Inexperienced anglers often start their fishing journey by catching smaller fish, but eventually they want something bigger.
Among their first choices we can often find carp. Carp can grow quite big and it is very common in numerous lakes, ponds and rivers.
Those beginners often spend too much money on commercial baits that are sometimes less effective than other options. Carp can be caught on a lot of different baits and most of those you can prepare by yourself.
These baits are cheaper, highly effective and you can customize them according to your needs.
Ingredients are easily available, and by perfecting your recipe you will gain valuable knowledge about fish species in your area, as well as their eating habits during different seasons.
To find out more about homemade carp bait recipes for fishing beginners, read the following chapters:
- Benefits of homemade carp baits
- Homemade boilies for carp fishing
- Homemade bread and corn for carp fishing
- Homemade carp fishing dough
- Homemade kidney-beans for carp fishing
- Other homemade bait options for large fish
- Conclusion
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Benefits of homemade carp baits
First of all, when you are preparing your baits, you know all the ingredients in them and that can assure you that no fish will be harmed and no strange chemicals are going to be spread trough water.
Not all commercial baits are bad, and some of them have quality ingredients that are safe for both targeted fish species butt also for the flora and fauna in the water.
However, these baits are gaining more and more popularity and new manufacturers appear every year, so while choosing among endless options where everyone is promising the best result, it is easy to buy something that is ineffective, and potentially dangerous.
The second reason is the price. High-quality carp baits are not cheap when compared to homemade options. But what are you paying for actually?
A bunch of additives and attractants that you can buy yourself if you wish to do so and add them to your recipes.
Or you can go all-natural. Either way, you are going to save a lot of money on the long run. For some recipes, mentioned later on, you don’t even have to go in a specialized fishing store because all of the ingredients are available in most supermarkets.
And lastly, knowledge and experience. We all know that inactive fish likes smaller baits and that flavours and protein content should vary. Smell/taste should vary too, according to a season.
Every fishing location is different. Some locations heat-up faster and fish become active earlier in the year, while in some places carp is used to certain baits…
By preparing your own baits you will gain experience that is impossible to get any other way.
You will be able to customize your baits to perfectly match any given situation, and no commercial bait will do that for you.
And don’t worry, most of the homemade carp bait recipes for fishing beginners are easy to follow and prepare …
Homemade boilies for carp fishing
Among all of the carp baits, boilies are probably the most famous one.
Sure, you can buy them in a local fishing store but keep in mind that those are not necessarily better.
Boilies are very effective and it is not surprising that anglers love to use them. They can vary in size, taste, smell, colour and texture, so there are endless options for all seasons in all waters.
To prepare them you will need a few ingredients, which you can buy in a fishing store, or you can use everything from a supermarket. Except for that, you will need a pot with a boiling water and a few eggs.
Here I am going to write 2 simple recipes, one with specialized ingredients and one with human-grade food.
RECIPE 1 – Fishing store specialized ingredients
Ingredients: Base mix powder, flavour (any flavour you want, like strawberry or similar), base activator, sweetener (optional), colouring, and eggs.
Usually, those ingredients have instructions on how to use them, but most of the “recipes” are similar. Make sure you buy ingredients from reputable manufacturers.
Steps:
• Mix the liquid ingredients: 1 egg, 2,5 ml of base activator, 7,5 ml of flavour,1 ml of sweetener, and 1 tablespoon of colouring
• Add 3 cups of base mix powder and form a dough by mixing and kneading
• Form balls of a desired size, put them in a boiling water, cook 2 minutes and let them air try overnight
And that’s it. These boilies are basically the same as those sold in fishing stores, but of you just buy the ingredients, you will get a lot more product for the same price.
RECIPE 2 – Supermarket ingredients tuna recipe
Ingredients: Regular or soy flour, bread crumbs, milk powder, semolina, spinach, tuna can in brine, fish sauce, and eggs.
Steps:
• Add 2 cups of flour in a large bowl
• Add 2 cups of bread crumbs
• Add 1/3 cup of milk powder and 1/3 cup of semolina and mix everything
• Add 1 cup of defrosted, chopped, frozen spinach
• Add tuna and a table-spoon of fish sauce
• Mix everything, add 2 eggs, and mix thoroughly
• Use your hands to make a large dough ball which has to be consistent and not falling apart
• Cover in plastic and let it sit for a few hours in a cold and dry place
• Put the dough in a bowl again, add a teaspoon of garlic powder and a cup of cornflour
• Knead the dough like you would do with a pizza dough, it may take several minutes
• Form the balls, put them in a boiling water, cook for 2 minutes and let them air-dry on a kitchen towel for 24 hours
And it is done!
If you want, you can freeze them and keep them frozen up to six months.
Feel free to experiment with the ingredients, add honey to sweeten the mixture, or food-colouring to get a desired colour.
Homemade bread and corn for carp fishing
Another excellent option for carp fishing is using corn or bread as bait. These options are extremely easy to prepare and the price is very low.
BREAD
Same as all of the other homemade baits, bread can be used for both baiting, and prebaiting too.
Because of its texture, it has one great advantage. Bread is soft and it can dissolve in water very fast. When bread, or breadcrumbs, is used for prebaiting, little particles of it can be swept by the current and take the smell and taste very far. It will attract fish from great distances.
To make this prebaiting mixture even more appealing to carp, you can add a few drops of liquid attractors bought in fishing stores, but be careful not to use too much, you don’t want the bread to be soaked.
