Carp Bait Overview

Most North American carp have not experienced the fishing pressure of European carp and so basic baits and rigs often produce well. Basic North American baits range from simple sweetcorn and nightcrawlers to simple doughballs of wheaties and strawberry soda that rely on the strength of the baits flavor to attract carp. The evolution of North American baits revolves mostly around doughballs used in pay lakes. In this situation, the carp are pressured by anglers fishing only for carp. The carp see a lot of different baits, the biggest carp caught during the match wins the money pot so this is serious carp angling. With this much pressure on bait emphasis you would not think pay lakers would share their bait secrets with us, but they don’t forget the fun they have and are willing to teach anyone the basics. Here we present a short primer on American Paylake doughballs, the full article is in the NACA, Fall 1999.

Brian "Carpaholic" Nordberg, David Moore, and Jim West surveying their St Lawrence River Boilies. They didnt make enough!

Boilie: a bait made from eggs, protein powder, and flavors which is boiled (hence the name) to toughen the skin of the bait in order to keep the smaller fish from taking it off the hook. They are made into little balls of varying sizes and fished as bait and chum.

Doughball:Soft paste like baits made basically from flours and flavors. Simple doughballs can be made from just oatmeal and water or corn flakes and soda pop. Dont be fooled by this simplicity, doughball practitioners have been concocting secret recipes for generations in America. We are lucky because these doughball scientists are more than willing to teach us the basics of making doughballs, but you will have to find your own secret additives.

Groundbait: Bait used as chum, usually made from breadcrumbs, but can be anything which causes a cloud and adds flavor to the water. It is usually made into balls and tossed into the area you want to fish. Ideally it should not feed the fish very much, only attract and trigger them. A good groundbait for carp is made from cracked corn and molasses.

Maize: Dried field corn ($5-$8 per 50 pounds) which is soaked for 8 hours then boiled for 20-30 minutes. Makes a great chum because it is usually al dente enought for carp, but other fish are turned off. Also is a good bait, especially after the fish have been eating it for a while.

PESCAVIVA: An Italian-brand flavored corn sold as fish bait. Strawberry is a good flavor. See Bait dealers page for a source for PESCAVIVA.

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