Boilie Fishing

ANGLER PROFILE
Ian Russell
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Age 50
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Hometown
Wokingham
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Occupation
Angling tutor/
consultant
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UK PB
43lb 9oz
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Favourite venue
Any lake
with carp!
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Rods
Shimano Tribal
Longcast 12ft
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Reels
Shimano
Technium
Magnesium
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Alarms
Delkim TX-i
Boilie Fishing
Last month Ian Russell helped you ‘Up Your Game’ regarding
all things PVA. This month we catch up with him to find out
how you can improve your boilie fishing. We’re positive you’ll
go away with a few new ideas and some cracking tips.
F
ishing with boilies has definitely revolutionised
carp angling, and Richworth were the first 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 fishing into an easier pursuit of
large fish. Most of the places I currently fish 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
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04/04/2012 11:41
Up Your Game
Ian Russell
The Use of Boilies
If you’re fishing a venue that’s full of
nuisance fish, boilies are the thing for
specifically targeting carp; they love
BOILIES
’em and grow to a fair size because
Choose the best bait
of them. The vast majority are high-
that you can afford,
quality food-type boilies, and they’re
and why not mix
extremely easy to use. Whether it’s
up the shapes
bottom baits, wafters or pop-ups, all are
and sizes you use.
easily accessible. You can get boilies
out to a fair old distance with the aid
of a boilie rocket or a spod, and many
THROWING STICK
shelf life forms come in resealable bags
If I want to get
so you can use them continuously and
a good spread
not waste any. With shelf life boilies I
of boilies out,
tend to keep a few large sacks in the
I’ll definitely
boot of my van at all times, so they’re
need to use my
always there if needed. It’s easy for
throwing stick.
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.
CATAPULT
When boilie fishing
at closer range,
RIGHT Pop-ups, wafters or bottom
baits? The choice is yours.
a catapult is the
BELOW Boilies are so easy to use, and the
baiting tool for
new Code Red from Sonubaits is bob on!
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.
Dos and Don’ts
new bait will turn a lake over instantly.
SPODS/ROCKET
First of all, one massive ‘do’ is to take
Let’s be right, I love steak and chips,
Quashing Myths
A spod or boilie
boilies wherever you may be fishing.
but I definitely wouldn’t want to eat
A myth that tends to be quite
rocket is needed
Keep them in the car or van at all times
it 7 days a week! Simply use what
popular is the one where people
when baiting
so you’ve always got them to fall back
you’re confident in and take in the
say you won’t catch on those
up a specific
on, even if you’re not fishing with
information that you glean from people,
shelf life boilies in your bag,
spot at a fair
boilies. Another one would be to make
but don’t follow the crowd. Make your
and to be quite frank, that is
range, and plenty
sure that you research the venue you’re
own path – you may even find that
absolutely pathetic!! First of all,
of companies produce them.
fishing thoroughly beforehand; I like
they end up following you (at which
as an angler you use whatever
to go against the grain of what others
time, if you’ve been having ’em, the
you’re confident in. I have fished
are doing. I’ve fished venues where
fish will be used to seeing the bait and
with friends who have either
VARIOUS TYPES
people have scoffed at the thought
you’ll have changed baits over again,
been sponsored anglers or who
OF PVA
of using a 20mm boilie because it’s
keeping one step ahead of the crowd).
have been buying a certain bait
PVA is always
predominantly fished by people using
for years, and when I crack out
a must-have
corn or maggots. A while ago I fished
a bag of shelfies they turn their
when boilie
Frimley, which at the time was known
noses up at them and usually ask
fishing. You can
as being a maggot or 20mm boilie
what the hell I’m doing, followed
create stringers with
water, and I rocked up a few times with
by the statement: “You’ll not catch
tape, sticks of finely crushed
my mate Mick Barnes and absolutely
on that!” Totally wrong! In my
boilies, or bags of chops.
turned it over using 10mm boilies. So
opinion, one of the best baits on
definitely try to go against the norm.
the planet is the Richworth Tutti
Frutti, and a lot of shelf life Tuttis
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
ABOVE At Frimley, 20mm baits were
preferred, but we smashed it on
the 10-millers. Be different!
“Don’t follow everyone else and use
the going boilie, as sometimes a new
bait will turn a lake over instantly”
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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
find that it will bag a fish, usually
when it’s least expected to.
Crafty Carper
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Up Your Game
Ian Russell
TIE IAN’S KD RIG FOR BOILIE fishing
Ian 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...
1
Everything Ian needs to make
up his easy-to-do KD Rig.
