Rolling Your Own Part Two

With

Leigh Hemsley

As you may recall, in part one of the Rolling your own series, Leigh went through all the tools and equipment required to enable you to start rolling your own boilies. In part two Leigh will clearly and simply demonstrate exactly how to prepare, roll, cook and store your boilies, in this step by step feature. So without wasting anymore of your time with long winded intros it’s over to Leigh.

Step One Following the base mix recipe take the required amount of eggs needed, then crack open and pour into your mixing bowl. Then add the required quantities of liquid flavourings and oils to the eggs before whisking. Once all the eggs oils and flavours have been placed in the mixing bowl, whisk vigorously until thoroughly mixed together. Top Tip One - follow the standard rule of one egg to 100g of base mix or if unsure follow the manufacturer’s recipe. Top Tip Two – when adding the liquids and oils via a pipette, ALWAYS start by using the thinner liquid first as the prevents the heavier liquid from leaving a residue and this ensures you get the correct level of liquid ingredients every time
Step Two Now measure out the required quantities of the powdered additives needed per number of eggs (if the mix requires 30g per kg then add 3g per egg used) Before adding to the egg, sprinkle a small quantity of base mix over the surface of the eggs and liquids to ensure an even distribution of the powdered additives. Top Tip One - If adding a colour powder also add this at this stage to ensure an even colouration of your rolled baits. Top Tip Two - NEVER exceed the required quantity of powdered flavourings, slightly under is better than too much.
Step Three Now steadily add the base mix to the ingredients already in the bowl until you form pliable, non sticky paste that can be easily manipulated in your hands, also ensuring that all the base mix has absorbed the eggs and liquids fully. The perfect consistency for your prepared paste should be sticky to the touch but leave zero base mix or residue on your hands. Once you are totally satisfied that the mix is ready for the paste gun, leave to one side for a couple of minutes and start preparing for your next mix as above. Top Tip One – add the base mix as required, nice and steady ensures a balance mix that will not dry out and become unusable, simply add and mix until you have used the required amount. Top Tip Two - If you ever mess up a mix and it is too hard to be extruded from the bait gun, try rolling it out flat and using a bait punch create your own boilie pellets or simply freeze and use as paste.
Step Four To load the paste gun, simply take the 4 egg mix and form a large sausage that will fit comfortably inside the main cylinder of the paste gun. Once the paste is loaded, simply tension the cylinders inner rod until the paste has started to leave the nozzle. Keeping a constant pressure, slowly squeeze the trigger to force the paste out of the gun to form a long even sausage that is the full width of the rolling table. Top Tip One – Before loading the paste ALWAYS ensure that the nozzle you are using is the same size as the rolling table. If you want perfectly round boilies then both must be identical in size. Top Tip Two - to ensure your boilies are consistent in size, always let gravity do the work and leave a 5 to 6 inch gap between the nozzle and the rolling table. NEVER drag the sausage across the rolling table, only move the guns nozzle as the paste is released.
Step Five Once you have two sausages that run the full width of the rolling table then line the top part or the lid of the rolling table with the base. This is simply done by lining up the male and female grooves and then pushing down. Once fully lined up push the lid or top section in a backwards and forwards motion approximately 5 or 6 times or until you feel no resistance from the paste sausage, then simply roll off the base section into a bowl ready for cooking, job done! Top Tip One– On the last forward motion lift the lid off the base by rotating your wrists away from you and lifting at the same time. This will leave the rolled boilies on the base where you want them and prevent the baits from sticking to both surfaces. Top Tip Two– To prevent your rolled boilies sticking together simply dust the baits each time you roll with a small amount of base mix.
Step Six Bring two sauce pans half full of water to the boil and once they are boiling reduce the heat and leave to simmer. Then add just enough boilies to cover the bottom of the pan and bring back to the boil. Boil the baits for a maximum of three (3) minutes or until all the baits have come to the surface and started to float. Then immediately pour onto a riddle and catch the water in a bowl and return it to the sauce pan ready for the next batch of baits. Top Tip – After you have placed the baits in the boiling water DO NOT TOUCH OR ATTEMPT TO STIR FOR AT LEAST 45 SECONDS, this time is essential to enable the egg to harden. Don’t over fill the pans as this will lower the water temperature and increase the cooking time which can affect the final quality of the boilies. Top Tip Two – Keep the water you have used to boil your bait s in. This water contains all the ingredients you have used in the making of your boilies and is ideal for use when cooking particles and preparing your spod and groundbaits.
Step Seven Once you have drained all the water off of the boilies then place the baits on a large riddle in a well ventilated dry area and leave to fully dry out. Leigh recommends that you leave the baits to dry for a minimum of 24 hours before placing in cold storage or using. The longer you leave the baits to air dry will effect the hardness of the baits finished baits and this is something that is affected greatly by the temperature and environment the baits are dried and stored in. Top Tip One – When air drying your baits NEVER air dry in direct sunlight as this will make the outer skin dry out too fast and crack. ALWAYS air dry in a well ventilate, dry area that is shaded at all times. Top Tip Two - For the first 10 to 12 hours of air drying, regularly rotate and move your boilies around. This allows the entire outer skin to dry our more evenly and this gives the bait a mush better all round performance and consistency.

Foot Note

By following Leigh’s simple instructions you to can roll your own bait to a standard that is as good as anything you can buy from the shelves of your local tackle shop. Yes! You will make mistakes as you learn and develop your boillie rolling skills but like most things in life the more you do it the better you will become. Leigh will be back later in the year with part three of this series when he will take you through the finer art of rolling your own Pop Ups.

The base mix (Icelandic Red), ingredients and measuring instruments are supplied by The Carp Company	Rolling Equipment supplied by Gardner Tackle