Many of my blog articles are created to let you know about the experience of consulting that I generally do for free, to improve or develop specific projects with anglers .
Sometimes I am also contacted by bait companies and I try to give support (again free of charge) if I think the question or project is stimulating for me.
I do this for personal satisfaction of continuing to give my contribution to the creation of products that will also have commercial purposes.
In this case I will present the advice given to Marco Galletti, owner of the rolling service Boiliesroom.
I had already contacted the company in the past for the interesting series on rolling service that also involved CBS carpfishing and Bools. in these articles I did make three different types of bait on commission to test and demonstrate the effectiveness of this type of products. if you missed these three interesting articles I leave the links below:
Then I got in touch with these manufacturers and Marco contacted me using the advice request form that you can download from the website.
He was interested in developing a project of baits with controlled solubility that would allow him to meet the demands of his many customers interested in fishing without prior baiting (fast baits) but also to all those who need to create a good area of food interest without running the risk of satiating the fish.
To be more precise, the target audience was all those river fishermen who put a lots of baits into the spot the evening before fishing, creating an interest that will keep as many fish as possible in the bait until the day of the catch. And also quarry anglers who have to manage abundant baiting session without satiating the carp in the spot...but at the same time keeping them interested in finding food.
I would add that these baits are also very well suited to the classic fishing holiday where you go to the lake, usually far from home, and stay 4-7 nights continuously in action.
Naturally, this development requirement was adapted to the dynamics of industrial production, to the specific methods of kneading, extruding, rolling and cooking adopted by this specific rolling service (including a precise budget).
I say this because the article can also serve as a starting point for the home self maker who, however, must calibrate on its dynamics and quantities (the dispassionate advice to achieve EXACTLY the same result is to contact boilies room to have this product directly).
When working in an industrial environment it is necessary to be clear about the main points of the project:
optimisation of materials and costs, no waste and a precise budget
clear ideas about market positioning, i.e. the price range of the finished product
industrial processes reduced to a minimum, time is money and the bulk of the costs come from warehousing and manpower
clear ideas on the type of product, the number of variants and the sales communication (simple, coherent, correct and immediate).
Before going into the technical explanation of the steps involved, I would like to add that the article will not contain the precise recipe for each ingredient of the boilie.
When I give advice to a company, even if it is free of charge, I believe that the recipe becomes the exclusive property of the client, who will decide for himself how many and which details to reveal.
Let's get down to business:
First of all I identified a volume ingredient suitable to cover about 40% of the final mix that would allow a smooth management of the raw materials warehouse in terms of supply and storage.
There is nothing better in this case than to use a ready-made bird food, selecting a version that already has among its ingredients the main flours needed to make a basic mix (soya, wheat, soya protein, maize, semi-finished bakery and confectionery products that in turn contain more technical ingredients).
In this way we stock bags that are packaged, certified and generally have a medium to long shelf life.
The project involved a line of 4 boilies called: Quick
Based on a common mix differentiated by approximately 15% of the ingredient identifying the specific type:
Fruit meals and fruity pallatant in the first version
Fish meals and liquid food in the second version
Spice mix in the third version
Peanut and peanut butter in the fourth one
The choice of this type of setting is easy to explain in the practicality of implementation, which saves considerable time for the operator.
Practically you can compose the mix directly in the mixer by putting the birdfood, the mixture of technical ingredients that regulate the mechanics (about 40% of the total) and finally 15-20 % that characterises the specific taste of the boilie.
The mixing of the 3 macro-ingredients will take place directly in the machine and it will be enough to insert the liquid component to arrive at the final result and the extrusion through the auger.
These baits will be rolled without egg in order to achieve extreme and controlled solubility and to easily manage the drying and storage process which will require very small doses of preservative (egg is one of the most difficult components in this respect).
Logically, we can decide to keep 1-3 eggs per kg if we want to obtain more structured and slower dissolving balls at home.
The mechanical part of the egg is relegated to the solids and the liquid part of the dough.
The flours that handle the raw and cooked mechanics are fundamental to the success of the project and everything is based on the subtle balance between native and modified starches and proteins.
These types of binding agents and additives are well explained in the chapter of my book Boilies dedicated to technical additives.
These are products commonly used in human nutrition to create aggregation, thicken and provide some kind of final texture to food.
In this case, gluten, natural starch and enzymatically modified starches have been used.
A good balance of pre-cooked cereal flours, vegetable proteins, dextrin and gum arabic to obtain a soft and porous ball and eliminate annoying surface crusts typical of products that rely only on starch (which is a very popular ingredient because it is cheap).
I must say that Marco, taking advantage of the experience of hundreds of tons of boilie produced in his laboratory, was able to achieve the perfect balance in "ONLY" four prototype productions.
We managed to obtain a total dissolution of a 20 millimetre bait, in still water at a temperature above 24 degrees, in 5-6 hours .... which become 3-4 when the boilie is subjected to the stress of the current.
These times are ideal for the type of approach we have set ourselves and in line with those envisaged in the design phase, from 4 to 8 hours maximum.
The characteristic part in terms of taste offers the possibility of having 4 boilies with very different flavours that behave in the same way in the water (in terms of melting time, I mean).
The price per kg. is the same for all 4 bases, but obviously it can be differentiated according to the more or less advanced customisation.
In fact, since this is a project for a rolling service, customised versions can be made in terms of attraction, taste (in terms of liquid aroma) and even hookbait primers that are much stronger to match.
The beauty of this is that it is not a ready-made ball that you can buy on trust (which is perfectly respectable), but 'YOUR' ball set on a mix that offers this type of structural and mechanical advantage.
The basic liquid part involves the use of glycol and other sugary gels that serve to plasticise the mixture (such as malt, fructose and glucose syrup), while a reasonable "space" remains to insert further stimulus.
In my specific case I had Marco make 20 kg of the fish variant for a dear friend, rolled with 100 ml of Aminol (a powerful attractant based on hydrolysed fish protein), sweetener NHDC Cherry flavouring with a very acid pH, to be used for fishing in the lakes in my area.
I also highly recommend the nut version made perhaps with peanut butter, butyric acid and black pepper essential oil. Or all four versions well 'filled' with fermented fish sauce.
All variants must obviously be agreed with the manufacturer who will make an appropriate estimate based on the cost of the added ingredients and the quantity to be produced.
I am obviously unconnected with the commercial dynamics of the company and therefore unaware of the detailed prices.
In the book Boilies you will find all technical ingredients.