5
Take the Sight Stop and secure the boilie
in place; you could even use a Corn Stop.
2
3
Firstly, take the hooklink and strip some
of the coating to give flexibility.
6
Now tie a Hair loop in the end that you
previously stripped the coating from.
7
Pass the hooklink through the eye of the
hook and make three turns above the Hair.
Now lift up the boilie on the Hair and
make three turns under the Hair, like this.
Tactical Recommendations
at a time with a throwing stick, so you can feed the fish
With regards to tactical recommendations for boilie fishing,
without them spooking off, even when they’re on the munch.
I’m confident to say that any rig lends itself to fishing with
Another option would be to ’pult out maybe a dozen 10mm
boilies; I’m including pop-ups and wafters though. You can
boilies at a time and make as little disturbance as possible.
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
If you’re using cork ball pop-ups, always try to take into
“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”
4
Attach your chosen boilie like so, to help
determine the length of the Hair required.
8
Finish off by going back through the
eye of the hook, and voilà! Get fishing!
Common Errors
consideration the wildlife such as
It may sound obvious to some,
coots, as well as nuisance fish. It’s easy
but if you’re solely using a
to balance a cork ball with paste, but if
throwing stick to get bait out,
the nuisance fish have chipped away
the most common error is using
at the paste, all of a sudden you’re
one in the hours of daylight. Gulls
fishing with a cork ball on a mini Zig.
will spot what you’re doing a mile
I also often like to top my
off! Many well-known anglers
boilie off with the likes of
have also quoted this in their
an Avid Sight Stop, just to
writings, but you’ll find that if a
pouchful of boilies hits the surface. This obviously isn’t what
give it a little extra visual attraction in comparison
bird hits the water, it’s got your
you want if you’re putting some boilies out to an area where
to the free offerings that are out there on the spot.
bait! A boilie out of a throwing
you know fish are present and more than likely feeding. The
Now that’s definitely a highly recommended tactical
stick travels so fast that it spins
better approach would be to quietly flick out one or two
approach when it comes to angling with boilies.
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
ABOVE You can bait up with boilies
ABOVE I know which one I’d want to
ABOVE Simple rigs are my preferred
using a variety of baiting tools.
have a munch on out of that lot.
method when boilie fishing, no
matter how big the boilie.
if you really need
to do it in daylight.
Crafty Carper
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Up Your Game
Ian Russell
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:
Q
Do you use shelfies
or freezer baits?
Jimmy Parsons.
A
To 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
Q
favour one over the other because
Why do some fisheries
the only difference between the two
ban boilies?
is the fact that the shelfies have an
Andy Collier Milenko.
A
extra ingredient, which is a bit of
I’ve come up against this myself,
preservative; it makes no difference to
and you’ll find that it’s usually a
my captures whichever I’ve used. If I’m
club water that is match orientated.
session fishing and going to be there
I’ve had this at committee level, and
for a few days, I ensure I have 5 or
it’s a no-win situation because the
10 kilos of shelfies in the back of the
committee is usually made up of
van. It’s always a food bait, whether
match anglers and they carry weight.
it’s fishmeal or a birdfood one, and it’s
Carp anglers go on with their boilies
convenient for me to keep in the van,
and usually there are massive shoals
just as I keep a few tins of prepared
of bream that quickly get on them,
hemp in the back of the van or car. It
meaning that when the match guys
doesn’t bother me at all which one I
come on at the weekend with their
use because I’m confident with either.
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
Q
Have you ever used home-made
square boilies on harder waters
to fool the older and warier carp?
work were dumbbells, although in the
anyone can use them and that
Danny Wright.
early days we used to call them pillows.
edge has worn off. Whichever
few years ago I tried making what
Now they’re commercially available
you prefer, whether it’s round
I can only describe as boilie bricks,
from a wide range of companies and
or dumbbell, every company
which were square in shape, and to be
they’re not an edge at all. At the
does ’em so it’s personal choice.
their quarry. There is no health or
honest it didn’t help me catch more fish
beginning, when I was producing them
There’s no anti-eject edge with
safety reason for not using boilies.
or the older fish. What did originally
myself and not many other people were
them either, that is unless you
on them, they worked to devastating
use them in extremely large
effect on loads of waters, but now
sizes, which has exactly the same
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
A
property as using an extremely
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.
large round boilie. The only edge
used to be the fact that they were
different, and now this is no more.
In Closing
If 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
BELOW A stunning
mirror that
couldn’t resist a
Sonubaits Code
Red shelf
life boilie!
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
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Crafty Carper
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