Boilie FishingLast month Ian Russell helped you ‘Up Your Game’ regarding all things PVA. This month we catch up with him to fi nd out

how you can improve your boilie fi shing. We’re positive you’ll go away with a few new ideas and some cracking tips.

ANGLER PROFILE

Ian Russell...........................Age 50...........................HometownWokingham...........................OccupationAngling tutor/consultant...........................UK PB43lb 9oz...........................Favourite venueAny lake with carp!...........................RodsShimano Tribal Longcast 12ft...........................ReelsShimano Technium Magnesium...........................AlarmsDelkim TX-i

Fishing with boilies has defi nitely revolutionised

carp angling, and Richworth were the fi rst company

to commercially produce them some 25 years ago.

Fishing with boilies is a great option because they are

easy to bait up with and get out to a spot, whether

it’s by using a catapult, throwing stick, boilie rocket,

or some form of PVA. Boilies have also been pretty

selective when angling solely for carp, although

you will still catch larger specimens of other species

on them. They sink fast, are easy to use, and have

basically turned carp fi shing into an easier pursuit of

large fi sh. Most of the places I currently fi sh are boilie

waters, so I tend to use them in many ways. On these

waters it’s boilies all the way for me, so get on them!

Crafty Carper 131

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BOILIES

Choose the best bait

that you can afford,

and why not mix

up the shapes

and sizes you use.

THROWING STICK

If I want to get

a good spread

of boilies out,

I’ll defi nitely

need to use my

throwing stick.

CATAPULT

When boilie fi shing

at closer range,

a catapult is the

baiting tool for

getting a few pouches

of boilies to my spot.

NEEDLES

A variety of needles

are needed; a

long needle for

either PVA sticks

or stringers, and a

standard baiting needle

to attach the boilie to the Hair.

SPODS/ROCKET

A spod or boilie

rocket is needed

when baiting

up a specifi c

spot at a fair

range, and plenty

of companies produce them.

VARIOUS TYPES

OF PVA

PVA is always

a must-have

when boilie

fi shing. You can

create stringers with

tape, sticks of fi nely crushed

boilies, or bags of chops.

Up Your GameIan Russell

132 Crafty Carper

The Use of BoiliesIf you’re fi shing a venue that’s full of

nuisance fi sh, boilies are the thing for

specifi cally targeting carp; they love

’em and grow to a fair size because

of them. The vast majority are high-

quality food-type boilies, and they’re

extremely easy to use. Whether it’s

bottom baits, wafters or pop-ups, all are

easily accessible. You can get boilies

out to a fair old distance with the aid

of a boilie rocket or a spod, and many

shelf life forms come in resealable bags

so you can use them continuously and

not waste any. With shelf life boilies I

tend to keep a few large sacks in the

boot of my van at all times, so they’re

always there if needed. It’s easy for

any angler to keep a kilo or a couple

of kilos in the boot of their car ‘just in

case’, because they’ll never go off.

RIGHT Pop-ups, wafters or bottom baits? The choice is yours.

BELOW Boilies are so easy to use, and the new Code Red from Sonubaits is bob on!

Dos and Don’tsFirst of all, one massive ‘do’ is to take

boilies wherever you may be fi shing.

Keep them in the car or van at all times

so you’ve always got them to fall back

on, even if you’re not fi shing with

boilies. Another one would be to make

sure that you research the venue you’re

fi shing thoroughly beforehand; I like

to go against the grain of what others

are doing. I’ve fi shed venues where

people have scoffed at the thought

of using a 20mm boilie because it’s

predominantly fi shed by people using

corn or maggots. A while ago I fi shed

Frimley, which at the time was known

as being a maggot or 20mm boilie

water, and I rocked up a few times with

my mate Mick Barnes and absolutely

turned it over using 10mm boilies. So

defi nitely try to go against the norm.

It’s still along the same lines, but

my ‘don’t’ would be that I’d recommend

you don’t follow everyone else and

use the going boilie, as sometimes a

new bait will turn a lake over instantly.