When you use it on the hook, you can either form small balls and put them directly on a hook or use a piece of crust as that part is harder to dissolve.
The downside of bread is that it can quickly fall of the hook, or get eaten by smaller fish.
This bait is excellent for topwater carp fishing.
CORN
Carp love sweet corn.. It is tasty and small, and that combination of size and sweetness is great for less active fish.
You can either buy feed corn and cook it, or you can buy canned sweet corn. The other option is easier, but the first one can be customized in numerous ways.
If you are wondering how to prepare corn, don’t worry, it is very easy.
If you buy feed corn, soak it overnight and then cook for about 45 minutes. It should be soft from the inside bit the skin shouldn’t break. When you finish cooking, you can add honey to make it sweet, or garlic to make it even more attractive.
For those who like to use different colours, you can even add some food colouring to the mixture. Natural corn colour is also highly visible.
Corn is actually available in some fishing stores too, and even the plastic version exists. That tells you a lot about its effectiveness.
If you want, to maximize its efficiency, you can add same attractants as you would in bread.
The reason I mentioned bread and corn together is that they can be used together, especially in prebaiting.
Except for that, corn can be used with boilies. Make a “snowman” on the hair rig, where the corn is positioned above the boilie. You can use both sinking or pop-ups for this.
Homemade carp fishing dough
Among homemade carp bait recipes for fishing beginners we can often find fishing dough, which is similar to boilies.
This bait can be used on different hooks and rigs, so it is ideal for a beginner who is still learning about fishing gear.
And the best part is that you can prepare it yourself!
Here is a simple strawberry recipe, which will attract carp with its sweet flavour.
Ingredients: Strawberry jelly, flour, cornmeal, and water.
Steps:
• Mix one cup of flour, one cup of cornmeal and one half of one standard jelly powder pack
• Add water little by little and knead the dough until it gets consistent
• Let it sit for about one hour
And that’s it!
You can use any flavour jelly powder and it will also add colour to the bait. If you want to make it sweeter, add molasses or honey.
Homemade fishing dough is probably the easiest to make, and it is one of the most effective baits out there.
And how to use this dough?
Simply take a piece of dough and form a cylindrical shape around the hook. You can use this dough for prebaiting too by forming little balls that you will throw into the water before presenting your bait.
If the dough is too sticky and you can’t work with it, add a bit of flour.
Strawbery is one of the best flavours an you will get a red coloured dough. If you want other colours, change the taste. Peach will give you orange, banana will give you yellow, or you can even mix different flavours.
Homemade kidney-beans for carp fishing
Same as corn, kidney beans can be canned or dry.
Dry ones you will have to cook for yourself in the same way as you would cook corn. Soak it overnight and cook about one hour.
To get the best possible result, you will have to add certain spices, and here you can play with different options. Add molasses, food colouring, strawberry or any other fruit essence, almond or vanilla essence, cinnamon or even a bit of garlic.
Those spices should be mixed in a bit of water and poured over the beans. Beans will soak it up and get the desired flavour. The longer it soaks, the better.
Just keep in mind that it should be stored in a cold and dry place.
These soaked beans make a great bait. They can also be mounted on the hook itself as a bait or used for prebaiting too.
If you are cooking the beans yourself, make sure you don’t overcook them, as you will be soaking them in spices later, so they will become softer.
Other homemade bait options for large fish
All of the baits mentioned are great for carp, but you can also use them for other non-predatory fish.
If you would like to catch some predatory species, like perch or catfish, you can try using maggots, worms or slugs.
All of them can be found in your own yard, or near the water where you fish. It is possible to buy them too, but that option is more expensive.
For a beginner, mounting a worm on a hook can be challenging, but you will figure it out. Of course, these baits are not to be used for prebaiting.
These live baits will attract predators, but it is not uncommon for carp to also be drawn by these baits. Their underwater movement can be very attractive.
Maggots and other worms are the most natural baits you can find, and if you have some extra time and space around the house you can even farm them yourself. Numerous instructions on this subject are available online.
If you want, you can prepare pellets too, for both carp, and some other non-predatory fish. These can be a bit challenging for a beginner to make, but here is one recipe, so you can try and decide is it worth the hassle.
Ingredients:
Any flavour base mix (try garlic), pop-up mix, powdered egg albumin and normal eggs.
You will also need rolling equipment and a flour sieve, both of which are a standard part of any kitchen.
Steps:
• Mix 300 grams of base mix with 100 grams of pop-up mix
• Add 30 grams of powdered egg albumin
• Mix everything together and let it trough a flour sieve to remove larger parts
• Add eggs and mix again. Remove any lumps.
• Roll thin dough “sausages” which should have a diameter about 8 millimetres
• Cut into small pieces and boil for 1 minute
• Air dry for 24 hours
And that’s it!
Rolling dough so small is hard because any lumps my cause it to break later on. Be very careful when doing it. If you fail a few times, don’t worry, practice makes perfection.
Conclusion
Most of the homemade carp bait recipes for fishing beginners are very easy to prepare and their efficiency is great.
Using them lowers the cost and perfects your knowledge.
For a beginner, it is very important to start with the basics and that is the best part of these baits, they do not require any special skills or expensive gear.
Before you go on the next carp fishing adventure, go to the nearest supermarket and choose one, or more, baits from this list. You will be amazed how well it works!
And one more tip in the end, don’t forget a baiting needle! You will need it for boilies, and even worms or maggots.