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Air dryed boilies

Craig Wood

Craig Wood

Senior Member
Hi everyone
Just a quick question..When youve air dryed boilies can they be used in their hard state?..I realise you can still drill them for use but will they do the fish any harm if eaten whilst still hard?
Regards craig
 
I get approx 40-50 boilies & pierce then with a needle prior to air drying. I have stuck a needle, past the barb, into my thumb before as air dried baits have the tendency to split in half. In drilling, the hole is larger than it needs to be so it takes on water, getting softer quicker.

Cheers, Jon

PS the fish will grind air dried baits with their teeth
 
Not so good as the fresh, but then having very recently taken 8 to 10 kilos of excellent homemade boilies out of an energy-hungry old freezer before dumping it.........

Drill as many of the defrosted boilies as you can bear to drill (for dry, soaked in screw-top urine-sample container - with a little oil, glycerine and similar flavour - instant, ever-ready hookbait; lasts for years) then dry the rest. With so many "marbles" suddenly rolling around the place, I have been known to rehydrate whole batches in a flavour-plus-water-solution overnight soak, then chuck a few in as feed...........

Don't be afraid of boilies; they're merely a way of making us spend our money.
 
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Thanks for that john..I was more concerned about potential damage to fish..i think should be ok if i drill due to drill being same size as baiting needle..ive air dried these boilies for some time..they are like conkers in hardness!!!!:eek:
 
Craig Wood said:
Hi everyone
Just a quick question..When youve air dryed boilies can they be used in their hard state?..I realise you can still drill them for use but will they do the fish any harm if eaten whilst still hard?
Regards craig
Click to expand...

Craig, yes you can can use them in their hard state, and no they won't harm the fish, a bellyful of hard baits will take much longer to digest, even though they'll have been broken up a bit by the fishes teeth.
I've often wondered though, - would the fish actually get more out of a hard bait, with a longer breakdown, and slower transit through it's gut, the nutrients might be released more slowly, and so the whole of the food item digested.
But remember, a bait is just that, a bait, we only feed them because it serves our purpose, you don't want to be filllng their stomachs up with hard matter, that will see them go off the feed for ages.
Thats unless it suits your purpose, are you having trouble with Crayfish ?

Ian.
 
Seeing your reply to Paul, Craig - i gather you want to preserve them.

Use a plastic flour sieve placed over a saucepan, The type that wont melt ( the way i boil my baits anyway.

But in this case don't allow the baits to emerse in the water, by keeping the water level below the mesh.
boil a batch of about 40 baits for a few minutes shaking the sieve so thats each boilie get a good steaming.

Take off the heat once the baits are wet and hot, and place in a plastic sandwich bag,and seal it, once cool place in the fridge without breaking the seal, and leave overnight or several hours.

Your baits should be well on the way to being re hydrated if not completly by then. obviously the size of the bait, and the degree to which they've been air dried will have a bearing on this.

If you've dried them completly and they are as hard as marbles then leave them in the pan for much longer.

Ian
 
Hi ian
No problem with crayfish..i hope!!..I was wondering the same thing regarding slower release within the fish..I was also thinking on the lines as mark has stated about rehydrating with the water off boiled hemp..I wouldent over feed with boilies because as youve rightly stated your just going to fill them up too quickly..Ive brought some liquid food off nutrabaits which ive also soaked all my boilies and pellets in..the idea being that this particular liquid will enhance breakdown within the fish..Your article ian really got me thinking..some time ago a angler told me that a good bait fish will absorb it and pass it through quickly and thats going to be my basis from now on regarding baits i use..
 
Craig Wood said:
Hi ian
No problem with crayfish..i hope!!..I was wondering the same thing regarding slower release within the fish..I was also thinking on the lines as mark has stated about rehydrating with the water off boiled hemp..I wouldent over feed with boilies because as youve rightly stated your just going to fill them up too quickly..Ive brought some liquid food off nutrabaits which ive also soaked all my boilies and pellets in..the idea being that this particular liquid will enhance breakdown within the fish..Your article ian really got me thinking..some time ago a angler told me that a good bait fish will absorb it and pass it through quickly and thats going to be my basis from now on regarding baits i use..
Click to expand...