Let’s be right, I love steak and chips,

but I defi nitely wouldn’t want to eat

it 7 days a week! Simply use what

you’re confi dent in and take in the

information that you glean from people,

but don’t follow the crowd. Make your

own path – you may even fi nd that

they end up following you (at which

time, if you’ve been having ’em, the

fi sh will be used to seeing the bait and

you’ll have changed baits over again,

keeping one step ahead of the crowd).

Quashing MythsA myth that tends to be quite

popular is the one where people

say you won’t catch on those

shelf life boilies in your bag,

and to be quite frank, that is

absolutely pathetic!! First of all,

as an angler you use whatever

you’re confi dent in. I have fi shed

with friends who have either

been sponsored anglers or who

have been buying a certain bait

for years, and when I crack out

a bag of shelfi es they turn their

noses up at them and usually ask

what the hell I’m doing, followed

by the statement: “You’ll not catch

on that!” Totally wrong! In my

opinion, one of the best baits on

the planet is the Richworth Tutti

Frutti, and a lot of shelf life Tuttis

are sold. People say that it’s

orange in colour and it’s a shelf

life and they won’t have that,

but more often than not, you’ll

fi nd that it will bag a fi sh, usually

when it’s least expected to.

“Don’t follow everyone else and use the going boilie, as sometimes a new bait will turn a lake over instantly”

ABOVE At Frimley, 20mm baits were preferred, but we smashed it on the 10-millers. Be different!

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Up Your GameIan Russell

Crafty Carper 133

TIE IAN’S KD RIG FOR BOILIE FIShINGIan likes to use the simple-but-effective KD Rig when boilie fishing, but adds visual attraction with an Avid Sight Stop. Here’s how he does it...

Everything Ian needs to make up his easy-to-do KD Rig.

Take the Sight Stop and secure the boilie in place; you could even use a Corn Stop.

Firstly, take the hooklink and strip some of the coating to give flexibility.

Pass the hooklink through the eye of the hook and make three turns above the Hair.

Now tie a Hair loop in the end that you previously stripped the coating from.

Now lift up the boilie on the Hair and make three turns under the Hair, like this.

Attach your chosen boilie like so, to help determine the length of the Hair required.

Finish off by going back through the eye of the hook, and voilà! Get fishing!

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Tactical RecommendationsWith regards to tactical recommendations for boilie fishing,

I’m confident to say that any rig lends itself to fishing with

boilies; I’m including pop-ups and wafters though. You can

use anything from a Chod for the pop-ups through to a

26mm bottom bait using a braided

hooklink. I’m not saying to just go

in blind and use anything. You still

have to think about presentation

and ensure the rig and hookbait are

actually practical, but there isn’t one

certain rig for use solely with boilies.

When baiting up, the use of a catapult

can make a lot of noise when the

pouchful of boilies hits the surface. This obviously isn’t what

you want if you’re putting some boilies out to an area where

you know fish are present and more than likely feeding. The

better approach would be to quietly flick out one or two

at a time with a throwing stick, so you can feed the fish

without them spooking off, even when they’re on the munch.

Another option would be to ’pult out maybe a dozen 10mm

boilies at a time and make as little disturbance as possible.

If you’re using cork ball pop-ups, always try to take into

consideration the wildlife such as

coots, as well as nuisance fish. It’s easy

to balance a cork ball with paste, but if

the nuisance fish have chipped away

at the paste, all of a sudden you’re

fishing with a cork ball on a mini Zig.

I also often like to top my

boilie off with the likes of

an Avid Sight Stop, just to

give it a little extra visual attraction in comparison

to the free offerings that are out there on the spot.

Now that’s definitely a highly recommended tactical

approach when it comes to angling with boilies.

ABOVE You can bait up with boilies using a variety of baiting tools.

ABOVE I know which one I’d want to have a munch on out of that lot.

ABOVE Simple rigs are my preferred method when boilie fishing, no matter how big the boilie.

