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Simple tips to improve your boilie fishing

by James Furness |

Published on1st June 2026 at 2.14pm

If you use boilies straight from the bag then you might well be missing out on some significant edges that can make a pretty big difference to your results.

Shop-bought boilies are a brilliant time-saver, but with most fisheries getting a huge influx of these baits, especially at this time of the year, we need to make our baits stand out.

With a little bit of preparation this is easy to achieve, and can make a bag of bait go further, too.

Let the flavour out

As part of the preservation process, most shelf-life boilies are dehydrated. Removing some of the moisture inhibits the growth of harmful moulds and bacteria, giving a longer use-by date.

Out in the lake the reverse takes place, and baits will (over a couple of hours) start to reabsorb water and soften up. Until this happens, very little of the attraction locked inside the bait will be released. On longer sessions this might not be an issue, but if you want maximum flavour release immediately, then soaking your boilies before use is a good idea.

We can take this idea further by adding water-soluble liquid foods when soaking baits, allowing them to be drawn into the surface of the bait. Out they are out in the lake this attraction will be released quickly, giving a massive boost.

There is also an argument that softer baits are easier for carp to eat, and that they prefer baits that have been in water for some time. I think the jury is out on this one, but it certainly won’t do any harm.

I like to soak baits for a minimum of two hours, but overnight can be even better.

Remember, though, that this will effectively turn your shelf-life boilies into fresh baits, so use them within 24 hours of soaking.

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Soaking baits can help fool wary fish

Crumbled baits

One of my favourite tactics is to crumble up some boilies, feeding them either in PVA sticks or slightly dampened through a spod. For maximum attraction this approach takes some beating but, more than that, we are giving the carp something to browse on, which will keep them feeding harder for longer.

Rather than being able to focus on individual baits, the fish will be hoovering up crumb, and a wafter hookbait is likely to find its way into the mouth almost by accident.

Most boilies are soft enough to be easily crumbled up by hand, but if you are doing this regularly then a Korda Krusha is a wise investment. Aim for a mix that contains bits of all different shapes and sizes, as these will behave differently, the larger pieces staying in position better.

Of course, we can combine crumbling baits with adding both liquid and powdered attractors. The large surface area of the crumb is perfect for dowsing with a small amount of diluted liquid food and the result is a lovely soaked bait that creates a massive flavour cloud.

CHECK OUT THIS GUIDE TO HELP YOU FLAVOUR YOUR BOILIES...

Stray from the norm

Virtually all anglers use boilies in the 15mm to 18mm size range. By crumbling these up we can go smaller, but what about using bigger baits to offer the fish something different? Most bait companies will offer boilies in 20mm or 24mm sizes, and getting away from standard-sized baits can be a useful tactic, especially on busy venues.

I really like to make the hookbait stand out by using two baits on the hair. This could be two bottom baits, or perhaps a combination of a bottom bait and a small pop-up to make a slow-sinking hookbait.

This is an especially good tactic if you find your are losing the odd fish during the battle to hook-pulls. These wafter-style hookbaits often lead to much better hookholds.

Anything that you can do to draw attention to the hookbait, but especially appealing to the greed-factor by making the bait larger than the freebies, will often lead to quicker bites.

Halves and quarters

One more easy tactic to try is using halved and quartered baits. When a carp tries to suck up these irregular shaped baits they behave very differently to round boilies, and this makes it much more difficult for the carp to distinguish between free offerings and the hookbait.

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