At this time of the year more than any other carp are avidly on the lookout for food, both natural and in the form of anglers bait, as they prepare for the rigours of spawning, which will surely happen within the next four weeks or so.
So now is the time to think about increasing the amount of bait you are introducing so as to get the carp really feeding hard. While a boilies-only approach will undoubtedly be successful, I realise that not everybody can afford to splash out on 10-20kg of top quality boilies at one go. So we need to find the next best thing and I’d suggest that a mixture of as many different kinds of bait as possible, all mixed together in a blend, would be a) cheap, b) nutritious) and c) effective. In this sequence of photos I hope you’ll see what I mean.
This is a blend of hemp seed, Red Band Pigeon Conditioner and Mini-Maize (also known as popcorn maize). I have prepared it by soaking for 72 hours before boiling for twenty minutes. The prolonged pre-soak tends to encourage the seeds and other particles to soften and thus to cook more quickly and effectively than would be the case with just a 24 hour soak. You can see how effective the long soak/short boil method can be by simply looking at this photo. As you can see the hemp seed has split and the maize has cooked, and the Red Band has also cooked down nicely so that its in-built attraction is released.
Next I add some liquid attraction in the form of some squid liver oil to which 5g of FruitStim has been added.
This is a potent combination as the succulent creamy aroma of the FruitStim combines well with the oil which carries the attractants into the water column.
Now I take some shelf life mini boilies including the Techni Spice version from Nutrabaits. This is the best early-spring shelf life boilie I have ever used (they are the orange boilies in this picture).
These are added to the seed blend.
Finally we need some of our old friend the Robin-Red based SuperRed 3-In-1 multi-purpose bait Haith's Baits. This is my own personal baby as it was me that devised the recipe, so naturally I am very proud of it!
The SuperRed is added to the mix so as to produce a nice sticky /food source that can be formed into balls and fired out by catapult or groundbait sling. Alternatively you could mould it around a lead or a Method feeder.
This is a truly great blend of food and attraction thanks in no small part to the attractors and the Techni Spice shelf life boilies, and as long as you put it in the right place...(this is me doing just that!).
Success will surely follow.
Written by Ken Townley
