The (Worrying) Future Of Boilies

"That's an interesting question," replies Keith Jones – Gary Bayes's right-hand man at Nashbait. He's referring to this very direct question I just sent him via e-mail: 'We all want to know: are we going to be paying more for boilies in 2013?'

Now it isn't a secret that the cost of some ingredients such as fishmeals and other key products have at least doubled, in some cases trebled, in recent times and some specialist ingredients are even more expensive, and in some rare cases, in very short supply – and that's thanks to over-fishing, but what's the solution? What's the long-term plan for our favourite bait houses? 

According to the creator of Mistral Baits's new 4Season boilie range, Leon Bartropp, the issue is only going to get worse. "Looking at the industry and the growing cost of fishmeal, I feel that the out-and-out fishmeal-based boilie will slowly begin to fade out. Yes, there is no doubt that fishmeal-based baits have, over the decades, caught a lot of huge carp but you have to look at the monetary problems involved. The fact is, fishmeal is going up at an alarming pace and it's also one of those ingredients that depending where you source the fishmeal from, and what time of the year, the quality is suspect to say the least, hence for some bait companies to compete they will have to use fishmeal that is unfortunately of a questionable make-up and quality. With both of these in mind I can see the 'real deal fishmeal' boilies simply not being feasible in the quality that we have become accustomed too."

So what does this mean for us all? Of course it's a small pain in the backside for anyone knocking up a few kilos in the kitchen at home, but what about the big picture? Those huge commercial bait companies – your Mainline's, Nashbait's, CC Moore's: have they got concerns?

"We've been able to cover some of the price increases over the recent years with better production methods but at a cost to some popular baits," reveals Keith. "For instance, one of my favourites, Shellfish Sense Appeal Classic boilies had to be dropped due to low sales. I loved this fishmeal stinker but the sales dropped to less than 10 tonne a year across the board which meant that cost efficient long runs weren't viable. We can't make small runs any more, it cuts the potential production down with the stopping and starting for flavour changes and the gas, electric and wages is still the same even if we lose finished production. We can't risk long runs on a bait that might not sell fast enough; storage is also expensive so we need to concentrate on efficient production. 

"If I'm honest, I don't like the look of the future regards prices, it isn't just the ingredients that are rising: packaging, gas and electric prices are all going up. We've had to really tighten up on all our purchasing just like the rest of the world and keep a closer eye on everything now," concludes Keith.

So what is the top-end of someone's budget when it comes to buying a kilo of boilies? £15? £18? £20? It is like cigarettes where in your mind you think that once they reach £5 a packet they'll either (a) give up or (b) switch to rolling tobacco, yet you continue to smoke and still buy the ready-rolled ones which now cost £8 a pack? 

Boilies, like all produce across the world, have steadily continued to increase in price, going from the 'mustn't-break-the-£10-barrier in the early 2000's to a now-average £12.99 a kilo. According to Nashbait's Gary Bayes, like us, here's not 100% sure what that price will end up at.

"If I could buy a bait that caught me more fish at £20 per kilo than a bait at £10 per kilo I would find the money somehow," states Gary. "Money is tight though and we do understand this which is why we've streamlined our production and product list to be able to hold the prices we have.

"I've always worked hard to produce the best baits possible for the money we have to charge to survive. There are cheaper bait out there but in most instances there's always a reason why it's cheaper. Bait produced out of a garage, without overheads, under the taxman's radar isn't a long-term project. Most 'would-be' bait companies usually disappear when they try to grow or have to join the real world and put their prices up to cover the overheads involved, often losing their customer base in the process. Any baits made of really cheap ingredients, low in nutritional value only have a short fishing life, if at all; just changing the flavour and colour doesn't prolong the fish catching ability. 

"There isn't a long-term solution to making cheap boilies. I've seen boilies that cheap I don't know how they do it taking in the standard overheads such as gas, electric and wages but I wouldn't buy them ever. In Spain I saw someone using extremely cheap boilies and they couldn't catch a thing on them, even my friend's dog spat them out. Cheap bait can cost you precious fish." 

