When it comes to carp fishing bait, it can be as straightforward as hair-rigging a boilie fresh out of the bag and waiting for the alarm to sing. Alternatively, you can put that extra time and effort into adapting your tactics, and especially your baits, to the conditions in front of you. There are literally hundreds of little tips that you can draw on,
which is why in this article we’ve picked out some of our favourite bait edges that are guaranteed to catch you more carp...
Perfect tigers
Tiger nuts are very attractive to carp, are almost impervious to small fish, last indefinitely on the hair and are cheap to buy. You need only a handful for a session, often mixed with some hemp if you want to introduce more feed. Tigers can be bought ready-prepared or you can make your own, which is a simple process.
Start off by soaking the dry tiger nuts for a minimum of 24 hours. This is to enable them to swell up to their full size, as they come in a dehydrated form. Next, boil them for at least 20 minutes. They will not go soft, unlike other particle baits, but boiling will ensure that they are cooked through and cannot germinate or swell further. Finally, freeze them in small session-pack batches ready for use.
WANT THE BEST CARP FISHING RIGS? HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW.
Why carp love hemp
Hempseed mimics tiny freshwater snails, and carp can become preoccupied with it to the exclusion of all else. The oily liquid produced when hemp is soaked is also incredibly attractive to carp, and contains amino acids and natural omega oils.
Just a handful is enough to kickstart a swim that you are baiting with boilies. Particles like hemp will pull in the carp and stimulate them to start looking for food, in this instance a scattering of boilies.
YOU WILL NEED A SPOMB OR BAITING POLE TO DEPOSIT HEMP ON YOUR SPOT. HERE IS OUR GUIDE TO THE BEST BAITING DEVICES.
What pop-up?
If you want a really bright hookbait that will stand out to any passing carp, a hi-viz pop-up is the best option. If you prefer a pop-up that matches your freebies, a cork ball or cork dust pop-up is a better option. Make these by moulding a small amount of boilie paste around the hookbait and then boil it to make a pop-up that perfectly matches the feed.
How much bait?
Carp eat up to three per cent of their body weight every day, but does this mean that we need to use a lot of bait to catch them? One bait put in front of them can be enough. Introducing more can hold them in the swim and encourage them to feed confidently, but it’s best to stick with a quantity that only one carp can eat. Often, the hookbait will be among the last to be eaten. It’s important to have enough bait out there to interest the fish, but not so much that you have to wait long for a bite.
LEARN MORE ABOUT CARP FISHING BAITING STRATEGIES IN THIS EXPERT ARTICLE.
Shelf-life or frozen boilies?
Modern preserving methods mean that shelf-life baits often contain very few additives. They rely mainly on being dehydrated to stop them from going off. This is the same drying process that is used with pellets, and in itself does not put the fish off.
So if tiny amounts of preservatives do not affect these boilies, what are the advantages of using freezer baits over shelf-lifes? They tend to be softer, and get to work faster in the water as they release their attraction. Freezer baits do need to be kept frozen, though, and from a convenience point of view aren’t as easy to look after as shelf lifes. So, for short sessions, it’s frozen, but on longer trips it’s shelf-lifes.
GET THE BEST CARP FISHING BOILIES ON THE MARKET IN THIS BUYER'S GUIDE.
Always carry paste
A wrap of paste can double the number of bites, thanks to its fast leak-off of attraction – often far more than from an equivalent boilie or pellet. Most bait companies produce a dedicated paste that matches their boilies. It makes sense to use these, but there are alternatives. A paste made from ground pellets bound together with egg works very well indeed. An even simpler option is to cover your bait with some cheese spread!
Flavour fake baits
Fake baits can be soaked indefinitely in a tub of Betalin for those days when they need an extra boost. This is particularly true when zig fishing, as the sickly-sweet flavour of this additive slowly leaches out of the bait, creating much more attraction than a single, unflavoured hookbait could ever do.
Another favourite is to soak bottom baits in crustacean extract. This super-pongy additive is loved by carp, and is perfect for flavouring plastic corn, giving it a massive edge over unflavoured plastic.
Mighty meat
In a world where carp fishing is dominated by boilies it’s very easy to overlook how effective meat is as a big-carp bait. Meat is easy to flavour, of an ideal texture, and with masses of natural attraction, this bait has a lot going for it.
The biggest problem with meat can be that it’s quite a soft bait, and can be whittled away by smaller fish. To avoid this, use larger chunks. To stop meat flying off on the cast, either use a specialist meat such as Dynamite Baits’ Frenzied Meat or try frying it to give it a tough skin. A large boilie stop is also critical. Pellet stops, for example, not only have a large surface area to hold the bait on, but also pull into the bait, leaving it virtually invisible.
MEAT IS A SUPERB BAIT FOR CARP MATCH FISHING. FIND OUT MORE HERE.
Mix up feed
Carp can become very picky about what they eat when you’re surface fishing, and become preoccupied with tiny baits. To overcome this problem, try varying what you feed.
