{"id":26045,"date":"2019-02-15T14:45:23","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T13:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/?p=26045"},"modified":"2025-10-10T15:01:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T14:01:08","slug":"the-great-bait-debate-shelf-life-or-freezer-bait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/the-great-bait-debate-shelf-life-or-freezer-bait\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great Bait Debate – shelf-life or freezer bait?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The\nwealth of highly nutritious and readily available \u2018ready mades\u2019 lead me to\nwonder: why on earth would anyone waste valuable time freezing, transporting,\nairdrying and rehydrating baits for their French carp fishing trip?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shelf-life or freezer bait? The debate has\nraged for a while now. To my mind, however, it\u2019s a no-brainer: the extensive\nrange of palatable, balanced shelflife boilies now on offer from the likes of Nash,\nNutrabaits, Sticky et al, are not just convenient, effective and affordable –  they\u2019re good for the carp, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, if I\u2019m targeting big carp in foreign\nclimes, I\u2019m more than happy to load the van with Mr. Bayes\u2019 finest \u2013 secure in\nthe knowledge I\u2019ve given myself the best possible chance of bagging up; and\ndone my bit for the fish too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
One of Nutrabaits comprehensive range of shelf-life baits<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And I\u2019m happy to put my money where my mouth\nis – having, recently and after much soul searching, selected a \u2018fishery\napproved\u2019 shelflife boilie for our new lakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How things have changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019d asked me ten years ago which I\u2019d\nhave chosen for my own fishing, I wouldn’t have given \u2018shelfies\u2019 a second glance,\nhaving seen 100s of kilos of nasty green slimy balls dragged out of my local\nsyndicate lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Snubbed even by the resident invertebrates, and\nclearly possessing a half-life in excess of that of plutonium, said balls clearly\nhad a close-to-non-existent breakdown rate – a consequence no doubt of the\nexcessive use of preservatives \u2013 and no nutritional value whatsoever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for the timely action of the fishery\nowner, the impact on the water quality, and the stock, could have been\ncatastrophic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless, these days shelfies are\noutselling frozen baits by a factor of ten. So, what has caused this total turn\naround? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Largely, as with so many \u2018matters angling\u2019,\nit\u2019s all about awareness; the mags, Interweb et al contributing to a wider understanding\nof what constitutes a nutritionally balanced boilie \u2013 and of why such baits are\nmore effective, over the long term – and enlightened customers voting with\ntheir feet: choosing genuine \u2018food\u2019 baits over cheaper \u2018grab bag\u2019 alternatives\n(many of which are little more than carriers for flavours and colours).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because,\nmake no mistake: all shelfies are not created equal.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are shelf-lives, and there are shelf\nlives. So common sense must prevail. If you\u2019re buying a Fred-in-a-shed bait retailing\nat three quid a kilo, it will not be as palatable as a known-brand bait, from one\nof the market leaders, costing a tenner or more a bag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s simple economics, innit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best ingredients, fishmeals etc., are\nexpensive. And getting dearer. Which explains why so many long-established baits\n\u2013 no names, no pack drill \u2013 have evolved over the years; and not in a positive\nway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s a discussion for another forum.\nSuffice now to say that many very successful anglers have been converted to\nshelf-life baits, having fished them side-by-side with fresh and frozen\nequivalents; and finding them either as good or better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure, most shelflife boilies still contain some\nform of additive, to prevent them from turning. But the better firms use only the\nminimum required level of human food grade preservative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other than that, the mix will be pretty much\nthe same as the frozen equivalent; which is good news for holiday carpers who may\nnot have access to a freezer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not to say steps should not be taken\nto keep shelf life baits in top condition. But the ubiquitous use of re-sealable\npackaging is sufficient to lock-in freshness for months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freezer baits by contrast must be kept \u2013 yep!\n\u2013 frozen. Which is a big ask if your chosen venue is a day\u2019s drive away. Bigger\nstill if it doesn\u2019t have a freezer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, old school carpers out there will\ninterject, what\u2019s to stop you air-drying your baits before you travel?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fair question, I suppose.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Air-drying is a simple enough (if\ntime-consuming) process, which \u2013 for those that don\u2019t know – involves hanging\nyour baits in a warm dry place, in dedicated air-dry bags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depending on prevailing conditions, it can be\ndone on the bank, or at home in the garage or shed (actually, the airing\ncupboard is the ideal place to do it; but this could make you \u2018be in trouble\u2019\nwith your significant other).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
If you go down the frozen route and want to get really serious about air drying your baits, RidgeMonkey have developed this solution. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

If you are planning a Drive and Survive trip\nto France and you have sufficient vehicle space, you may decide to air dry your\nbaits on the bank. In which case you\u2019ll need to keep your bait as\nnear-to-frozen as possible during the journey \u2013 necessitating use of cool bags\nor, better, an Igloo style cool box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Either way, you should be sure to remove as\nmuch air from each bag as possible and packing them with ice-packs and\/or\nbubble-wrap (which is a great insulator), ensuring your bait\u2019s in the best\npossible condition when you finally arrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wherever you choose to do it \u2013 at home base\nor in your swim – you\u2019ll need to spread your bait across several bags: the\nboilies in the middle will inevitably dry more slowly and may otherwise become\nmouldy before they\u2019re thoroughly dried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With which in mind, you\u2019ll also need to give them\na good shake every day. And if you\u2019re using a range of different sizes, I would\nalso recommend drying each size separately (making life easier on the bank,\nwhen you come to catapult  or \u2018stick\u2019 them\nout).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The longer they\u2019re air-dried, the more your\nbaits will shrink, and the harder they will become (which can, granted, be an\nadvantage on waters where nuisance fish and crays are present).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once they are totally dry, you can retain\nthem as-is. Or you can give them a little extra oomph \u2013 coating them with your\npreferred food or attractor liquids (Hemp Oil is great in the colder months).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can also choose to rehydrate your bait by\nadding lake water; or the juice from your hemp or whatever particles you may be\nusing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My question however is: why?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why go to all this trouble, when you\u2019ll achieve\nsimilar results using a quality shelfie, straight out of the bag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure; when you\u2019re fishing at home \u2013 on tricky\nday ticket waters \u2013 chances are, every little edge may count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for your annual French carp fishing\nholiday?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why make life difficult ?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the record, at our own fishery, we\nultimately commissioned shelf life and freezer versions of our chosen bait. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former for their ease and convenience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latter simply to satisfy a declining band of \u2018traditionalists\u2019 who still shun the shelfies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steve Calder<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The wealth of highly nutritious and readily available \u2018ready mades\u2019 lead me to wonder: why on earth would anyone waste valuable time freezing, transporting, airdrying and rehydrating baits for their French carp fishing trip? Shelf-life or freezer bait? The debate has raged for a while now. To my mind, however, it\u2019s a no-brainer: the extensive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[946,1,1113],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-carp-bait","category-carp-fishing-news","category-steve-calder"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26045"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29293,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26045\/revisions\/29293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}