Many carp anglers claim that in certain waters boilies no longer perform and that the only viable alternative is tiger nuts.
I disagree with this statement, not because I consider a good boilie to be always superior to a tiger nut, but because I believe that the ability and technique to condition carp to eat good boilies has been lost, so we must adapt to baits that are easier to use.
Tiger nuts (chufa) are undoubtedly good baits that are perfectly suited to the "nomadic" style of fishing that characterises most of the approaches of modern carp anglers. If you often change locations without preparing the bait in advance, it becomes very difficult to interest carp with highly nutritious but unattractive baits or with simple ready-made baits made only from semolina and flavour.
As a result, the sugary and fermented component of the Tigers is much quicker to enter the fishery, offering the carp a very interesting alternative in terms of taste.
If you think that chufa is on average more resistant to disturbance than many boilies and is also less attractive to some disturbance species, it is easy to see how it can easily become a successful bait.
To the question of whether it is possible to replace boilies with tiger baits in this type of fishing, I would definitely say that it is possible to do so without major regrets.
Provided that the main defect of tiger baits is that they are filled with fermented nuts in the vicinity of the bait, which can be scattered by the carp themselves, through the excretion of partially digested material, over a wide area, even far from the bait itself.
This is because whole nuts are not easily digested and the fish tend to defecate pieces of the nuts that are still edible.
We can read on my book how to prepare effective bait, in the chapter dedicated to these nuts.
In order to prepare the bait that we will be using during the fishing trip (or prior to the fishing trip, since there is nothing to stop us from preparing the spot anyway), it is best to use broken tigers, peeled tigers and small peanuts, mixed in a ratio of 3/5 crumbled + 1/5 peeled + 1/5 small tigers,
The ideal cooking process is the same as the classic one for primers, although I suggest using tiger nut milk for soaking and boiling instead of water, or almond milk or soy milk or oat milk (if you can't find chufa milk).
Once fermented in the classic way, we will knead it with a method created with equal parts of tiger flour and crumbled old bread, mixed with tiger extract (which is denser and stickier than milk), to make small balls with which to bait.
It is highly recommended to use fake tiger to make snowman rig that combine a large jumbo with a small plastic imitation.
In the book Boilies you will find some recipes for alternative tiger nuts.