Start with tiny floating pellets and then begin to add a few bigger samples as the fish gain confidence. Eventually, if the fish are competing for the bait and feeding hard, you can switch to just the larger baits, as these better match the size of your hookbait.
BREAD IS A SUPERB SURFACE BAIT FOR CARP. FIND OUT HOW TO USE IT HERE.
Slick up floaters
Adding fish or hemp oil to floating pellets can boost their attraction. Just add a tablespoon of oil to a kilo of pellets and shake well so that they are evenly covered. Another benefit of adding oil is that it will flatten the water surface on windy days, creating a slick that makes it much easier for you to spot the hookbait.
FIND THE BEST LAKES FOR SURFACE FISHING IN THIS WHERE TO FISH GUIDE.
Fishy flavour
All coarse species love the taste of fish, and carp are no different. Try adding a small amount of cooked fish to your spod and PVA bag mixes to give them a real boost.
Tuna is the oily fish most often used for this job, but other cheaper and more sustainable options do just as well. Try tinned pilchards or sardines in oil or brine as a substitue for tuna. Mash up the contents of a tin with a fork and add to your spod mix.
Give boilies a good soak
Air-drying removes much of the moisture from shelf-life baits. This means that it can take a while for them to soften in water and release the locked-in attractors. To overcome this problem it’s always best to soak your baits the night before a trip in water left over from cooking particles. Or add some boilie dip to the water to soften them and give your baits an extra boost.
Use stringers
A very neglected tactic, but one that is still super effective. Try attaching a three-bait PVA stringer to the hook and wrap it around the hook to ensure that no weed can catch on the hookpoint as it sinks.
The extra weight of the freebies means that the rig is unlikely to tangle on the cast. Having a little pile of baits with the hookbait at the centre can often bring extra bites, as it makes the hookbait really stand out.
Prepare salty particles
Salt is a popular additive for particles and spod mixes. The best types are sea salt and rock salt, both based on sodium, a tricky element for freshwater fish to consume. They also contain useful trace elements that the carp may be able to detect in the water. Table salt is far less effective.
Because salt can dry out particles and prevent them from splitting, always add it after the baits have been cooked – ideally as they are cooling down, as this will help the salt to dissolve. Add a tablespoon to each pan for best results.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BEST PARTICLE BAITS FOR CARP FISHING IN THIS ARTICLE.
Double up for big fish
There’s a lot to be said for the old adage ‘use big baits for bigger fish’, especially where carp are concerned. Carp have big mouths that can easily accommodate larger baits than we might commonly imagine.
So, while 15mm boilies might be the most commonly used, why not double up on the number you present to the carp, fishing two on a hair to give yourself a larger bait? Alternatively, you could try using a 15mm bottom bait and a 10mm pop-up to create a slow-sinking ‘snowman’ presentation. Twice the size, twice the attraction?
Add some flake
Make crumb by blitzing boilies in a food processor, or buy it ready-made. Try for a mixture of particle sizes. Because crumb is quite a fine feed it will get moved around by the undertow and by carp in the swim, so it’s best to bait up little-and-often. Try introducing a couple of handfuls every hour or two for best results, often a single boilie hookbait over a carpet of boilie crumb is very effective.
GET THE BEST SPOD RODS FOR DELIVERING YOUR BAIT TO THE SPOT.
Try a zig
It takes confidence to cast out a single piece of rig foam or a trimmed-down pop-up on a long hooklength and expect to catch a carp in mid-water, but it can be a tremendously effective tactic.
You need to understand when it is most likely to work. In spring, carp will often be found up in the water, especially in swims sheltered from any cold winds. In the middle of summer carp will once again come to the top on hot, sunny days to absorb the sun’s warmth and feed on the surface. Both these times are ideal for zig fishing and either a lone zig, or spodding soup over the hookbait, can be a very effective tactic.
Which colour
In summer, try browns, purples and reds. These are unlikely to spook fish they are feeding over a bed of bait. But a bright hookbait can often bring a fast bite. For an edge, try making some baits in a less popular colour. Greens and blues are colours that the fish rarely see, but they can prove to be very effective.
Make a wafter hookbait
Wafters are very easy for carp to suck in as they balance the weight of the hook well. Using wafters not only means that the chances of the hookbait getting into the carp’s mouth are higher, but it also goes further in, giving improved hook-holds.
Not all baits are available as wafters but you can make your own. Use a boilie corer to remove the centre of a boilie and then insert a matching piece of rig foam. By adjusting the amount of foam used you can control the buoyancy of the finished bait very accurately.
THE RONNIE RIG IS A GREAT CHOICE FOR POP-UPS AND WAFTERS. LEARN MORE ABOUT IT IN THIS EXPERT ARTICLE.
What size?
Bear in mind the size of fish you are after. For single-figure fish, 8mm-10mm boilies are best. A double can manage a 12mm- 15mm bait, a twenty 18mm and beyond. If you are being bothered by bream, switch to a larger bait.
While 15mm boilies are by far the most common size used in the UK, why not try something different? Few anglers use 20mm or even 24mm boilies, although even a modest-sized carp will consume these with ease.
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