boilie size question

[mikeh]

so, I got some size four hooks and put together about a dozen hair rigs on 18" braid leaders with little black swivels. I am thinking of having a crack at making some boilies.

My question is....what size should they be?

I was thinking they should be larger than the gape size of the number 4 hooks I am using?

Any suggestions / comments based on previous experiences?

 

[optimus89]

wadu using to make the boilies. i was actually planning on doing the same thing..and was wondering that too. size 4 hooks...what company make are they?.... i got a size 7 and 8 hooks from some local bait shop..some chinese brand. they seem the right size. id assume the boilies should be slightly bigger...or depending on the size of fish u want to sort out.

 

[mikeh]

I got size 4 mustads, fairly long shanks so I can hair rig them.
There are a ton of boilie recipes on Google. I'm going with someting fairly basic to start with, a sweet corn mix, maybe some cheese....

 

[hammercarp]

so, I got some size four hooks and put together about a dozen hair rigs on 18" braid leaders with little black swivels. I am thinking of having a crack at making some boilies.

My question is....what size should they be?

I was thinking they should be larger than the gape size of the number 4 hooks I am using?

Any suggestions / comments based on previous experiences?

On average I would say boilies are just over 1/2" in diameter. So 9/16 or 15 mm . A little bit bigger than a marble. You can make a bigger bait presentation out of them by putting 2 on the hair or by splitting one in half and using 1 & 1/2 on the hair.
18 ' is pretty long. Usually 5 or 6 inches is used. But if 18 ' works for you, why change it. Be prepared to shorten the length of your hook link if you are missing fish though.

 

[hammercarp]

wadu using to make the boilies. i was actually planning on doing the same thing..and was wondering that too. size 4 hooks...what company make are they?.... i got a size 7 and 8 hooks from some local bait shop..some chinese brand. they seem the right size. id assume the boilies should be slightly bigger...or depending on the size of fish u want to sort out.

Here's a basic boilie recipe from our clubs website.
6 oz semolina
4 oz soy flour
2 oz corn meal
2 oz rice flour
2 oz dry milk

3 eggs is about right for the quantities listed above. Makes about 100 boilies, You can add 2 packages of Kool-Aid in the flavour of your choice and a couple of packets of artificial sweetener.
If it comes out too wet to roll and some more flour , if too dry add a little water. Put them in boiling water for a few minutes. Take them out, Let them dry over night , bag them and freeze them.

 

[mikeh]

On average I would say boilies are just over 1/2" in diameter. So 9/16 or 15 mm . A little bit bigger than a marble. You can make a bigger bait presentation out of them by putting 2 on the hair or by splitting one in half and using 1 & 1/2 on the hair.
18 ' is pretty long. Usually 5 or 6 inches is used. But if 18 ' works for you, why change it. Be prepared to shorten the length of your hook link if you are missing fish though.

I got the 18" length from a UK carping website, The site was quite detailed in mentioning reeling back slightly after casting to lay out the leader. Are you concerned that it's too long to detect a pick up quickly enough?

 

[NADO]

hey post some pics of your boilies and the recipe after you make em if you dont mind!

 

[mikeh]

hey post some pics of your boilies and the recipe after you make em if you dont mind!

I'm going to give it a go tomorrow afternoon, so I should have some pics Friday afternoon, once they are dried and ready for freezing....

 

[hammercarp]

I got the 18" length from a UK carping website, The site was quite detailed in mentioning reeling back slightly after casting to lay out the leader. Are you concerned that it's too long to detect a pick up quickly enough?

Yes. Also the extra long hook link can allow the carp to shake the hook loose and you won't even know the fish was there. The hair rig is most effective when used with a heavy weight. This combination is called a bolt rig. The carp sucks up the bait and gets the bare hook in it's mouth. The hook will then catch on the inside of the carps lips. When this happens the first thing a carp does is to try and dislodge the hook by shaking it's head. If you use a short hook link , the carp will end up driving the hook in. The carp will then bolt ( take off at maximum acceleration) this will drive the hook home.You don't need to set the hook. Simply pick up the rod and fight the fish.