“You still have to think about presentation

and ensure the rig and hookbait are actually

practical, but there isn’t one certain rig for use

solely with boilies”

Common ErrorsIt may sound obvious to some,

but if you’re solely using a

throwing stick to get bait out,

the most common error is using

one in the hours of daylight. Gulls

will spot what you’re doing a mile

off! Many well-known anglers

have also quoted this in their

writings, but you’ll find that if a

bird hits the water, it’s got your

bait! A boilie out of a throwing

stick travels so fast that it spins

in the air after leaving the stick.

When it hits the water it goes

in reverse and spins back to the

surface for a millisecond or so,

and that’s enough time for a gull

to get it! I’ve seen anglers stick

out for literally hours and the

gulls have been all over it. By my

reckoning, around 90% of the

boilies went down the flying rats.

So, either use a throwing stick

to get the bait out an hour into

darkness, or spod/rocket it out

if you really need

to do it in daylight.

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Up Your GameIan Russell

134 Crafty Carper

QWhy do some fisheries

ban boilies?

Andy Collier Milenko.

AI’ve come up against this myself,

and you’ll find that it’s usually a

club water that is match orientated.

I’ve had this at committee level, and

it’s a no-win situation because the

committee is usually made up of

match anglers and they carry weight.

Carp anglers go on with their boilies

and usually there are massive shoals

of bream that quickly get on them,

meaning that when the match guys

come on at the weekend with their

corn and maggots, they struggle to

catch. Instead of using the bait that

the fish like, they just tend to ban it.

This is a shame because the boilies

are now high quality, and the tench

or bream thrive and grow on them.

Surely the match lads can use their

heads and adapt their approach to

use 10 or 12mm boilies to catch

their quarry. There is no health or

safety reason for not using boilies.

Readers’ Questions

Each month here at Crafty

we’re going to ask Ian a

question or two about the

topic he’s covering from

some of our readers.

This month’s questions are:

QDo you use shelfies

or freezer baits?

Jimmy Parsons.

ATo be honest Jimmy, I don’t favour

either, and now most companies

produce a very good shelf and freezer

version of the same bait. I wouldn’t

favour one over the other because

the only difference between the two

is the fact that the shelfies have an

extra ingredient, which is a bit of

preservative; it makes no difference to

my captures whichever I’ve used. If I’m

session fishing and going to be there

for a few days, I ensure I have 5 or

10 kilos of shelfies in the back of the

van. It’s always a food bait, whether

it’s fishmeal or a birdfood one, and it’s

convenient for me to keep in the van,

just as I keep a few tins of prepared

hemp in the back of the van or car. It

doesn’t bother me at all which one I

use because I’m confident with either.

QHave you ever used home-made

square boilies on harder waters

to fool the older and warier carp?

Danny Wright.

A few years ago I tried making what

I can only describe as boilie bricks,

which were square in shape, and to be

honest it didn’t help me catch more fish

or the older fish. What did originally

work were dumbbells, although in the

early days we used to call them pillows.

Now they’re commercially available

from a wide range of companies and

they’re not an edge at all. At the

beginning, when I was producing them

myself and not many other people were

on them, they worked to devastating

effect on loads of waters, but now

anyone can use them and that

edge has worn off. Whichever

you prefer, whether it’s round

or dumbbell, every company

does ’em so it’s personal choice.

There’s no anti-eject edge with

them either, that is unless you

use them in extremely large

sizes, which has exactly the same

property as using an extremely

large round boilie. The only edge

used to be the fact that they were

different, and now this is no more.

LEFT I always keep this amount of shelfies in my van when I’m session fishing.

ABOVE All companies now do dumbbells. Before this they were a real edge.

In ClosingIf you’ve ever wanted to know anything about

fishing with boilies, we reckon that this piece by

Ian has covered it well, and given you a few new

ideas to go and try next time you’re out fishing

with boilies. There are lots of things here that

will set you on your way to bagging a few fish

when you’re next out and attacking a water

with boilies. Thanks to Chemo for answering a

few questions from our readers. Keep an eye out

on our Facebook page ‘Crafty Carper Magazine’

to find out when we’re next out with Ian, and

which tactic he’s going to be talking about

to give you the chance to ask him

a question you’re dying to

know the answer to. CC

BELOW A stunning mirror that couldn’t resist a Sonubaits Code Red shelf life boilie!

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