Do you want custard with it?

 

Custard anyone?

Recent exploits with bait making have really got me thinking about all sorts of home-made baits. If like me you enjoy experimenting and finding out what works and what doesn't then this can be fun. If you are doing it purely to save money then my methods are probably not worth the effort, as has been pointed out on several occasions.Yes in pure financial terms the bait is cheaper but it takes hours of effort to make small amounts of bait. For me it is the fun of making your own and when it works it is the look on others faces when I am pulling fish on every cast while others just watch.

I have tried all sorts of groundbait and made several batches of boilies but most of the time I have taken basic techniques and made up my own recipe. Here I have followed Jonny Watts' outline that he gave in an interview for Go Fishing and refined the ingredients to suit the casual maker, like me.

The main ingredient is sweetcorn and can be bought tinned or frozen. The tinned stuff is ideal for hook bait and can be used here, although frozen corn is a much more economical route. As it is going to be whizzed into a smooth paste, the size or structure of the kernels is not important. To this is added evaporated milk and hemp. The evaporated milk can be bought in 410ml tins from your local supermarket (only half a tin required), The own-brand product is cheaper than the well-know brands and is fine for this purpose. That just leaves the hemp.

Without doubt, the cheapest way to buy hemp is in bulk, uncooked and to prepare it yourself. This is exactly what I will do in the future but for now I and recommending buying a single tin from you local tackle shop if, like me, you do not have unending storage space or an immediate use for gallons of the stuff! I found a can at my local tackle shop that had a Krill additive. I only need a quarter of the can for this recipe and the rest can be frozen until required.

Here is how you make corn custard. The frozen Tesco corn is sold in 907g bags for 99p but if you use another brand then 1kg is fine, I think the silly weight of the Tesco product is to hit a price-point. It is not that critical, but what I would say, is if you do change something, note it down so you can repeat it next time to maintain consistency.

Process the sweetcorn until it looks like this

Corn custard with hemp and krill - The Recipe 

• One bag, Tesco 'value' frozen sweetcorn (907g)
• Half a 410ml tin, evaporated milk (205ml)
• Quarter of a 400g can, hemp and krill protein (100g)  

Most of the bag of corn is processed leaving a few whole kernels whole to be added later. add the evaporated milk and continue to blend until the mixture takes on the appearance of soft scrambled egg.

Just add the other ingredients...

...and give it a stir

Place mixture into a large bait box, add the whole sweetcorn and Krill enhanced hemp. Mix together and its  ready to use. place a covering of clingfilm over the box before fitting the lid to stop it drying out in the fridge. Use it the next day or freeze it until the night before you intend to use it. For a change this smells reasonably pleasant. Use it to pre-bait a swim, or to cup over your recast hook bait.

Clingfilm over the baitbox before fitting the lid will keep it fresh

There must be many variations on this theme, I can see some more experimentation going on here - Two Dog custard anyone?

Ralph.