All a bit confusing Craig. Are you saying that you have soaked your air dried baits in liquid food to partially rehydrate them? If so, they will/should be well on the way to being rehydrated by now (depending on how much liquid food you used, and how long ago it was introduced)...so you shouldn't have a problem...or am I missing something?

Either way, the air dried bait will not harm the fish. Barbel have powerful pharyngeal teath at the back of their throat which will make short work of hard boilies. At the end of the day, the only difference between air dried and fresh boilies is a lack of water in the former....this will soon be taken care of once they are crunched up in the fishes throat :D

Incidentally, if you are in any doubt about whether a barbel has the ability to crunch a hard boilie, try crushing a crayfish (not a native British one please;)). Barbel (along with chub, carp etc) eat crayfish...nuf said :D

How are you going to ensure that your future bait 'passes through a fish quickly'?

Cheers, Dave.
 
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Hi dave
The boilies are like marbles at mo,ive not put loads of liquid food over them as i didnt want to over do it..Even with this added they are still rock hard..:eek:..Well at the moment im just experimenting with this liquid food from nutrabaits (nutramino) ive done abit of research into it and apparently this stuff will enhance breakdown within the fish along with other goodies the fish like..I guess untill i catch a fish and the fish poos in me net i wont know if ive got things right or more than likely wrong..:eek:
 
As Mark said, use the water from hemp to re-hydrate them like Shaun Harrison

Trevor
 
Or hemp water with added liquid food!
 
Craig Wood said:
Hi dave
The boilies are like marbles at mo,ive not put loads of liquid food over them as i didnt want to over do it..Even with this added they are still rock hard..:eek:..Well at the moment im just experimenting with this liquid food from nutrabaits (nutramino) ive done abit of research into it and apparently this stuff will enhance breakdown within the fish along with other goodies the fish like..I guess untill i catch a fish and the fish poos in me net i wont know if ive got things right or more than likely wrong..:eek:
Click to expand...

Hi Craig,

You can't 'over do' nutramino, as it is a natural product. However, it would get expensive to use only this as a re-hydrating fluid. As has already been said, if you are worried and wish to totally re-hydrate before using them, then hemp water + the liquid food would do the trick brilliantly :D. Either that or lake water, whichever you decide, it will work.

What your friend was referring to when he told you that 'A good bait is a bait that passes through the fish quickly' is a fad that raged for a while in carp bait circles many years ago. The idea was that certain ingredients were included in the the base mix which would cause the bait to pass through the carp's digestive tract very quickly indeed. Effectively, you were giving the carp a dose of the trots :eek:.

The theory went that if the carp was passing the bait that quickly, it would need to eat again quickly, thereby doing away with the 'too much bait will fill them up' problem, and increasing the chances of your hook bait being picked up.

So...you now have to decided whether YOU feel it is ethical to do this or not. If the carp passes the bait that quickly, then it stands to reason that it will gain little if any nourishment from the bait...on the other hand, it MAY catch you more fish:rolleyes:

Great isn't it :D:D

Cheers, Dave.
 
Hi dave
Thanks for your comments..Interesting one about right or wrong to basically give fish the trotts..:p..I guess if dont overfeed with my bait and get them coming back for more then that cant be a bad thing..The baits im going to be using are to the best of my knowledge good for the fish..The fish im going to be targetting are already big(actually seen one today about 14 to 15lb maybe bigger)..I just want my bait to be abit different than other anglers baits that will also be present...I may or may not achieve this dave but ile enjoy the experience of watching and trying to out witt these cracking barbel ive seen...;)
 
Or for a better effect, get some crushed hemp, totally cover in boiling water, leave for 20mins then chuck in your boilies. You get the best hemp aroma going plus all those little bits wafting in the flow.
peter
 
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