Bait According To... Mike Holly

Was there a game-changing method or approach that altered everything for you?
“Yes, it was pre-baiting. The concept is simple: the more free meals carp enjoy without getting caught, the more the odds will stack in your favour. The way I approach my pre-baiting, however, involves serious commitment by way of miles in the tank and, above all, hard graft and effort. I want bait on my spots every single day if at all possible. That means being at the lake on a daily basis, which is no easy feat. I’ll often pre-bait an area for a minimum of three to four weeks before fishing it, but when everything goes well and you’ve dedicated your time and put in the graft, the results can be incredible!” 

Have your thoughts and opinions on the appropriate size of free offerings changed over the years? Do you prefer to use a bed of 10mm baits, for example, or are you happy with 18mm? 
“The use of small baits has certainly risen in popularity. If I question why, I think they simply go hand in hand with spodding and the use of spod mixes. Small baits certainly have a place in the carp angler’s armoury, and due to demand, we’re on the verge of launching smaller baits ourselves. Personally, though, when I’m boilie-fishing I want a spread of baits. I favour 15 or 18mm, and so small baits don’t play a part in my approach. 

“In my opinion, small baits are linked more to a particle-style approach. When I’m boilie-fishing—which seems to be becoming less and less popular these days—I’ll avoid using a Spomb at all costs. Catapulting or ‘sticking’ the baits out are far more effective. In today’s spod-driven world, a catapult has become a forgotten tool, and when carp are upending and tilting themselves to feed on boilies, I’ve found them far easier to hook.” 

Do you introduce feed on a little-and-often basis, or do you prefer to bait up and then leave the swim undisturbed?
“I think this is very much lake-dependent. Look at Linear, for example. Shoals of fish there will move over a baited area and clear everything within a few hours, so if you don’t top up, you’ll soon stop catching. I rarely fish venues with such high stocking densities, and my train of thought is to introduce enough bait to get a bite, and then work off that. I have no issues topping up through the session, but I prefer to feed on a little-and-often basis. In that respect, I’m very much like a match angler, working to keep areas active. I’ll let the carp, my observations of how they’re feeding and my catch-rate dictate how I apply my bait. Bait application is a huge topic in itself, and carp anglers could learn plenty from match anglers when it comes to feeding; rarely will you see a match angler ball all their groundbait in, or throw all their loose-feed in at the start of a competition.”

By using large quantities of bait, perhaps to the extreme, have you, or has someone you know, outfished the rest of the anglers on a lake?
“Yes, but the large quantities I’ve fed have always been during a season-long campaign that has incorporated pre-baiting. I’ve introduced quite large volumes of boilie on numerous occasions, and that created a very one-sided lake when it came to catch reports. Yes, carp will eat anything—even their own poo!—but I’ve seen, first hand, that they have the ability to recognise nutritional value in a food source, and when a good-quality bait gets established, it can turn everything in your favour.” 

Do particles have a place in your cold-water armoury, or are naturals such as maggots and casters firm favourites?
“I rarely use particles or naturals these days. They’re not selective enough, given that the waters I fish have plenty of big silvers and tench in them. However, carp love them, and at times they’re certainly the way to go. In winter, if I had to choose, I’d say you can’t ignore naturals over an out-and-out particle approach. Look at how successful worms have been in recent years. Worm-fishing, once again, is a fine art, and merely chopping them up and adding them to a mix is only half the equation. Learn from the match anglers; they’ve got it nailed.

“That said, I never fish just naturals, either. Boilie crumb, buckwheat—which is deadly as it resembles baby zebra mussels—and some casters would form my go-to mix on the right water in winter. The only issue I have is that I hate chopping worms… I feel like a mass worm-murderer! They’re also seriously expensive.” 

Have you ever used anything unusual as a hookbait which has caught you a bonus fish or two?
“It’s widely known that carp find garlic, in its various forms, extremely attractive, and you’ll find plenty of boilie recipes that include it as an additive. When it comes to unusual hookbaits, I’ve caught plenty of carp on garlic cloves. Peel them, trim them a little to help that unmistakable smell disperse in the water, and pop them on a Hair Rig. The cloves are quite visible, garlic stinks and it catches carp!” 

Do you believe that balancing hookbaits is unnecessary, or that it’s something we can overdo, in theory making them react unnaturally?
“Using one straight out the bag is another well-forgotten method, and I find myself doing just that more and more these days. My go-to method is the Snowman Rig, but I’d say my set-up is far from critically balanced. I use it to create a bigger mouthful, more than anything else. 

“One point on balancing hookbaits is that as soon as your wafters or pop-ups are fishing, they will start to take on water. Within a few hours, they will behave nothing like the carefully balanced rig you played with in the margins.

“I also feel that it’s very easy to overbalance your hookbait, and by that I mean you can create an offering that will flutter around on a spot, yet is anchored to a lead. As such, it will look extremely unnatural. When they feed, at times, carp will move a lot of water, so I avoid super-light and overbalanced baits. How often do you see anglers using one straight out the bag? It always pays to be a little different.” 

What are your thoughts on refreezing boilies? 
“I rarely do so, but have no issues with it. If I have some leftover bait at the end of a trip, it usually goes in, but if it goes back in the bag for next time, I’ll add a little glaze of oil. This helps prolong the life of freezer baits and halts the bacterial process. I like to use bait that’s as fresh as possible, though, so it’s rare for me to keep any for the next trip. I prefer to top up the spots and offer them a free meal when I’m off home, to help set things up for when I return.” 

Also, are you one for using boilies straight out of the freezer, or do you prefer to let them thaw out, perhaps glazing them with a liquid?
“I take my baits out of the freezer the night before a session. I like to use them soft and thawed out, personally. These days, the done thing is to add liquids and powders. This can prove deadly. I believe it tricks the carp into thinking that the area you’ve been feeding has more bait on it, due to the additional food signals emanating from it. Again, though, you’ll also often find me using freezer baits as they are, without glugging or glazing them. They’re seriously attractive as they are, and it’s less messy to feed them that way via a catapult or throwing stick.” 

Do you think alien smells can taint or affect our bait? These might come from anglers smoking, filling up with petrol en route to the lake, or perhaps using a hand sanitiser, which in this day and age, everyone tends to do.
“It’s said that a carp’s ability to detect tiny changes in a water’s pH, or its level of amino acids, is incredible. Attractants need to be water-soluble, and the more water-soluble they are, the more easily they will be detected by the carp via their olfactory organs. They can detect droplets of an attractant in swimming pool-sized volumes of water. I fully appreciate just how acute their senses are, and I’d rather not take the risk of tainting my bait by having petrol or antibacterial gel on my hands. These little factors of perhaps just 1 per cent may or may not make a difference, but I’m 100 per cent more confident if I don’t have petrol on my hands, for instance, and that’s all that matters. Confidence catches more carp, and that’s fact. That said, I’ve seen plenty of carp take a fag butt off the surface over the years!”