What's better? A critically-balanced hookbait or straight out of the bag?

The big question

Critically-balanced hookbait or straight out of the bag? And does your answer to this differ depending on any particular circumstances?

James Armstrong

"I like to find a middle ground."
“Always a balanced bait, unless I was targeting flowing water, which would be rare for me. I want my hookbait to act just like a lightweight free offering and unfortunately a hookbait straight out of the bag, attached to a Hair and hook doesn’t do that. This is down to the weight of the hook. As a result, I prefer to balance this out.

“I don’t go overboard with the balancing but just enough so the bait wafts off its counterbalance or anchor point – this could be purely the weight of the hook, a dollop of putty or whatever. I think if it’s too balanced then the slightest flick of a fin could send it off the bottom, which is not what I want. It would look alien and may even result in foul hooking. So, I tend to find a middle ground and test it always before casting out. There are many ways to balance, a sliver of cork, foam… a snowman, there are loads of ways and they all work!”

Mat Woods

"I've recently switched..."
“I used to be a critically-balanced man but for boilies now, I actually prefer a bait straight from the bag. I usually whittle the sides down to make the bait less obvious but I’m happy to use them as they are. I tend to use a hardened Code Red hookbait. Ever since I was given a pot to use I think I’ve caught a fish on every single one of them. You can’t argue with that!

“With particles I tend to go down the balanced route. I’ve caught a lot of fish using a couple of grains of plastic corn and using the weight of the hook to sit them down. I like it when the hook lays flat and the bait just sort of hovers around a millimetre or two from the lakebed.”

Alan Blair

"It depends on the situation"
“If I am spreading boilies over an area with a stick or catapult then I will always opt for a long hooklink (12” or more) and will always critically-balance my hookbait with either a snowman or some of the core removed and foam added. If the fish have regulated their feeding/‘suck’ over a spread of bait then I need the ‘length’ in the hooklink and the critically-balanced bait to get up off the deck and into their mouth should they be sucking baits off the deck as opposed to dropping close to the lakebed and feeding.

“If I’m fishing a tightly baited spot, i.e. under a tree in the edge, with use of a baiting pole, spodding ‘very’ slightly, using a bait boat or everything stacked in a solid bag, then my hooklink will be reduced to eight-inches or less and the bait will be used just straight from the bag and not balanced out. When those fish ‘hit’ a tightly baited spot, they can hit it hard, creating lots of movement in the vicinity of the hookbait and if the bait is too light you stand the danger of it wafting up from the lakebed and either spooking the fish or worse still possibly foul hooking.

“For these shorter rig scenarios I will always fish with a decent sized drop of putty a couple of inches down from the hookbait to keep it close to the deck even when the baited area is disturbed by feeding fish.”

Ian Chillcott

"It really doesn't matter!”
“For years I thought critical-balancing really mattered, but over time I discovered it doesn’t. Keith Jenkins and I, fishing at Horton before the deaths, used to microwave the hookbaits for the ultimate balancing. Later, I used various plastics and cork to get the perfect balance, but when I reverted back to ‘baits out the bag’ I still caught the same amount of carp. Today, I use just enough plastic to negate the weight of the hook, and it works as well as anything else I have tried. I still maintain it really doesn’t matter what you do with your hookbait, just make sure you ‘critically’ put it in the right place to begin with!”

Dave Ellyatt

"Straight from the bag"
“I must admit when bottom bait boilie fishing I have always done best by just simply using a bait straight out of the bag. I tend to trim a sliver off each side of the bait so it sits flat and leaks off the inherent attractants quicker.

“I also favour a longish Hair to enhance the separation of the bait and hook. I think this is critical and plays a large part in the success of the ‘straight out of the bag’ approach in that the weight of the boilie combined with a relatively long Hair (and of course a sharp hook) makes the whole lot more difficult to eject.

“I also like to put the trimmed down hookbait in a small mesh bag followed by a couple of crumbed baits. I then thread the hookbait onto the Hair through the mesh and simply nick the hook through the tag end of PVA mesh above the knot. This way it means you have some nice extra attraction right next to the hookbait and the Hair can’t tangle round the hook on the cast.”

Shaun Harrison

"I prefer slowing sinking"
“Rather than critically-balanced baits I prefer slightly slower sinking hookbaits that I achieve either by using part of a bottom bait and part of a pop-up or by mixing base and pop-up mixes together. Critically-balanced baits are very difficult for large carp to get hold of due to them moving too easily from the water disturbance created by the fish and the fact that carp have a big blind spot. The larger the carp, the larger the blind spot so often the hookbait is no longer where it thought it was when it tried to take it.”