When it comes to choosing the best baits for carp fishing, you’ll find a bag of boilies in most carp fishermen’s arsenal.
They are really effective and actually a pretty versatile bait. But what goes into the best carp boilies?
In short, it’s a mix of attractive flavours, colours, and if you are smart, you could introduce something that the carp haven’t seen before!
What’s “the secret”?
Read on to find out…
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What Are The Ingredients In The Best Carp Boilies?
Choosing the best carp boilies is pretty formulaic. Once you’ve selected a size, you’ll want to satisfy a few general elements. Such as: -
- A nice vivid colour
- An attractive flavour (either natural or synthetic)
- Ingredients to ensure a good consistency, such as fishmeal, flour or other cereal.
How do you achieve this?
It’s actually pretty easy. Look for the following elements: -
Flavour – Strong flavours are the order of the day when using boilies for carp fishing. Carp rely on their sense of smell to locate food, and their interest is piqued by the unusual and bizarre. You could try one of the following:
- Spicy boilies
- Fruit flavoured boilies
- Fish flavoured boilies
- Boilies with added fish attractants like Betaine
- Boilies with added salt
- Boilies with added ingredients like nuts or seeds
Colour – Colour is a debate all of its own. However, rarely, a ‘virgin’ boilie will out-fish one that has some colour included.
Texture – How your boilie behaves in the water will dictate how many fish you catch. Ideally, you want a boilie that holds its shape for a while when submerged.
What Are the Best Colour Boilies for Carp?
Whatever colour you prefer, here’s our advice.
Go bold, bright and unusual. Orange, pink and even white can work really well all year round.
In truth, if you asked 100 different carp fishermen, you’d get 100 different answers. So, here’s the real answer.
The colours that work well tend to be those that carp haven’t seen too often. If they have been caught a few times on red boilies, that colour will instantly spell ‘danger’.
What Are the Best Sized Boilies for Carp?
This can vary from day to day. But, generally, you’ll find sizes between 12mm and 20mm will be the ideal size.
Again, you’ll often find that using something slightly different can yield really great results. If everyone uses the ‘standard’ 15mm, try moving down a few sizes or even throwing out something huge.
You’ve also got to consider how you are fishing. The carp may not always be on the bottom. In this case, you might need to consider a bait much more suited to float fishing.
What Are the Best Carp Boilies?
The best boilies for carp fishing are those that stand the biggest chance of netting you the most fish. As to what they are? There is a word you should always look for when choosing a carp fishing boilie.
Variety.
Take a selection of boilies, and you’ll stand the best possible chance of catching.
Here are some great carp-magnets that will prove to be highly effective: -
Best Shelf-Life Boilies
#1. Dynamite Baits Robin Red Boilies
If you don’t have room in the fridge or freezer, then here’s the answer.
These boilies have an impressive shelf life, meaning you can leave them in your box and crack them out whenever you’ve got an impromptu carp fishing trip planned.
Aside from the huge shelf life, these boilies come in an eye-catching red colour and they are slow to break down in the water.
The best bit?
They are infused with tiny bird seeds. As they slowly degrade, they act a little like ground bait, leaving a tiny trail of breadcrumbs that lead straight to your hook bait.
The flavour of Robin Red is also very pungent so is sure to attract the attention of even the most finicky of carp.
Best Pop Up Boilies
#2. Mainline Hi Impact Pop-Ups
Remember how we talked about being a little ‘different’?
Pop-up boilies don’t sit on the bottom and are naturally buoyant.
Pair this up with a bright and vivid colour along with some amazing carp attracting flavours, and you’ve got a dream combination.
These pop-up boilies tick all three of the above boxes and will allow your hook bait to sit tantalizingly above a nice pile of free offerings or indeed debris and vegetation that may usually impede a bottom bait.
At 15mm, they are also the perfect size and are good all-rounders.
Best Freezer Boilies
#3. Mainline Dedicated Freezer Boilies
There’s one sure-fire way to lock in all of that flavour and freshness in your boilies.
Freeze them.
Some boilies are made specifically to stay in perfect condition in the freezer. These are great examples.
They are frozen as soon as they are made, locking in the flavour and freshness.
Convenience aside, these boilies have a lot going for them. They are infused with top quality fish attractants.
Want a top tip?
