How to make your own paste for course/carp fishing in just a few minutes. Extras can be added along the way for extra effect. So how do you choose which ingredients to use, which ratios of these to use and why? The first step is commonly practicality; can you put these things together into a dough or paste, to produce a boilie mix that will bind together and roll well? To produce a boilie from various ingredients without instructions on ratios of each ingredient takes some preliminary testing. So it is wise to start by using one large hen’s egg (or similar), mixed with a small amount of any liquid ingredients, to confirm that your test dry ingredients when mixed actually bind and roll well into balls to make boiled baits. If not, add more egg, a small amount of vegetable oil or ‘binding material’.

Ideally start by putting the carp’s dietary needs first when making bait, and begin with the bulk ‘whole protein food’ content of ingredients at 25 % to 50 % of your preliminary 100 % dry mixture. Such examples used could be combinations of some of the following: caseins, lactalbumin, fish meals, meat meals, whey protein.

Usually you will require a binding material to hold the protein food together in the bait. This may require using dry binding ingredients like semolina, wheat gluten, wheat flour, soya flour etc for up to 50 % of the mix, necessary for many types of coarse bird food meals, shellfish meals, meat and fish meals. Different bait materials will alter this approximate ratio, but use the ratio that rolls first! And increase the protein content from there (Using eggs / egg powder to bind your bait, adds a great nutritional added profile as a complete protein food.)

Examples of binders:

Hen’s eggs Egg powder Whey gel Bread crumbs Full fat ‘yellow’ semolina Maize meal Corn starch Potato starch White ground rice flour Wheat flour Wheat gluten Potato gluten Full fat soya flour Ground seeds Ground ‘Sluis CLO’ Ground ‘EMP’ Ground ‘CeDe’ Ground ‘Red band’ pigeon seed mix Beef gelatin based binding products.

Some of the most effective attraction of your bait comes from the water soluble fraction of particular ingredients used. Ingredients with this characteristic content could constitute 10 % up to 30 % of the mix. Making a resilient practical boilie mix may require the addition or reduction of only one ingredient. Some of the best baits you will ever discover are made by this trial and error process. The solubility of ingredients is especially recommended if an ingredient has high protein value, such as sodium and calcium caseinates, calf milk replacers, whole milk powder, yeast powder, hydrolyzed fish and shellfish proteins etc…

Some are used at much lower levels, e.g. 0.2 % to 6 % ; e.g., hydrolyzed fish protein, hydrolyzed spirulina extract, squid extract, anchovy extract, green crab / lobster / scallop / shrimp / oyster / baby clam extracts, green lip mussel extract etc. These are also effective as most are extremely quickly and efficiently digested with immediate benefits that the carp can feel.

I prefer to fresh freeze baits, or ‘air dry’ them naturally, or preserve them in a flavor / amino acid / supplement compound, rather than using a chemical preservative in the bait like ascorbic acid.

Carp require oils (essential fatty acids) but only in small amounts e.g., up to 5 % of your total dry mix. Oily fish meals and shellfish meals are already rich in these, as are flax seed, hemp seed, sesame seeds, salmon oil, cod liver oil, crustacean oil, etc. To meet minimum carp dietary requirements try adding perhaps around 1 milliliter to 3 milliliters of a good quality nutritional oil per egg, (maximum,) depending on oil level in the dry mix.

At times of year when water temperatures drop below 55 Fahrenheit / 13 Degrees Celsius, it’s sensible to drop the oil levels used or use emulsified oil. It also pays to reduce some of your ‘whole protein food’ content and substitute it with e.g., 3 ounces of wheat germ; this is a proven method of improving the biological conversion of your bait inside the carp by making your bait more ‘carp digestible’

Carp love to crunch food and in doing so send out all kinds of feeding signals to other carp, allowing attractive food particles to pass out of the gills.

Nutritional ingredients can be used for this effect, e.g. bird foods – ‘Robin Red’, ‘Red Factor’,‘Nectarblend’, Ground ‘Red Band’ pigeon food, prepared ground mixed nuts and seeds; prepared tiger nuts and hempseed, millet, egg – biscuit myna – bird rearing food, niger seeds, ‘RRR’, ground birdseeds ‘Ce De’, ‘PTX’, ground insects, dried larvae, coarse kelp meal etc.

Also used are crushed oyster shell and eggshell. These also allow bait to release attractors faster, putting more out to attract carp quicker and more effectively, especially in lower water temperatures. They also help the fish to eat more bait by helping them pass it through their systems faster.

Test each individually because their properties vary. Use, e.g., 0.5 ounces per pound for shell through to e.g., 2 ounces per pound of course kelp meal, to e.g., 3 ounces per pound of ‘Robin Red’, ground birdseed e.g., 6 ounces per pound, up to 8 ounces per pound of ‘Nectar Blend’.

Here are some examples of recognized ‘nutritional’ bird food ingredients:

‘PTX’ ‘Robin Red’ ‘Red Factor’ ‘Nectar Blend’ ‘RRR’ Spanish peppers ‘Prosecto Insectivorous’ ‘Sluis’ CLO ‘Sluis’Universal ‘Sluis’ Mynhah bird food ‘CeDe’ ‘EMP’ ‘Red Venom’ carophyll red liquid pigment attractor (www.ccmoore.com)

Other ingredients are used to change resilience, texture, attractor leak-off, e.g., milk powders, whole milk, ‘Vitamealo’ at, e.g., 4 ounces per pound), or in a very soluble bait to bind it ‘tighter’ e.g., whey gel at 3 ounces per pound, or make it harder, e.g. blood powder at e.g. 4 ounces per pound, egg albumin at e.g., 2 ounces per pound, whole egg powder at, e.g., 3 ounces per pound, or whey gel, e.g., 1 ounce per pound.

To avoid silt / to make baits more buoyant, include ingredients like sodium caseinate, e.g. 5 ounces per pound, or shrimp meal, e.g. 3 ounces per pound or krill meal at e.g., 3 ounces per pound.

Vitamins and minerals are great attractors too, being essential for carp health and growth. Many of the above extracts supply these, but they leach out of bait very fast. Adding black strap molasses, betaine hydrochloride to the mix and as liquid soak really help.

Other ingredients can be added in very low levels to enhance your bait, or give it an ‘extra special attractive note’ e.g., 1 teaspoon per pound, of powdered taste enhancer, sea salt, or sweeteners like sodium saccharin and fishing company proprietary brands liquid and powdered sweeteners with no ‘chemical back taste’.

When you mix new ingredients together always test your mixture first. Try using one egg as a binder, to see if you have your ratios right for practical binding and rolling purposes. Always prepare your wet ingredients first and add dry ingredients to the wet ones gradually as you become accustomed to the ingredients you’re using, this part will become simple!

You can refine your bait’s nutritional content as you become familiar with getting practical bait together that works and catches carp. You will soon find it’s very easy to make all kinds of baits, and your secret bait armory will fill you with confidence and your photograph albums with big carp!