Dear Mike Redfern,
I am thinking of making some of my own recipe boilies and I would like to know a few things. Firstly, what are the main ingredients and additives I need to use and in what quantities? Also, how do you know if you have used too much, or that the carp are not hungry? And finally, can you make boilies of 30mm+ that include small particles? If so, how?

Thank you,
Trevor Sibley, Suffolk.

Thanks for the question, but I will have to start by saying that in this day and age anglers don’t need to go through all the hassle of making their own base mixes, by that I mean the tracking down, purchasing, storing, and mixing of all the different ingredients. As a beginner I would advise avoiding this line of thinking at all costs. Even if you managed to track down all the bits you need, then you have to be very careful on how you mix the quantities together, and the truth is that these days there are many reputable bait companies that sell a base mix which has been fieldtested and honed to perfection. In all fairness then, I would just use one of these types of base mix, as it will take all the doubt out about whether or not you have got your combinations correct. I would say, at this point, that nearly all the top anglers are happy to use these predefined mixes and/or frozen ready-made boilies (no preservatives) for the majority of their boilie fishing, I have certainly seen a large percentage of them using these styles of bait, in fact the modern generation of baits, such as Mainline’s Pulse, mean you only need to buy an activator (usually 15ml, which is placed into a 4-6 egg mix per 500 gram of base mix) which takes away all the aggravation of buying oils, flavours, enhancers, etc.

However, you can personalise your own boilies by buying a bag of base mix and following the bait recipes that most bait companies list on the back of their packaging. At this point you can try varying the flavours within the base mix to personalise your bait, but I would not exceed the manufacturer’s recommended flavour levels, which are, again, usually printed on the bottles, thus removing the risk that you may have put in too much.

You certainly can make your own 30mm+ boilies containing particle, and it is really quite easy. Make up your paste, whether it be as detailed, or another recipe, then simply place a ball of paste in one hand and approximately a quarter of that weight of hemp (or whichever particle) in the other hand, knead them together then roll them by hand and place in the saucepan to boil for about three minutes to give them a slightly harder skin than your normal boilies (the reason for this is the skin will be broken by the particle, thus making it weaker). Leave to dry overnight then place in your freezer.

Hope this helps, and do try a few experiments.

Be lucky,
Spug.