9 bait experts, 9 excellent edges

01 Gary Bayes

“Lots of anglers use strong dips and glugs on their hookbaits and carp can easily detect smell and taste and often we over do it. Subtle is can be more effective: no dip or lower flavoured dips, thinned down with lake water will be less obvious to wary carp. Think about it: if you’re getting quick bites then all’s well and good; if you’re waiting a long time they are possibly avoiding the bait until the dip is washed out. Look to more subtle attractors, preferably water-soluble so your boilie flavours will work through. I had three fish off the top using our Liquid Liver as a hookbait dip last Sunday, it worked better than the stronger recipe I used on the other rod.”

02 Shaun Harrison

“I always like to bait up with broken and crumbed boilies when possible. This not only releases the inner attraction quicker but also encourages more of the smaller species of fish, as well as other natural life such as caddis larvae etc. to start feeding too. There is no greater stimulation for carp to start feeding than being aware of other things feeding thus clouding the water etc. It is a superb way of adding movement and life to the swim rather than simply relying on the slow release of attraction through a sealed boilie.”

03 Dave Ellyatt

“Put a couple of teaspoons of Green Lipped Mussel powder into a 1kg bag of frozen boilies and shake so that the baits are ‘dusted’. Then add a generous amount of your chosen glug or fish oil. Shake again so that the baits are evenly coated. As they thaw the liquid and GLM will be mostly drawn into the bait, which will in turn quickly leach out into the water once the baits have been introduced. This provides almost instant attraction over the baited area as the additional attractants seep out quickly and in combination with the other attractors already included in the bait, provide a ‘two tier’ attractor leak off as the baits begin to soften and breakdown.”

04 Keith Sykes

“As you know, L030 or Hydrolysed Fish Protein Extract is a potent additive to any bait formula, especially where it hasn’t been hammered to death. It really comes into its own when boilies are soaked in it for a few days, messy but brilliant. Not only does the L0 really give the bait a true natural punch, it will also harden the bait up significantly, making soft bait throwing stick-friendly. The other great thing is that the bait will release the attractor slowly into the water column. A great edge all-season, whatever the weather.”

05 Keith Jones

“Nashbait Crustacean Extract is a carp magnet in a bottle and is particularly effective if the carp are preoccupied on the naturals. It also has proven big fish pulling power. Use it to coat boilies, Soluballs and Chain Reaction. 3ml to a pound of bait makes a good starting point – awesome!”

06 Allan Parbery

“In most packs of boilies you will find a few misshapen baits or ‘spinning top’ pieces. These can be used to great effect on pressured waters so don’t just chuck them in the margins and curse the bait dealer – put them to some use. By using a misshape of some description, the carp could well find it harder to eject than a standard bait.”

07 Mat Woods

“When pre-baiting throw your bait at the fish you find. Rather than priming areas other anglers could fish before you, just find ‘em and feed ‘em. That way the fish get tuned to eating your bait for free, wherever they are.”

08 John Elmer

“I would highly recommend trying to be a little bit different to the fellow fishing next to you. In this day and age this is hard to do with so many good bait firms out there now. But one thing we do in our range at Scattered Baits is the chops. Now I know people are going to say, ‘here we go again’ but these chops are deadly in certain situations. ‘Why?’ you ask. Because they are not round so the fish don’t see them as danger and these have helped me catch a lot of fish over the years. So sometimes being slightly different can pay off.”

09 Jon 'Shoes' Jones

“Try adding a jar of curry sauce in your spod mixes. We used to do this on Patshull Park 20-years-ago and it sent the fish absolutely wild! A good Tikka Massala is my favourite. The sauces are filled with spices, creams and aromatics which mix perfectly with any spod mix.”