Bird Food Mixes.

Bait companies tend to sell base mixes based on Nectarblend or Redfactor, as yellow or gold seed mixes.  Mixes containing Robin Red, as red or spicy seed mixes.  For a full description of the bird foods listed, see the "Ingredients" page.

The first bird food bait that I read about or used was a simple mixture of semolina and a bird food called Nectarblend which is available form J. E. Haith’s of Cleethorpes.  It consisted of 8oz of the two ingredients.  The mix didn’t roll to well, there seemed to be no room for error when making up the paste.  Make it slightly to dry and it would crumble when you tried to roll it, or else it was to sticky.

The solution turned out to be simple, adding soya flour. I now use the recipe on the right all the time when using egg-biscuit type bird foods such as Nectarblend. The mix rolls very well indeed, in fact it almost rolls itself.

Another brilliant bird food is again made by J. E. Haith, this is a canary colouring food called Red Factor. It contains a dye called “Carophyll Red” which is supposed to he highly attractive to carp. I'm not to sure about that but, Red Factor is an excellent ingredient.  I think it is more attractive to carp than Nectarblend!

The finished boilie is still made from a yellow bird food, but the red spots of dye stand out in the bait.

For those who prefer a more spicy version of the above, Robin Red or Spanish Pepper RRR (both available from J. E. Haith), can be added to any of the recipes listed above. As most people seem to use Robin Red, I like to be a little bit different and use RRR, or a mixture of the two. If you can’t get hold of any Robin Red or RRR, try adding half an ounce of curry powder instead.

In general if I am using spicy flavours I like to add 2oz to my base mix, if I am using fruit flavours 1oz only, as I don’t want the Robin Red / RRR to dominate the bait to much. This is only a personal fad, experiment yourself and see which levels you prefer.

Should you be unable (or not feel like sending off for Nectarblend or Red Factor), the bird foods listed opposite are all available from pet shops, are egg-biscuit based and can all be used in place of the bird foods mentioned above.

CeDe is an excellent ingredient for a base mix.  One bait company use to make a base mix and sell it as their "CeDe Mix.

A dark brown bird food with  honey and molasses.  Substitute 3 oz of PTX with 3 oz of any of the bulk bird foods listed above.  Available from Haith's.

For a "red version" add 1 or 2 ounces of Robin Red or RRR.

PTX is another excellent bird food ingredient that contains inbuilt attractors that carp like.  Well worth sending off for.