GRADING FISHMEALS

Of course there's hundreds of different grade of fishmeals – some expensive, some reasonable, some dirty cheap, and of course that price is dictated by the quality that you purchase. Fishmeal is graded on protein content, fish type, method of drying and is also available pre-digested. Each one of the produces a different product. Protein-content-only specification is usually produced from fish offal – the heads and stuff left over from preparing fish for human consumption. It's dried quick using high heat and the oil is separated. Slightly different protein levels are achieved, usually between 65 and 80% and it can be bought on specified protein content, often the protein level is adjusted to suit.

"It's this high heat type of fishmeal which the carp like," reveals Gary, "probably because it is made up of a mish mash of fish types." According to Gary, specified fish type fishmeals used to be reasonably easy to obtain, "but not now," he continues, "there is lower fish stocks and fish such as herring, sandeel, sardine, mackerel etc. are not easily caught in the numbers they once were, but I like the fact the fishmeal is made of whole fish. 

"It's difficult to track down species specified fishmeal on a regular basis and it would probably be mixed fish rather than 80% plus containing one fish type. I could live with this but I couldn't guarantee a boilie colour because depending on the fish type darker or lighter baits would be the result, something anglers don't seem to like." 

Low Temperature (LT) fishmeals are deemed very high-quality, as less nutritional qualities are lost using lower heat and a longer drying time and the fact it's often dried from fresh on factory ships. Again, this can also be bought on specified protein content and up to 90% protein is available.

Finally, we have pre-digested fishmeal, which isn't actually fish that has been eaten as its name might imply but fish products that have been subjected to enzymes to breakdown the proteins to create easier digestion in a bait. These types of fishmeals are much more expensive and can vary considerably in appearance.

THE ALTERNATIVES

The word fishmeal has dominated bait companies' brochures for decades. It's becoming the go-to product for the hundreds, if not thousands of bait producers around the world, so what comes next? Are they cheaper alternatives, which are, at the very least the same in their attractiveness, if not better than fishmeal? Leon Bartropp thinks Mistral has found the answer.

"You only have to look at some of the more forward-thinking companies like Mistral, where between us we have created the '4Season' which has no fishmeal content whatsoever and relies on quality, higher nutritional sustainable ingredients that are cost effective and the carp like and need in their diets."

Nashbait, being the huge bait firm that they are, of course have their ideas too, and front man Gary Bayes has been looking at some new alternative ingredients. "There are products that people use as alternatives to fishmeals but they don't offer the same easy-to-digest nutrition. The big fish feed suppliers use a lot of wheat and soya now, not just because of price but also availability due to the world shortage of fish from over-fishing. I'm also aware that fish stocks are probably at their sustainable limit but I don't really favour any substitutes I've come across so far."

According to Gary, soya products can match the protein of fish but are usually more costly as the protein levels go up and most of the trials he's conducted with them have seen a poor response from carp. 

"On the trials I've done with carp using various ingredients, wheat, barley and maize have been the best cereal alternatives but they don't have the nutrition to make the baits I want to make and certainly could never replace fishmeal. Egg products are probably better but we already incorporate them in our baits at optimum levels and the isolated protein from egg isn't as fish attractive as whole egg. In the long run we will probably be forced to find alternatives to fishmeals but there is a long way to go yet before they can be efficiently replaced in carp baits, regardless of price."

WILL THIS MAKE IT BETTER?

We've looked at the powdered options, but is it possible to make a cheaper fishmeal-based product better and more effective with highly attractive liquid food source? Gary Bayes thinks so.

"It's a tricky question, but ultimately yes. Liquid food sources can improve any bait so they would improve a cheaper fishmeal bait. Our Monster Pursuit is cheaper than our S Mix Squid and would benefit more with the addition of food liquids than the Squid mix but then the Squid mix has the squid attractant already added (powder form). Liquid foods such as soluble liver, health food liquid additives and fish protein concentrates (FPC's) are all good products but except for the FPC are not really made to be used with cheaper products to lower the cost."

