MAKE LONG LIFE BAIT…again!

I have written before about extending the shelf life of your baits, but as I still get plenty of queries asking how to do this, I thought it was worth doing another Blog detailing some of the tricks I use to add to the longevity of my bait.

I'll start with the easiest; air-dried baits. Moisture is Public Enemy Number One as far as our boilies are concerned. It follows, therefore, that the easiest way of preserving your baits is by air-drying them. If you've not encountered this phrase before, it means simply that the finished bait is allowed to shed its moisture and this in turn helps prevent from taking hold the bacterium that degrades the bait. The simplest way to dry your bait is to place the boilies in an open weave container such as a vegetable try (see photo). Spread the baits out on the tray and place it in a warm room or perhaps the airing cupboard. Shake the tray from time to time to ensure that each is exposed to the warm air.

You can use the trays to defrost frozen bait but if there is full-on sunshine take care not to allow the baits to air-dry too quickly, as they may split open. Exposing the bait to gentle heat turning them frequently will ensure that the bait defrosts steadily and as it does so your boilies will reabsorb the attraction you built into them before they were frozen.

Glycerin is a natural preservative that is widely used in the bait industry to extend or stabilise the shelf life of fresh boiled baits. It also lends a slight sweetness to the finished bait. I add 20ml to the eggs before making the bait, and then once it has dried post-boiling add a further 20ml, plus optional additives, to the finished bait.

Here's how I add still further to the overall attraction of the bait. First I add 25ml Glycerin to a clean dry bottle.

I next add 5ml of flavour. Monster Crab is excellent but it is somewhat anti-social! I only have to take of the cap to send the cat shooting through the flap, and the missus threatening divorce!

I finish it off with 5g of Citric Acid, which is a known investigation trigger, thanks to its low pH.

Now I place the finished dry boilies in a bowl and add the glycerin/flavour/citric acid solution to the bowl.

Give the bowl, a swirl to distribute the solution evenly over the boilies. This will add at least three months to the shelf life of most boiled bait. There are a few Blogs about the use of glycerin elsewhere on the site. Here's a link :- https://haiths.com/blogs/fishing-news/boiled-baits-and-glycerin-part-1?

Vacuum packing fresh bait is a home Godsend and is another superb method of storing bait for extended periods. There are a number of counter-top machines on the market that will vacuum-seal all types of bait and they will heat-seal the bag in the process. They are ideal for making bait in advance of a session, a trip or even a season. No need for a freezer, vacuum-sealed bait will last two or three months longer than non-sealed. Mind you, there is no reason why you shouldn't freeze vacuum-sealed bait should you wish to extend its shelf life even more. In this photo you can see fresh, vacuum-sealed birdfood baits that are ready to be frozen or be stored ready for an extended session.

Hempseed should be sealed in small individual portions as it can take ages before a larger bulk-frozen block of prepared hempseed defrosts, a major drawback of freezing hempseed in bulk. Another is that the block tends to float!

Freeze the prepared vacuum-packed seed in blocks no larger than 500g or thereabouts.  You can vacuum-pack any particle, seed, pulse or cereal you like.  

Just going back to air-drying for a second…There are several alternative ways of air-drying boilies and these air-dry bags are ideal. Put the bait in the bag and hang it in a tree or branch. Shake the bag twice a day to ensure that the warm air gets to the bait effectively. If there is likely to be heavy overnight dew bring the bag undercover.

Shelf life boilies are very convenient and are nowadays predominantly made using more or less the same ingredients as the base mix. In fact, many anglers have found that the use of a 50/50 mix of both shelf life and air-dried boilies is actually better than using either type individually. This is my bait for a two-week session on a huge reservoir in Romania.

I had a shed-load of carp during that session including no less than seventy over 30lb!

Virtually any hydrophobic substance can help preserve and extend the shelf life of fresh bait. Rice, for instance will draw moisture from within your boilies, and the longer they are surrounded with grains of rice, the drier and harder the baits will become.

Sugar has a similar effect. Simply use a colander to separate the sugar from the boilies. They can now be stored in dry conditions for an almost indefinite time.