Dear Spug,

How long will a frozen boilie stay fresh once it is in the lake? I am always concerned that if it remains uneaten in the swim for a couple of days it may start to turn and go past its best. If the bait has started to turn does it then become more appealing and easier to digest, or does it become more repellent to the carp?

Cheers,
Tony Parker, Lancashire.

Hi Tony, and thanks for the question. As you are using freezer baits you really shouldn’t worry about the length of time they sit out in the lake. By the nature of the way they are made they tend to take on water whilst sitting out in the lake (after a given period of time). This, in turn, causes them to swell/expand, even if only slightly, and as the expansion occurs, the boilies tend to break down after a while. The length of time varies between different boilies. As this physical change of state occurs, nine times out of 10 smaller fish/snails, etc. mop them up.

In very rare cases you hear of old beds of bait floating to the surface and blowing back into the margins, but as I said, these cases are extremely rare.

Good luck with your fishing, mate.

Although the flavour levels are (to a certain degree) dropping all the time the bait is in the water, I don’t think this will go against you because the carp are constantly finding older beds of bait and are mopping them up. They still see it as a food source, and this is why some people love to use washed-out baits, because they feel carp eat older beds of bait confidently. The carp won’t have any problems digesting the bait unless the bait has a high-oil content (which most off the shelf frozen baits don’t have) AND is used in the colder months. Finally, don’t worry about the bait rotting on the lakebed; having spent a lot of my working life working in, or for, the perishable food industry, I can tell you that just about any food that rots needs air in order to do so – it’s too complicated to explain here, but it is true!

Hope this helps, and be lucky!

Spug