Try this. Attach a weight to the end of your 18" hook link Lay it out on a table. Pick the hook up in your hand , keep your arm parallel to the table. Shake your hand back and forth. See how much you can move your hand without moving the weight very much.
Try the same thing with a 5 inch hook link. You will see the difference.

I also believe that for fishing baits on the bottom a mono hook link is more effective than braid. Check this video out.

Matt Hayes , How to catch carp.

 

[mikeh]

Try this. Attach a weight to the end of your 18" hook link Lay it out on a table. Pick the hook up in your hand , keep your arm parallel to the table. Shake your hand back and forth. See how much you can move your hand without moving the weight very much.
Try the same thing with a 5 inch hook link. You will see the difference.

Yes, big difference!

Thanks for the tips and experience on this.

 

[mikeh]

So here's my first attempt at corn / buttermilk boilies

Base mix
6oz Semolina (durum) flour - bulkbarn
2oz cornmeal - bulkbarn
2oz soy flour - bulkbarn
2oz buttermilk powder - bulkbarn
4 tblsp brown sugar
4 eggs

flavourings
1 large can sweetcorn, drained and blended - (pres choice 99c)
2oz Mac cheese powder mix (scent and colouring) - bulkbarn

The ingredients from bulkbarn came to just over 5 bucks. I had the eggs and sugar in the house already.

I drained most of the liquid off the sweetcorn in the can and put in into the blender and made it smooth. I mixed all the dry ingredients then slowly added them to the wet. it took a while to make a firm putty. The first few I boiled were a bit larger than I thought they would be, so I scaled the roll size down from then on, average size is about the same as a large chickpea. I dropped them into boiling water for two minutes, they popped up to the surface about a minute in.

The blended corn and buttermilk give the boilies a nice sweet smell. This mix created 250 boilies....Can't wait to try them out!

 

[ret0dd]

nice. if the carp dont eat it i will

 

[optimus89]

nice job mikeh..let us know how it works.

i was going to the same...but i stopped by the bait shop last night on hwy 7...and found some commercial carp bait..picked up peach pinapple flavoured boilies and pack of bouyant sweet corn..they look great...was like 3.99...the boilies were about 20 dollars. but soon il start making my own boilies. cant wait to try these out sooon.

 

[hammercarp]

They look great. I hope the carp like them and you have a blast landing some heavies. Looking forward to the post.
Tight Lines as the brits say.

 

[Dilligaf0220]

Carpio gnocchi!

I make ghetto boilies out of just corn meal and Kool Aid, my g/f just shakes her head "You're making polenta? The fish even get a cooked meal now!?!?!?"

 

[mikeh]

yeah, my wife is wondering why I have ten bags of what look like super jumbo cheerios.......I put the threading hole in before I boiled them, I thought it might save some messing about later.

 

[NADO]

So for hair rigs with corn is a threader used to get the corn on the hair rig?

 

[hammercarp]

So for hair rigs with corn is a threader used to get the corn on the hair rig?

Yes. it is called a baiting needle. Here is a picture of a set with a barbed needle, a drill and a gated needle.

 

[mikeh]

I put a hole through mine before I boiled them, I made my hair rig loop long enough to go through the boilie then split open the loop and go back around the outside edges, pull tight... boilie on! Seemed like the easy option.

 

[jaminsk1]

for boilie to hook sizes I go withthe following -

16mm - size 8
18mm - size 6
20mm - size 4

basically you go up 2mm for each hook size.

with respect to the length of the hair - your best bet is to have a gap of about half the size of the bait between the top of the bait and the bend of the hook.

do you know the knotless knot? check it out on the uk fishing sites - really easy to tie and is great at getting the hait length just right.