Winter attraction - crumb those boilies! | Quest Baits Blog

Winter attraction – crumb those boilies!

September 8, 2009 Ron 6 comments

By Ron Key
When winter arrives and the carp start to feed less frequently, and perhaps only feed for very short periods, I want to create a situation where my bait will deliver maximum attraction without fear of overfeeding the carp.

At times like these I like to crumb or chop my boilies because once the boilie skin has been broken it allows the the flavours and attractors to be quickly released. My preferred method of delivery is 5 or 6 crumbed fruity or spicy boilies in small PVA mesh tubing ball attached to the hook. When distance is a major requirement small solid PVA bags are used, packing the crumbed boilie around the lead, folding in and sticking the corners of the bag to create a more aerodynamic shape.

Accurate location is key at this time of the year, I usually start with known hot spots, old weed beds and lily pads but once the rods are out there is time for observation. Any indication of fish, rolling, jumping, bubbling, creating creases and flat spots and I’m free to recast.

I know I won’t be leaving large beds of bait around the lake and I can also avoid the advances of those pesky coots and tufties – leaving the bait for my target fish.

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Written by Shaun about 6 months ago.

Hi Ron,

Last Winter I caught quite a lot of fish in this way. I chose to bait up lightly but quite regularly between sessions then rely on my PVA packages to tempt a fish into having a go.

The mesh bags I had the most success with last winter contained a couple of crumbed 20mm baits (easier to quickly break between the fingers) a 15mm whole brightly coloured boilie along with matching Maximum Action Pellets (with a little bit of matching Glug added) and the Micro Feed. Hookbait was a trimmed down 15mm (apple cored).

These bags are quite small and I also had success dipping them into a Glug before casting.

Lots of variation to use but my mind was going along the lines of the fish spotting the single bright boilie standing out amongst the dust and bits from the bag. Hoping the fish would be wary of the single bright bait but accept the small trimmed down darker bait as being safe.

If this is what actually happened I don’t know, but what I do know is that a fair few fish fell to my traps.

Best fishes
Shaun Harrison
Written by Jamie Simpson about 6 months ago.

Hi Ron

Nice piece mate.

When winter comes I tend to go for smaller 10 or 12mm baits and wrap them in paste.

I will also use more pop ups at this time of year depending on the situation as I feel that a lot of the rotting leaves etc can put fish off feeding in some areas that they would otherwise feel confident feeding in. However I am sure they still visit these areas and a bright pop up just above this may just tempt a take.

Oh yeah I would definately go for either the Fruity or Rahja at this time of year too.

Cheers

Jamie
Written by Simon Lowes about 5 months ago.

Some great advice Ron. I find as winter is drawing closer i shorten my hooklinks to 5in of supple braid and use a inline lead which i then coat in crab glug . I then just slide a pva mesh stick off crab pellets down the hooklink just to stop the tangle’s. And as my hook bait i will carry on using 15mm special crab but topped with a glow corn that is flavoured in Tutti Frutti seems to be working well for me. As for placing my baits will now start to move then down the slopes in 26 – 27 ft of water and starting looking at the bottom of the slopes.

On the smaller waters i fish i have started placing about 10 special crab baits in 3 sizes 10mm 15mm and 20mm near the snags where the sun hits the water through out the day and then just spread some particle over the top. Then when i do return to fish a swim i have baited i pop down in the morning and top the spot up and return in the evening and just place a bait on the baited spot.I have been using a trimmed down 20mm bait and dug a hole in the middle of the 20mm and then place a 11mm yellow pop-up down inside so it ends up like a snowman style. I think for me it takes the wieght out the bait and also adds as a visual you can trim the sides of the your bait but just keep checking in the margins so its not lifting up to easy

Cheers
Simon Lowes
Written by Shaun about 5 months ago.

Hi Simon,

Welcome to the Blog mate.

Interesting comment on the pop-up inside the drilled out bottom bait. This isn’t something I have tried before but certainly will now – thanks for that.

I would imagine the old boilie punches first marketed by Marvic then copied by many (as usual) would be perfect for this. Bore a hole in the bottom bait. Do the same with the pop-up and then use the plug from the pop-up to plug the bottom bait and vice versa.

I like it my brain is ticking over on this one.

Best fishes
Shaun

(P.S.) Quick tip – if you start your replies four spaces down you won’t get the irritating bit with the date through your comment.
Written by Ron Key about 5 months ago.

Hi Simon
congratulations on winning the competiton and welcome to the Blog. Like Shaun I’m interested in the possibilities of boring out baits, custom made wafters.

Nice idea Shaun I’m sure I’ve got an old Marvic punch lying about somewhere.

Cheers Ron
Written by Simon Lowes about 5 months ago.

Thanks everyone for your comments.

Fishing getting harder, had a few blanks now. Hopefully they will soon start feeding before the frost comes in.

Cold night last night. New Nash frostbite sleeping bag gets top marks from me. Make sure you have one of these on your Christmas list!

Cheers,

Simon

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