Home made boilies, you can make your own boilies from simple ingredients like flour, semolina, milk powders, corn flour or even biscuit bases binding them together with eggs and a little oil, rolling them into balls and boiling them for about fifteen to twenty minutes depending on how hard you require the finished bait , the longer you boil them the harder the bait will become when cooled, if you really want to become a good bait maker there are several books on the market that explain the bait making process and then go on to give detailed bait recipes and boiling methods so it is advisable to buy one of these books or to do lots of experimentation with different ingredients until you come up with a bait that catches fish on a regular basis, a general rule of thumb is to use sweet bait flavours in summer and spice or meat flavours in winter you can also make a variety of floating cakes to use as surface bait for catching Carp in summer but again it is advisable to buy a good book on bait making or to ask advice from an experienced specimen angler.

Shelf life boilies, there are many good boilies available to the angler straight from the tackle shop shelf, they come with their own specific quality and fish catching ability depending on make, these baits are very good and reasonably priced so it may seem futile to make your own although you will enjoy catching fish on your home made baits better than you will on these, use these baits in conjunction with a mass particle feed making sure that you only place a few hook samples in your swim.

Home made ground bait, making your own ground bait is relatively easy and very cost effective, you can purchase large sacks of brown, white or red crumb from your local seed merchant or market place along with many other ingredients like fine maize meal, molasses, ground hemp, fish meal and bird seeds, as long as you stick to some basic principles you will be pleased with the finished product, use brown crumb mixed with fine maize meal for a fine ground bait, use white crumb to stiffen the mix as it contains more fat and use red crumb for colour but beware this is usually white crumb that has had a red dye added so it will also stiffen the mix, you will need to activate the ground bait in summer by adding ground hemp and a little oil to create a ground bait that will fizz in your swim as well as a sweet additive like molasses, icing sugar, selected jams, dilute juices or flavour of your choice (see flavourings section below),  for a good winter ground bait supplement the hemp for fish meal and use a spice or meat flavour such as black pepper, mixed spice or meat flavouring, when mixing a ground bait for river fishing add up to 60% white crumb or a jar of Horlicks to bind the mix together so that it will go straight to the bottom, in clear water mix a dark ground bait but if the water has colour you should can use a lighter colour, when you add oil to your mix it will help the ground bait activate in your swim or explode from your feeder, use light olive oil or grape seed oil but do not add to much use a maximum of about an egg cup full per kilo, if you want a very dark ground bait add things like mole hill soil, worm soil or a powdered colour available from some tackle shops, mix your ground bait at home the night before you go fishing using a ground bait riddle to remove the lumps and then store it in the fridge overnight this will ensure that the water is distributed throughout the ground bait and you will make a better job of mixing it at home than you will on the bank, if you are worried about the chlorine or fluoride content in the water supply then boil the water first allowing it to cool but always use warm water in the mix if possible as the crumb will absorb the water easily when warm, if you wish to add powdered flavours then mix these throughout the crumb before adding the water but if liquid flavours are used then add these to the water before mixing.

Flavourings, there are many different flavours available from tackle shops and the super markets, use sweet flavours in summer and spice or meat flavours in the winter months or when the weather becomes cooler, generally you have to add up to twice the amount of flavour in the winter as the water will not distribute the flavours very well in the colder conditions, the lists below contain a whole host of flavours that you can try

Powdered flavours, include powdered soups in all varieties, horlicks, crushed cereals like sugar puffs or crunchy nut corn flakes,  powdered milk, milk shakes, semolina, powdered whips or other deserts, gravy powders or cubes, dried blood meal, icing sugar, cake mixes, biscuit mixes, aniseed powder, cumin, coriander, mixed spice, tandori massala, black pepper, chip spice, powdered garlic, ginger, brazem, caramel, powdered cheese.

Liquid flavours, include all dilute juices with strawberry and blackcurrant being especially good, milk shakes, garlic oil, sesame seed oil, nut oil, cranberry juice, pineapple juice, brazem, caramel, fish oils, meat juices, yogurt, cream, milk, condensed milk, various sauces, diluted jelly's, molasses, geranium oil, many natural baking flavours like vanilla or coffee.

Whatever flavour you use be careful at first not to over do it, experiment until you are catching fish regularly on a specific flavour or ground bait mix and then stick to it for a while, you will gain a greater understanding of the fishes pallet by using a wide variety of flavours and colours.

Biscuit base mixes, there are many biscuits that you can mill down to a fine powder in a coffee grinder to use within your chosen ground bait, this is one of the best ways to make your first home made attempt as the biscuits contain many of the ingredients that you will require in one packet, custard creams and wafers are a good place to start as they contain large amounts of caramel and oil, to make a good summer Roach or skimmer mix, crush a full packet of custard creams, grind them into a fine powder in a coffee grinder, take about one kilo of brown crumb, a small cup of fine maize meal, half of the ground biscuits and add 40% ground hemp, mix the dry ingredients together adding an egg cupful of sesame seed oil as you do so,  add warm water and aerate, leave to stand for about ten to fifteen minutes and then aerate again, riddle the mix using a ground bait riddle throwing away the lumps as you do so, you should end up with a ground bait that is reasonably light and fluffy which can be used in a ground bait feeder or fed through a pole pot, if you want the mix to cloud in the water when you tip it in from the pole pot then as soon as you get to your peg fill a three pint bait tub about two thirds full and flood with water to the top then leave the mix to absorb this water adding more where necessary until it has the consistency of semolina.

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On this page Man made baits, ground baits, flavourings and biscuit base mixes

Ground baits

Flavourings

Biscuit base mixes