Dear Spug,

Out of all the different boilie sizes that are on offer, how do you decide to use a certain size for a particular venue?

Geoff Hoe,
Southend.

Hi Geoff, and thanks for the question.

The honest answer is, I don’t! The reason is that nowadays I will usually take at least a couple of sizes of boilies with me wherever I go, usually 14mm and 18mm. I will happily bait up with both sizes and usually tend to fish the 14mm size as my hookbait; sometimes I will even go with three sizes, using 12mm baits as well, as I think that having a few different-sized baits can catch the carp off guard and, in certain situations, I feel fishing in this way can really confuse them as to which ones are the danger ones. If, however, I could only take one size, then it would probably be the 14s, and if I felt that I required a bigger bait during that session (e.g. to avoid the attentions of bream or tench), then I would either fish a double hookbait or put a pop-up on the end of the Hair, followed by a bottom, thus creating a Snowman Rig.

I like to bait with a mixture of 14 and 18mm-sized boilies and…

…then use a 14mm hookbait.

If, however, the water I was fishing was a big water and I knew I would struggle baiting up at range with 14mm baits, then I would go with 18s, which are obviously bigger and heavier, so therefore a lot easier to get out at distance with the throwing stick. All these methods have been my normal way of fishing for 90% of the waters that I have fished and I would recommend them to everyone.

Hope this helps, and be lucky,

Spug