Of course there are many elements, not just fishmeals that go into creating a winning boiled food item. One such ingredient, or binder we should call it, is egg. A product which many bait companies love to brag about, claiming they only use fresh eggs, but does this actually make a difference to the overall finished product? Is there an opportunity here to use a cheaper alternative so there's more 'meat-on-the-bone' so to speak to add more the 'good stuff' – i.e. better quality fishmeals back into the bait?

"In a word, no," reveals Bayes. "Most egg alternative are actually more expensive than eggs, and in my opinion they don't improve a bait at all. I can make baits that are attractive to carp using our base mixes with hardly any additional binding type ingredients, using just water as the liquid. It's very tempting because the two-tonnes of eggs we use per week is a pain to keep frozen and controlled to be ready thawed at just the right time but egg is just easier and is in fact probably my favourite ingredient for boilies, tried and tested for around 40 years."

THE FUTURE?

So as prices rise and we all tell nostalgic stories about when times were good and money was easy to come by, what's the future? Will we all be purchasing Shilham rolling tables and huge jam pots and making boilies from the comfort of our kitchen – much to the disgust of the wife?

"Making your own baits is a tiresome job but it does give you a lot of advantages," says Keith Jones. "With a few tweaks and a little bit of sneakyism (nice word), you can save yourself a bit of money, build in a little edge and catch some well-deserved fish. It's really satisfying to catch on your own made baits and not as difficult as some might imagine. For instance, I would expect to catch more on homemade Scopex Squid as soon as the weather warmed up by simply adding around 25 grams of rock salt to a 4-egg mix (approximately 600 grams of dough). If I wasn't fishing to far out I would rolling pin the dough and cut it into cubes to be different. Save some paste to wrap around the hookbait and PVA tape etc., all good for early season fish."

But with all this boilie talk, is there now a cheaper alternative? Something we're all completely missing out on? According to CC Moore's MD, Ian Moore, the simple answer to that is no. 

"Whilst the cost of good quality boilies is quite significant, particularly in these times, I feel that they still represent the best option available. The production process of making boilies is obviously a significant part of their total cost but is also much of the reason why boilies are so effective and have been so widely used for the past 25 years and more," concludes Ian.

Of course many forms of pellets have been very popular for a number of years, but due to their solubility, they cannot be used in exactly the same way as boilies, particularly in a scenario when baits may need to be in the water for 12hrs or more. Other alternatives to boilies have been considered in recent times, but all tend to have shortcomings that make them less versatile than boilies. This may be due to their firmness for counteracting nuisance fish, density for sinking/floating as required, roundness for throwing stick use, breakdown time or several other characteristics. So what's the solution then? Back to Ian...

"Aside from the cost of the production process, at CC Moore & Co Ltd, we also use high levels of high-quality ingredients which not only gives the angler a greater chance of long-term success, but also adds to their overall cost. This is one of the main reasons why our baits have been so successful in catching so many big, pressured fish over the past 5-10 years; often by anglers using relatively small amounts of bait and with a limited amount of angling time."

So what does the future hold? Will we all be reverting back the success of birdfoods from the 80's or will be paying £20 a kilo for top-quality, fishmeal-based boilies? Well, currently there appears to be no real answer. There also doesn't appear to be an answer as too if and when they'll be a crossover from all-singing fishmeal to newer, cheaper alternative. But what we do know is boilies aren't going to be getting any cheaper and according to Ian Moore, our current best bet is to "simply use the best boilies you can and that way you won't need to use it in large, expensive quantities." Sounds like a plan to us, Ian, sounds like a plan.

This article was taken from issue 110 of CARPology magazine. For the very latest articles and best deals subscribe to CARPology magazine.