Split the bag in two and freeze each portion separately. That way, you don’t end up defrosting too much bait in one go!
Best Carp Wafters
#4. Mainline Balanced Wafters
Can’t decide between a bog-standard boilie or a pop-up?
One word.
Wafters.
These boilies are designed to ‘hover’ in the water.
The weight of your hook rig should perfectly balance the buoyancy of these boilies. This allows them to have a more natural appearance in the water and also aids your rigs anti-eject properties.
What’s more, they come in a diverse range of sizes, with a great array of different flavours.
(Top secret boilie tip: Go for a combination of salty squid and high leakage pineapple… Both are deadly).
Drop a single wafter among a cloud of contrasting boilies delivered tight,from a bait boat, and you’ve got a killer tactic.
Best Winter Boilies
#5. Nash Bait Citruz White Boilies
When the cold weather sets in, most things slow down.
But that doesn’t mean your fishing has to.
You’ll be feeding less, so you will want a boilie that stays on the hook a little longer and is a little more subtle.
White boilies in winter always work well. It is one of the best colours to use in darker water. Combine this with a zingy citrus flavour, and you’ve got an amazing boilie recipe.
These winter boilies are available in a range of sizes. Opt for those at the lower end of the size scale, and you’ll present the carp with morsels that they can’t resist.
If you want some more advice on carp fishing in the winter, we’ve got a detailed guide right here that is well worth a look.
Best Spring & Summer Boilies
#6. Mainline High Impact Bottom Baits
As the carp emerge after the winter, you’ll find that you don’t need to go too wild on either looks or flavour.
That said, when the carp are spawning, they will need something a little less outrageous as they can be finicky during these times.
Sometimes natural-looking carp baits are the way to go.
These high impact boilies are relatively neutral in colour but are still packed with some fabulous flavours.
Combined with a natural flavour, you’ll find these boilies are perfect for tempting them. Fish flavours seem to work well and can often stimulate bites even when there is very little happening.
While summer is a great season for carp fishing, the conditions have got to be right. Why not check our article on the best weather for carp fishing and find the perfect conditions?
Best Fishmeal Boilies
#7. Sticky Baits The Krill
The good news is that these are one of the best fish flavoured carp boilies around.
The bad news?
The Mrs won’t get within a mile of your hands after you’ve baited up a few of these.
They stink to high heaven. Bad for your significant other, good for carp.
Carp, like other species, are naturally attracted to strong fish smells. These baits literally pour nutritious goodness out into the water that the carp can’t fail to notice.
This slightly more natural approach can work wonders when the fish switch off from more artificial boilie flavours.
Best Fruit Flavoured Boilies
#8. Dynamite Baits Carp Tec Boilie
You can pretty much consider these ‘starburst’ for carp.
When we opened a bag, we wanted to eat a few ourselves!
They smell so good. And if we think so, there’s a good chance that the carp will share our sentiments.
With flavours such as plum and pineapple-banana, served alongside traditional carp favourites such as tutti frutti, you are bound to be showing the fish something new and interesting.
The colours are a little different too, plum is our favourite as it isn’t often that you’ll see guys using purple boilies.
At 15mm, these boilies will cater for the majority of carp fishing situations.
Best Boilies for Silt
#9. Nash Special Edition Citruz White Wafters
While carp are famous for grubbing around in the muck, ideally, you want them to be able to easily see and reach your hook bait.
With a bright exterior and neutrally buoyant tendencies, these wafters should sit perfectly presented on top of a bed of silt.
At 12mm in size, they are ideal for pairing up with a size 10 hook giving you optimal bait presentation and behaviour.
For more info on the best hooks for carp fishing, check out this guide.
Wafters will sink more slowly than your groundbait. These ‘free offerings’ are exceptionally attractive to carp.
The nice thing about these pots is that the flavouring comes in a separate tube, so you can experiment until you find the optimal level of flavouring.
Final Thoughts
There will always be a huge debate around the best carp boilies, with each angler claiming to have unlocked ‘the secret’.
The truth is that if you take a variety, both in colour, size and flavour, you’ll have options and possibilities to find your own ‘winning formula’.
It isn’t only down to the bait, so while you are here, why not have a quick glance over the best carp rigs to use with a great selection of different carp baits.
Thanks for reading...
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