more crumb and liquids. Make the crumb mix damp so its stick together but still easily falls apart. Bit like a crumbly cake.